Inspite of the obstacles They Face, Expatriate’s Transfers contributeTo enhancing the small Investment Projects [Archives:2005/848/Business & Economy]
By Nabil Alusidy
It is well know that the expatriates' capital has greatly contributed to enhancing the small establishments in Yemen. A number of those emigrants have made those projects in the Secretariat and the other major and smaller cities in this country.
These projects concentrated on smaller industres, converting industries , com munications, barter and wholesale trade-services, parks , recreation parks, restaurants, bakeries and other sectors that attract the migrants capital.
According to the latest field survey, There are about 31740 small industrial establishments which represent 95% of the total industrial convertive industry and 48% of total workers in the industrial sector.
The survey added that the secretariat tops the list in the number of smaller establishments with a number of 4273, with Ibb in second position with 4060 and Taiz in third with 2805 establishments.
The results revealed that most owners of these smaller establishment don't receive any facilities or loans. They mainly depend on their own resources in financing these projects as it is the case with the expatriates. They also depend on borrowing from friends , relations or mortgage their assets .
The obstacles are not limited to lack of facilities and loans. However there are others, such as legislative, executive, technical and environmental obstacles
Expatriates say that even one of these obstacles could lead to the halt of major projects, let alone the smaller establishments, in absence of the help of specialized formal sectors. They suggest that an authority should care for smaller projects, solve their problem and coordinate with concerned governmental and none governmental sectors. It should play a role in all the activities and find a mechanism for developing, financing and building an infrastructure necessary for smaller establishments.
Other factors that stand in the face of development of smaller establishments in Yemen are the lack of skilled labor and marketing. Economists in Yemeni universities owe unskilled labor mainly to the inconsistant educational system as general and to vocational and technical education in particular which is supposed to cater for the needs of these smaller projects . This leads to widening the gap between the outputs of the vocational education and the needs of these establishments.
The civic societies' role is absent in the field of technical and vocational training .
Economists believe that the skilled labor prefer to work with bigger industries with higher wages and allowances.
Besides, all smaller establishments are not formerly registered, with the absence of legislations that oblige them to abide by the limit of minimum wages, that are prevailing in formal sectors. They also don't abide by social insurance in installments for their personnel.
The problem of marketing . makes smaller industrial establishments owners fall victims to wholesale and barter traders. This is due to the lack of marketing facilities that acquaint them with the consumers. The exploitation of whole sale traders and barters leave them with only a narrow margin of profits that is acceptable in comparison with their efforts, and couldn't lead to boosting their products and services.
The studies point out that there should be concentration on the vocational technical and training education and to develop the curriculums to upgrade the scientific and practical skills of its outputs to meet the needs of internal of external markets. The study also concentrates on the importance of the availability of product facilities, and the enlargement of domestic markets competiting ability, in addition to developing marketing awareness of smaller producers and craftsmen.
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