His Majesty King Mswati III accompanied by his wives Emosikhatis and members of the royal family attended the 16th entrepreneur of the year awards held at the Royal Swazi Convention Centre on Friday July 19th.

His Majesty was welcome by the Kingdom's prime minister and a few of his sons. During his speech, he applauded the 59 000 SMEs in the country, the 93 000 jobs they provide and have a monthly turnover of E2.8 billion. “We are encouraged to learn that the 59 000 SMEs in the country have a total turnover of almost E3 billion this means we are not far from having billionaires in the country."

He challenge the SME community to be making a turnover of E3 billion in the next 10 years. The 51 year old monarch reflected that to achieve this it was paramount that a conducive environment for entrepreneurial ventures by Emaswati, foreign investors and strategic partners was created. This include among other priority actions, improving the ease of doing business in Eswatini. He also encouraged SMEs to utilise the opportunities provided by the government and other financial institutions to entrepreneurs.