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What we need from minister of enterprise development

07 Sep, 2018 - 00:09 0 Views

eBusiness Weekly

Kudzai M. Mubaiwa
All of my adult life I have been aware that we have a ministry of small to medium enterprises and cooperatives development. It did not take any extra effort on my part, just reading about them in the newspaper, hearing and seeing their activities on radio and television, especially so on women and youth projects. I engaged with them in my work, first as a banker and later as an economic development specialist.

I aspired to get the role of the responsible minister in my latter years, especially so because it had been overseen for the longest time by another woman, but I told friends that one of my first actions were I to land the role, would be change its’ name to “The Ministry of Small Business Development” as they do in South Africa — because it would be shorter, easier on the tongue and way cooler.

The most recent cabinet changes in late 2017 had that whole ministry collapsed to be a part of a department under the now Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Enterprise Development.

I appreciate the need to have as few ministries in government as possible, but I am curious why we took the position to completely collapse a ministry that concentrated what has been deemed a very important section of the economy as a nation.

We have lost a lot of big businesses through the economic issues of the past, and some have just out rightly been disrupted, therefore we will continue to have new, emerging enterprises to replace them, and they need appropriate policy.

We must perhaps learn from our Southern neighbours that have bigger economy but still retain such focus on small business and support its’ participation in the mainstream economy.

They further divide this ministry into two agencies — the Small Enterprise Development Agency and the Small Finance Enterprise Finance Agency. Perhaps our approach could be more like that of the Eastern African colleagues in Kenya who have a full standalone Micro and Small Enterprises Authority that directly relates with the ministry of Industry, Trade and Co-operatives.

Looking to the Western side of the continent, Ghana has a Ministry of Business Development, and the body has a clear mandate to create a sustainable and most business friendly, entrepreneurial and innovative business environment that fosters private sector led investment and job creation.

Finally, up North we see that Egypt maintains a Ministry of Trade and Industry that inclines towards big business, but strides have been made to support SME’s under their Ministry of Finance.

We can draw lessons from all four African peers in crafting what works in Zimbabwe. Here are just four things the minister who will superintend over small business in the coming cabinet must act on.

First, whatever the name of the department, or in my preference, the agency, there is an evident need for a dedicated institution for small business support and small business financing.

They can be two standalone bodies but must feed into each other. The nature of support growing businesses require in this age is different from what worked twenty years ago; there are new dynamics to deal with.

The nature of small business financing is also unique, once cannot copy and paste the approaches used in extending credit to large companies.  Small businesses can only be taken seriously if they are afforded the right attention, so often they are overlooked and undervalued yet they can notably contribute to local economic development. We need a minister who appreciates this and sets up specialised bodies to ensure performance, not just a desk.

Secondly, we need a minister who is not afraid to shake the table when it comes to staffing. An enterprise development agency will require a robust board with a balanced mix of competencies and representation, and these would bring to account a motivated executive team that have the correct experience and exposure — preferably those that have walked the entrepreneurial path before!

They must in turn hire vibrant and motivated people who appreciate modern methods and approaches and are willing to work with the nation’s emerging businesses. This may require bold decisions in letting go of some that may not be flexible and infusing new blood.

Thirdly, we need a minister who is aware that we cannot be open for business in 2018 and ignore the opportunity of the internet. At the time of writing one will note there is no digital presence of the small business department right now — the agency must have an easy to navigate website where all information can be found on how to start, grow, and scale a business in Zimbabwe and which offices to visit to register for everything.

We have made some improvement in registering companies faster but I hope the new minister will aspire to match the same day service being availed in Rwanda — we must move with the times and eradicate gate keeping, rent seeking behaviour and unnecessary bureaucracy!

A thriving small business department needs to be present on social media — with a Facebook page, Twitter handle, Instagram and Whatsapp accounts for maximum live engagement with the many Zimbabweans it will serve locally and abroad.

This must be done in sync with an offline strategy — a physical presence in all provinces, devolution to allow appropriate support is specific economic zones, yet maintain cohesion for exchanging ideas and co-working.

Finally, we need a minister that can reach out to the stakeholders and work with them as important partners, his will be the policy mandate to guide activity, casting a shared national vision and ensuring an enabling environment.

Many are the players that serve small businesses and start-ups in all sectors — the trainers, innovation and incubation spaces, educational institutions, youth and women’s organisations, financial institutions, registration bodies, social and civic organizations — all of these produce the pipeline of small scale enterprises and have a role to play. It goes without say that the minister must be flexible enough to complement other ministries — that of women, youth, industry, finance and technology for there will be many areas of common interest.

What the minister needs to do for the section of the nation called small business is not rocket science, but it requires organizing and political will. Support, staff, strategy and stakeholder engagement are the four pillars of success.

We are hopeful as a community that we will get the person, and thereafter policy, we require to enable us to genuinely join others in saying: Zimbabwe is open for (small) business!

Feedback : [email protected], Twitter – @kumub

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