When one thinks about Zimbabwe’s current economic challenges that require innovative thinking and solutions, one can immediately turn to entrepreneurship education, technology and idea incubation for Zimbabweans as a major drive to solve these challenges. An entrepreneur in a country like Zimbabwe would be a person who shows creativity and ability in bringing available resources by gathering people who add value to this resource and making it available to those that will pay for it which results in new wealth being created. Therefore it should be a lifelong learning process that has to be mastered in order to develop an intuitive mind of success in business.
Zimbabwe can learn from Global examples
In Zimbabwe the educational system and social values are not geared towards creating entrepreneurs, mainly due to the lack of entrepreneurial infrastructure which enables an individual to develop their entrepreneurial skills. The education system should be geared towards developing entrepreneurs who can become employers and not just employees. Risk taking needs to be encouraged and rewarded. When entrepreneurship is taken seriously and nurtured new wealth can be easily created as evidenced by new companies such as Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple which started off as fanciful and wishful thinking by very young entrepreneurs. However due to strong entrepreneurial infrastructure in the USA these firms have become major brands and world leaders in less than one generation since their formation.
Entrepreneurship brings a ray of hope anywhere and is universally recognized as a key element in the development process. Important is to find an appropriate and suitable entrepreneurial approach that could produce and assist in the nurturing the task of achieving positive entrepreneurship development in Zimbabwe. Entrepreneurship can help propel the growth of our economy since new and growing firms are a major source of new jobs in the current economy. In response to economic hardships at this time, ability and stamina of entrepreneurial skills is required in responding to these developments. For instance with innovative ideas in our financial markets Liquidity crisis could have long been wiped away but lacking is an innovative stamina to burry the crisis which is persisting.
More widespread encouragement of local entrepreneurship will encourage more extensively spread economic gains as also other developmental gains like building better self-reliance, self-confidence and an increased sense of security and achievement. Such increased well-being around the community, rather than just for an individual, builds better social fabrics and lifestyles.
Entrepreneurs play a vital role in economic development as key contributors to technological innovation and new job growth. Further, entrepreneurs help build communities in ways such as providing jobs, conducting business locally, creating and participating in entrepreneurial networks, investing in community projects, and giving to local charities. Realizing both the economic and social impact of entrepreneurship Zimbabwe should implement aggressive strategies aimed at cultivating and nurturing entrepreneurs.
It is not really the “job” of government to provide jobs to their people. Government needs to act as a facilitator and enabler to help the entrepreneurs who bring in the tax revenues and jobs to the public. This may be the only way forward as big businesses are already saturated and find it difficult to create jobs in recession while governments probably do not have enough money to create more jobs.
Small businesses vs Entrepreneurs
While most entrepreneurs start by forming small businesses, not all small businesses are entrepreneurial. Typically, entrepreneurs are more focused on assembling resources and creating new innovative products or services that will lead to further investment and growth. They do not stay small businesses for long - though they may rely on small business assistance in their early stages.
In a world where ideas drive economies, it is no wonder that innovation and entrepreneurship are often seen as inseparable bedfellows. The governments around the world are starting to realize that in order to sustain progress and improve a country’s economy, the people have to be encouraged and trained to think out-of-the-box and be constantly developing innovative products and services.
Entrepreneurs know that they have limited resources which have competing needs. It means that have to optimize whatever they have got. Thus often they resort to unique ways to run businesses. The once feasible ways of doing business are no longer guarantees for future economic success. Take for example our local banking system which is full of traditional banks and traditional means of making money, they are failing to tap in the much wanted capital into the financial system from the savers.
Entrepreneurship can be encouraged through:
§ providing technical assistance;
§ improving state regulatory and licensing environments;
§ improving access to capital;
§ building intellectual capacity at state universities;
§ improving entrepreneurship education;
§ recognizing entrepreneurial achievement.
Entrepreneurship gospel should be spread from primary schools to universities. At each level of education, it is reasonable to expect different outcomes as students mature and build on previous knowledge. But the overall purpose remains to develop expertise as an entrepreneur.
In particular, students should experience various facets of business ownership with focus on understanding the basics of our economy, career opportunities that result, and the need to master basic skills to be successful in the local market. Motivation to learn and a sense of individual opportunity are the special outcomes at this stage of the lifelong learning model. The students will learn to speak the language of business, and see the problems from the business owner's point of view.
The writer Francis Chinjekure is an aspiring entrepreneur who has interests in real estate and funds management. He is also a student at the Harare Institute of Technology. He is compassionate for success and can be contacted on fchinjex@gmail.com.
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