BATANAI KAMUNYARU
When the economy shifts from one state to another, there will be confusion as – if any – few will understand and read the seasons very well. It is never easy to embrace the new and face the challenges of the new. Many prefer the old, not because the old is better but because they are used to the old and can navigate the old so well – it’s just like being in a dark room for so long, you start to navigate your paths with comfort. Unfortunately, time moves – so are the seasons. What is happening in Zimbabwe is interesting, the economy is shifting from a managerial economy to an entrepreneurial economy, and only those who can read the shift can participate in what is coming.
A story is told of the children of Israel when they were moving from Egypt to Canaan, that at some point they wished they would go back to Egypt than to face the challenges of the paths to Canaan. A transition that is meant to take a few ‘days’ may take many years if the eyes focus on the current and let go the focus on what is to come. Employment in the old big companies is coming to an end, and the small to medium enterprises are the ones playing a significant role in providing employment. With the growth in population and other changes in the business economy, the national economy will not be able to provide employment for everyone. Therefore, getting education and training for a managerial economy will be of little benefit – rather education and training should focus more on the entrepreneurial economy.
Most of the jobs that have been created in the past ten years came from small and medium sized businesses, and these businesses did not exist in the past ten years. Not to belittle the power of big businesses, but the small businesses that are being started in Zimbabwe every year might be the hope of jobs.
However, the entrepreneurial economy is not going to be successful unless if there is better social management, political management and economic management. If all is managed well, it can make the economy wealthy by producing good incomes! Nevertheless, there must be much work on policy crafting, to support the growth of the new economy ahead. Some policies must concentrate on nurturing the youth as they are the future.
Dr Mensa Otabil once said, “You cannot get to Canaan with an Egyptian mindset.” The mindset of the future businessman must change, if there is hope for tomorrow’s profits. Not only the mindset of the businessman must change, but even the mindset of those still going to school. School must challenge our thinking to the level where we are willing to put in the action to create something. If population is growing and no new companies are being created, it is the beginning of a bigger problem tomorrow, which might not be very easy to solve.
Every nation that is on the global map for being prosperous is because of the entrepreneurial spirit within. Without solid entrepreneurship in any nation, there is no much hope for such a nation. Yes, investments are needed to boost some small to medium enterprises, of which a good business will attract the investment and not chase it! America will for long be the powerhouse of the world because of the entrepreneurial spirit that they have. When Zimbabwe was on the map as the ‘bread basket’ of Africa it was because of the entrepreneurship that was happening. Stopping entrepreneurship is destroying the economy and the future of the nation, therefore it is not enough for everyone to want to be a manager and not being an entrepreneur – for without entrepreneurship the nations suffer.
To record good profits, better tax revenues and improved growth, it is time to get the hands dirty in entrepreneurship – the businesses should produce and re-produce. In every man and woman lies great potential for a great business, and it is up to us to produce it and manage it. When man was created, he was given the ability and the energy, as well as provision of resources to create that which he commits to create. Failure if due to lack of productivity – which then breeds other problems related to laziness. For every business to be successful, it must be productive and earn its way to profitability. It must also manage what it produces to ensure that it is well taken care of and maintained.
Entrepreneurship should be viewed as a practice and a discipline, not just a subject that can be taught in classrooms. It works better from the ground rather than from the class. In class, there are students who will emerge with very good marks and grades but fail to practice what they learned. Every subject must be approached as a practice and not just theory to know – as a practice, more will be done in different fields of the economy. It’s of little value to master the theory and forget to practice the concepts. Apostle James once said that it is pointless to hear the word and do nothing!
How then should businesses and nations promote entrepreneurship for the future? Well, there is no one direction, but there are several things that can be done to improve entrepreneurship and innovation. Some of the things to be done have to challenge common beliefs and assumptions about how businesses and organisations succeed or fail. Entrepreneurship should be the backbone of every business or nation if meaningful progress is to be experienced.
Learn from both the successes and the failures – to be entrepreneurs should be trained and coached from the experiences of other entrepreneurs, both the successful ones and the failures. On contrary, there are valuable lessons from failure compared to successes. Not every way that lead to ‘success’ for someone will lead to success for all! Nevertheless, failure gives you better warnings of certain dangers not to be tempered with or how best to avoid them as you know they lead to failure.
Businesses or nations should create entrepreneurship hubs, where the youth are trained on values of good business – not getting to profits or survival through corruption or other unorthodox means. Yes, if one is corrupt he or she might benefit for a while – but corruption is like ‘cancer’ it destroys generations to come too. King Solomon once said, “Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.” Why therefore destroy generations to come? One leaves everything he or she ever worked for, and sometimes the wealth is left to someone who will squander it in no time! Let the hubs focus more on developing business for tomorrow – hence developing the companies and the nations!
Business startup capital – startup capital must be easily available to any reasonable idea. Not to say anyone who comes up with an idea must get funding, but projects must be well accessed and ensure that capital is granted to a deserving project. The capital must also come with advisory services and guidance from the experts to ensure that the capital is protected. Since management of finances is a big challenge to many startups, whichever institution will be granting startup capital must provide such a service to the coming up entrepreneurs – the service charge may be paid through equity to promote better management of the businesses. Also, young entrepreneurs must be very willing to sell equity in their companies, in exchange for services that covers their weaknesses.
Attend business classes – an entrepreneur should never stop learning. The world is changing daily, therefore neglecting to read the trends in the marketplace and other related industries is neglecting future profits and new business development. As an entrepreneur, never stop to attend business classes and seminars – some of the best advice and valuable information is not written in any book, people carry it in their heads as secrets! Only those who will search for the secrets will find them.
Networks and associations – coming up entrepreneurs and already successful entrepreneurs ought to create networks and associations to help one another to move from one level to the next. From the networks and associations, there is also great potential for collaboration – even integration be it backward, horizontal or forward. Let not the associations exceed a certain number, for example 100, for too many members might result in stalled progress. Let the network focus on business – and it would be nice if a successful entrepreneur will mentor and coach one upcoming on practical and disciplined entrepreneurship and not the theory of entrepreneurship only.
The list of what to do to promote entrepreneurship and cultivate growth for businesses and nations is endless, but it takes dedication and seriousness to get to the level where solid businesses are built. In a quote attributed to Steve Jobs, “I’m convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful one is pure perseverance.” If you see value in what you are doing, never give up! Of importance to remember is that the difference between economic behavior of nations and companies is best described by one factor: the entrepreneur.
Batanai Kamunyaru is a business writer, speaker and coach. He can be contacted on bat.kamunyaru@gmail.com or +263 718 852 489.
