My view

Hi out there. I have been a little predisposed to trying to force my little business survive in what is an increasingly hostile business environment. The hostility has largely been driven by weakening economies across the SADC region. it is estimated that a number of economies will produce less than impressive GDP results this year. Zimbabwe will probably do the worst with our GDP expected to end the year at 29 billion from 31 billion in 2018 (* source Tradingeconomics.com). Looking at the indicators across the region, all is not well. In Zimbabwe what is obvious is the ones who are running the show have returned to money printing which is running at odds with the tight fiscal policy that has been alluded to by our minister of finance in his transitional stabilization programme. In actual fact the resolve of the government has been found wanting as they have seen overtures rebuffed in their diplomatic engagement drive. The leadership in Zimbabwe has largely spurned the goo

Good Morning this wonderful Monday! Another opportunity to get to those targets set again. Today I want to talk about financial literacy. Financial literacy simply put is understanding how money works. I believe financial illiteracy is the reason behind many enterprises destruction, as the owners in the good times never prepare for bad times resulting in the death of the business at its first real stress. I have been following presentations by many entrepreneurs in Zambia, Zimbabwe and SA. In those presentations, what they have in common, they highlight financial indiscipline and failure to understand money as a key destroyer of not only businesses but also individual wealth. How many stories have you heard of that guy who used to be rich and fell on hard times and never got back? In Africa, I belive financial intelligence and literacy is much more important than the rest of the world as we don't have the support institutions that incubate support and assist wealth creation. Actu

As an entrepreneur forced into business I have learnt over a short period that our mindset has to be very different to those of others. I will over the next few weeks try to start to focus my blog in a personal way so maybe someone can learn from my experiences. It is my hope that in sharing my experiences with you I too may learn from those who are generous enough to comment with your own views. I will begin with Debt.... 1. Debt is like a drug- *Banks are the drug dealers When beginning a business, you major financing will come from within your close spheres and yourself. Cash is usually tight; and those that lend or invest will do so because of the personal relationship of the entrepreneur ( more than the business itself). As you begin to grow the business and establish a track record, the more established sources of finance will seek to finance you. Be weary of this sudden interest in your business. In Africa, most financial institutions do not take a growth outlook to yo

Let me begin with this. I am not against civil service. There are many examples of excellence by civil servants working hard for the country. In many cases these civil servants work for little pay and are often not recognized for the work they do. All too often the guys excelling in very difficult circumstances are overlooked for political and/or personal reasons. However, lets be real, these guys are in the minority. At least over the last 8 years. I begin looking at civil service reform because of the size and effects on the economy. Depending on which source you believe Zimbabwe's GDP sits at between $7.3 billion to $14 billion. So if that is the case the amount of money consumed by government is anything from 30%-50% of GDP. Such a statistic is very worrying. Let me put it in a simpler understanding. If you make a dollar, government will consume between 30 to 50% of that. This does not encourage enterprise nor does it encourage investment. This is what government should

What is the value we create? That is  the issue to the new Zimbabwean economic reality. This question must be asked everyday, in every household and every sector of the economy. We cannot as a nation go forward without that. By adopting the multi-currency regime in Zimbabwe we effectively removed any ability to improve our competitiveness by manipulating exchange rates. This has been the trick that African economies have been using to essentially "protect" the economy. These policies have, in my opinion, kept our countries only competitive in the primary and extractive industries. This is why when we look at GDP growth in Africa, much of our economy as a continent is dependent on FDIs (Foriegn Direct Investment) and export of raw materials. I need to note that I am in no way against the tenets of FDI and export of Raw Materials, it must not be in the long term economic policy of a country to focus on that alone. Remember that today's FDI becomes tomorrow's divi

I am back. In recent days I have been wondering what the core of my identity is. To this end, I believe I am most creating. Not creating in the sense of the great writers such as Shakespeare or our very own Shimmer Chinodya, but in the sense of the entrepreneurial minds that driven capitalism since the early man found barter trade is a means of getting what you need and could not attain. So the focus going forward is to provide an "African" view of what participation in capitalism. I say "African" because there cannot be an African view since we constitute nearly 1 billion views feelings etc. Heck, we cannot constitute a "Zimbabwean" view. That is why this is my view. To the item at hand. I came from Zimbabwe the other day only to be saddened by what I see as the stalled Zimbabwean rebirth. Since 2008 and the height of the Zimbabwe Hyperinflation, I was naive enough to think by removing monetary authority from our government, who had clearly failed