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Opportunities for small business in economic sectors

02 Feb, 2018 - 00:02 0 Views

eBusiness Weekly

Kudzai Mubaiwa
We are in a season in Zimbabwe where small business has a fair chance at success. Companies that did not exist ten years ago or were very small have emerged and are flourishing. Big companies whose business and pricing models were rigid are finding it difficult to compete.

This ought to encourage every new entrant in the various sectors of business in Zimbabwe such as agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, retailing, services. Some businesses will grow obsolete because their promoters are not keen or able to move fast enough to remain competitive. Therein lies opportunity for the smaller, more nimble player.

It is a known fact that we are in digital times, where the old type printed flier strategy just will not suffice. More and more people are going online with some kind of internet application — at the very least WhatsApp (whose reach in Zimbabwe we cannot measure, but is estimated at not less than 5 million users), or Facebook (with almost 1 million accounts). Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Pinterest and Google Plus also have a decent number of users locally.

Telecommunications companies have both mirrored and supported the trends by availing data bundle packages that allow access at low cost. It is wise to be present is spaces such as there were one can push out content at a very low cost in image, audio and video format.

Mobile penetration is quite high over 100 percent and people are eager consumers of information.

Coupled with this is the fact that mobile banking has been a phenomenal success in Zimbabwe. The stage is set because getting information across to markets is much easier and probably cheaper than it has ever been, whilst payments of as low as a dollar are easy to transact.

Just this past week, legislation allows transactions of less than $10 to be done at almost nothing and this will push the financial inclusion agenda and allow consumers to easily do more low cost transactions.

These developments favour the small business that can be flexible enough to build and avail products/services that require many small payments and that can be delivered from the business direct to customers.

A few weeks back I attended a Zimbabwe Tourism Authority meeting with players in the tourism sector. The turnout at a local hotel at what I understood was short notice was pretty amazing. People are running all sizes and types of enterprises in the sector, ranging from food, accommodation, and travel packages to tours and safaris.

A closer look at the tourism sector will confirm that the industry has grown phenomenally from about $200 million at the time of dollarisation in 2009, to a billion dollar industry at the moment.

There is high potential within that sector as a whole a opportunity for smaller players in general. Recently the responsible minister indicated that there is a strong drive to achieve at least 2,5 million visitors this year, an approximate 25 percent growth from prior year.

This will be underpinned by an increase in domestic tourism, which is a more sustainable market. Creative and innovative players can make this happen, by a combination of leveraging available opportunities such as the digital age tools for awareness and transactions as highlighted above, bringing in totally new products and influencing a mind shift on tourist activities. These are the key actions required.

The average Zimbabwean is keen on surviving — recreation is not a priority with most because it is viewed as a luxury.

However, the younger and more digital native generation has a broader world-view, compliments of the internet. This is the best time ever to bring to their attention the many wonders found in this great nation and sell tourism. Food alone is huge.

Eating places are increasingly a part of our socialisation, the fact that the “gango” became a big hit — I had friends from the diaspora visit in December and they had it on their bucket list, yet I, a local had never been to one.

Local tourism can grow as certain food phenomenon trend or “go viral”. More established places may struggle to shift immediately if at all, but those who recognise and capitalise can build brands is a short time, especially if they combine it with other tourist activity like driving tours and the gango is the end event where local artists will be serenading diners and local crafts are on sale.

The opportunity of the internet has made many see what others do across the world in their cultures and also trigger a return to that which is our own and proudly Zimbabwean.

Such a mindset shift is a wave to be ridden upon fully by those offering services as well as physical local goods for sale.

The proudly Zimbabwean seal has become popular in both experiences and tangible products and can live long if coupled with digital tools for advertising, booking, sales and payments.

These can come in as packages under fifteen dollars per individual or averaging ten dollars per individual in a group. Accommodation space has also been revolutionised by the on-going “uberisation” of everything. A small player with any type of room and board can immediately participate through signing up on platforms like TripAdvisor, Booking.com, AirBnB and offer services to both locals and foreign tourists.

Many of them then offer additional services like guided tours and sightseeing information that is personalised, much more than a traditional hotel may offer.

My most recent stay in Bulawayo late last year was at a family-run lodge that was small, with the most basic of furniture but an extremely personal touch and fantastic food such that locals patronise it daily for meals, especially pensioners; and to foreign visitors it has the touch of home.

The Government must now be strategic in its’ support of such small business to ensure they don’t opt or continue to operate underground and not contribute to the fiscus. It is notable that there is presently an open call to register with no questions asked as long as one was running a tourism enterprise of any sort.

However, there is need to soberly re-look the licensing fees, and put in a tiered program that encourages formalising in which licensing fees progressively increase in relation to the age of the business and perhaps the turnover. There is need for raising awareness of parallel pricing regime for domestic tourists, and make it distinctly different to that for foreigners.

Finally, funding must continue, new players always need support for capital expenditure and working capital as they need time to gain traction and build solid brands. Formalising small business will be a major step in ensuring local economic development, based on the monetis0ation of the many natural gifts the nation is endowed with, not just the major sights in Zimbabwe.

Feedback: Twitter @kumub, Email [email protected]

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