Zimbabwe needs innovative minds

AURRA KAWANZARUWA

In Zimbabwe the word innovation has undoubtably become somewhat of a “buzzword”, but what does it actually mean?

To put it into very simple terms, to innovate is to create something new. There are two main categories that define innovation:

Evolutionary innovations (continuous or dynamic evolutionary innovation) that are brought about by many incremental advances in technology or processes and revolutionary innovations (also called discontinuous innovations) which are often disruptive and new.

Innovation is synonymous with risk-taking and organisations that create revolutionary products or technologies take on the greatest risk because they create new markets.

Standing hand in hand with the Zimbabwe is open for business mantra is the call to support innovation. Zimbabwe has been in a monotonous cycle of stagnancy and, to a great extent, regression. This has fuelled frustration particularly among the younger generations. It hasn’t all been doom and gloom though when it comes to Zimbabweans and their ability to evolve and innovate as a means of adapting.

The banking sector has seen a significant shift with the introduction of mobile banking as a means of dealing with the cash shortages in the country. This would fall under the category of evolutionary innovation. Although services like Ecocash, Telecash and OneWallet were introduced well before the severe cash shortages affected the economy, they became pivotal in transforming the way Zimbabweans bank and transact. Mobile banking, mostly dominated by Zimbabwe Stock Exchange listed company Econet’s Ecocash, changed not only the way people spend but also the way businesses operate.

An interesting example of businesses given a doorway by mobile banking is the eMbare app. eMbare brings the sprawling Mbare musika (vegetable market) into a categorised e-shopping platform nestled in the palm of your hand.

Mbare musika is traditionally a cash-only market but this app allows users to buy their goods using Ecocash and their produce is delivered to their homes. The beauty of innovation is the ripple effects that come with it. When one sector of the economy introduces a new idea or way of doing things, it opens up new markets within that sector’s value chain.Innovation, I daresay, is the catalyst for economic diversification and growth. It’s a trigger for change.

Most people confuse innovation with technological advancement. Innovation does not belong solely to tech; tech is, in fact, a by product of innovation and not innovation itself. Perhaps what Zimbabwe is most in need of is systematic innovation. Systematic innovation is the process of methodically analysing and solving problems with a primary focus on identifying the correct problem to be solved and then generating innovative solution concepts free from mental inertia.

One might go as far as to say Zimbabwe is ‘awash’ with problems. But there is a much deeper method to problem solving required to pull our country out of the doldrums.

Knowing the right questions to ask. Innovation is more often than not an answer to questions that most people don’t realise that their asking.

It has been written in many studies that the core of good leadership rests in one’s ability to ask the right questions rather than providing all the solutions.

Government, the business sector and entrepreneurs need to make a habit of forecasting and making intelligent evolutionary changes to operations and their processes. This moves us away from the mental inertia that has seemingly gripped our nation for years. A study on psychological inertia by James Kowalick from the Renaissance Leadership Institute says:

Psychological Inertia (PI) represents the many barriers to personal creativity and problem-solving ability, barriers that have as their roots “the way that I am used to doing it.” In solving a problem, it is the inner, automatic voice of PI whispering “You are not allowed to do that!” Or, “Tradition demands that it be done this way!” Or even, “You have been given the information, and the information is true.”

This seems a fitting description of the biggest problem Zimbabwe needs to solve in order to unlock the undeniable potential for innovation that the Zimbabwean mind possesses. And we begin by asking the right questions.