Webinar Link

Meeting No: 2514 665 8615
Password: africa

Certificate of Participants

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Abstract

This webinar explores the key factors affecting Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) productivity from African perspectives, highlighting country experiences, policy interventions, and innovative business practices that enhance competitiveness and resilience. It will provide a platform for researchers, policymakers, development practitioners, and entrepreneurs to exchange insights and identify practical strategies for fostering sustainable productivity growth and inclusive economic development across the continent.MSMEs are vital drivers of employment, innovation, and economic growth across Africa. However, their productivity remains constrained by challenges such as limited access to finance, inadequate infrastructure, low technology adoption, skills shortages, weak market linkages, and regulatory barriers.

Short Bio

Anil Bhardwaj

Mr. Bhardwaj is the Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) in New Delhi and a private sector and trade development professional. He holds master's degrees in Economics and International Trade. His specializations include industrial and trade policy issues, the promotional and regulatory environment for SMEs, and market access issues related to MSMEs in multilateral trade negotiations (like the WTO) and regional trade agreements.

He has advised on and worked on several SME development projects commissioned by multilateral and bilateral agencies, including the World Bank, ADB, UNCTAD, UNIDO, UNDP, UNESCAP, ITC (Geneva), the Asian Productivity Council (Tokyo), the EU, DFID, and GIZ. He has authored books and guides for SMEs and writes regularly on issues affecting Indian MSMEs.

He has been a two-term Governing Board member of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII), Ahmedabad. He is currently a member of the Uttar Pradesh Economic Advisory Group, which was set up by the Government of UP to accelerate economic growth. He is also the Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Intra-Commonwealth SME Association (ICSA) in London.

Tetsushi Sonobe

Tetsushi Sonobe is Senior Professor and Director at GRIPS Global Governance Program (G-Cube).He worked at the Development Bank of Japan as a part-time research assistant from 1984 to 1987, which sparked his interest in economic development policy. After earning a PhD in 1992, he taught courses on economic development and growth at the Tokyo Metropolitan University for 11 years. From 2003 to 2012, he operated the International Development Studies (IDS) Program, which was established jointly by GRIPS and the Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development. In April 2012, he fully joined GRIPS as a full-time professor and took on various roles, including chairperson of the doctoral programs committee, executive advisor to the president, founding director of the State Building and Economic Development Program and the GRIPS Global Governance Program, and vice president. From April 2020 to March 2025, he was the dean and CEO of ADBI, the think tank of the Asian Development Bank. In April 2025, he joined GRIPS again.

Kostadin Kolarov

Kostadin Kolarov is a Former Member of the Economic and Social Council of the Republic of Bulgaria as representative of the National Chamber of Crafts.

He is the author of publications in the field of corporate culture and entrepreneurship. He has practical experience in business plan development, in-house training and management consulting. His consulting competences are in the field of entrepreneurial management, project management and business planning.He has been a member of the Economic and Social Council since the end of 2021.

He graduated from the UNWE with a degree in Economics and Industrial Management, PhD in Economics since 2003, Associate Professor (2009), since 2020 he is the Director of the Institute of Entrepreneurship of the UNWE and Head of the Department of Entrepreneurship at the UNWE. He has specialised in the UK, Spain and the Netherlands. He has significant experience as a researcher, trainer and consultant in the field of small business and entrepreneurship, including as a leader of research and education projects.

Zuzana B. Schwidrowski

Dr. Zuzana Brixiova Schwidrowski is the Director of the Socio-Economic Development Division at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. She provides strategic leadership on the Commission’s work in areas including inclusive economic growth, employment, social development, human capital, poverty reduction, and sustainable development across Africa.

Prior to her current position, Dr. Schwidrowski served as Director of UNECA’s Macroeconomics, Finance and Governance Division and as Director of the Subregional Office for North Africa. Before joining UNECA, she was Vice President and Senior Analyst at Moody’s Investors Service, Lead Advisor to the Chief Economist and Vice President at the African Development Bank Group, and Resident Representative of the International Monetary Fund in Belarus and Lithuania.

An accomplished economist and researcher, Dr. Schwidrowski’s work focuses on labor markets, development economics, entrepreneurship, youth employment, gender economics, and macroeconomic policy. She has published extensively in leading international academic journals and has held academic appointments as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Cape Town, a Fulbright Scholar at Addis Ababa University, and a Research Fellow at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

Dr. Schwidrowski holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Minnesota and a Master’s degree in Finance from the Prague University of Economics and Business.