The Malawi Enterprise Productivity Enhancement (MEPE) project is a European Union (EU) funded project to the Government of Malawi through the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) to the tune of €1,498,199.
MEPE’s overall objective is to contribute to the National goal of sustainable economic growth as stipulated in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy II (MDGS II) which is now replaced by the MGDS III. The initiative is through up-scaling of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) or cooperatives to produce competitive products for domestic and export markets.
MEPE Project Phase I is expected to close in November 2017 and this is planned to be connected with Phase 2 for another 12 months. The focus will be in leather, textiles and garments promotion.
Cooking oil groups will continue on meeting standards and finding markets in local supermarkets on their own and through successor project under the Department of Industry within the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism.
The design of the project is meant to improve industrialisation in the rural areas. Currently, there are at least 14 groups, across Malawi. Most of them are involved in cooking oil production, taking advantage of the abundance of sunflower in the country.
Another component expected to be improved is leather making. Under the project, it is expected that a fully-fledged leather design studio will be established.
