So Zimbabwe, what is our problem?

By Tinashe Eric Muzamhindo

Entrepreneurship is the art of creating or developing a business through innovation, creativity, progressive imagination and risk taking initiative, or Entrepreneurship is the art identifying viable business opportunities and mobilizing resources to convert those opportunities into a successful enterprise through creativity, innovation, risk taking and progress imagination.

The keywords in most definitions are; Art, development, innovation, creativity, progressive imagination and risk taking. Entrepreneurship is premised on the understanding that ideas are more important than MONEY. An entrepreneur without any money at all, will use ideas and/or his progressive imagination to make money, whilst a person with huge sums of money but without sound entrepreneurial ideas will eventually misuse or lose that money.

Who is an entrepreneur or who is supposed to be an entrepreneur?

The one who is supposed to be an entrepreneur it’s you and me. We should stop wasting our time gossiping, talking too much, insults, we must sit down and plan and embrace this new economy known as entrepreneurship which is emerging on the market.

Entrepreneur is a derived name from the French work “entreprendre” ie “entre (to enter) and “prendre” (to take), and in a general sense, applies to any person starting a new project or trying a new opportunity. An entrepreneur is a person motivated by a strong desire to achieve positive and sustainable business results through hard work, risk taking abilities, determination and generation of progressive ideas.

We need to embrace entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is the way to go. Our economy has suffered major defeats and there have been so many misconceptions about our economy, international relations but its high time Zimbabwe need to move into a new era of development.

The good part with this country is we have high skilled labor and potential growth using our local resources and manpower. Instead of politicking and side swerving political temperatures which is unnecessary, we have to work together as a nation despite our political affiliations, race, sex we need to get Zimbabwe working again. Our country has been battered negatively because of several issues.

Increase in foreign direct investment and exports

Entrepreneurship increases market share through exports. It brings diversity in export trade. The other good thing is that it promotes international trade and reduce our balance of payments. As we speak most of our youths have resorted to vending and touting and it’s very difficult for the Government to raise revenue through these activities. Government can facilitate lines of credit as to harness growth and development.

Creation of employment

Majority of Zimbabweans are not employed and the unemployment has reached 93% which is very alarming and disturbing. The majority of the unemployed are youths. By embracing entrepreneurship, we are creating employment. We are encouraging the Government of Zimbabwe to support entrepreneurs mostly youths. This will improve the welfare of most of our youths. These youths will contribute positively towards the fiscus by paying taxes and revenue to the Government.

Technological advancement

The constantly advancing technology in the world today, has brought about numerous modern business equipment and machinery such as laptop computers, tablets, I-phones, internet banking, mobile banking, Facebook, and many others. This advancement in technology has therefore opened up many technology related business opportunities that have contributed to an increase in the level of entrepreneurship among nations including Zimbabwe.

Growing desire for independent lifestyles

Many people in the world today are very desirous of independent and self-sustaining lives. Increasingly, society is witnessing people who want freedom to choose where they live, the number of hours they work, and what they do, all of which are largely dependent on one being self-employed and engaging in entrepreneurship. This desire for independent lifestyles is therefore, equally triggering the entrepreneurship spirit among nations.

Zimbabwe has huge potential

We have vast minerals such as diamonds, gold reserves, platinum etc. In fact we are the second largest producer of platinum in the world. We have good labour skills, we have technology, we have land, we have everything so what is our problem?

The problem is that Government has mortgaged Zimbabwe to foreign nationals such as China and it will be difficult for locals to benefit. I encourage the Government of Zimbabwe to open markets for entrepreneurs and encourage locals to take major stakes in mining and agricultural sectors etc. We have the brains in this country and in fact in terms of literacy rate we are the second highest in Africa. My question is then what is wrong with this country in terms of service delivery?

Tinashe Eric Muzamhindo writes in his personal capacity as the Head of Mentorship Institute of National Development and Sustainability which is responsible for policy research. He is also a development analyst and consultant. He can be contacted at [email protected]