The thriving spirit of entrepreneurship in Bulawayo

So many young people in Zimbabwe have been so innovative and highly adaptive to the economic situation prevailing, many thanks to the ruinous policies of the government who over the years leading to the collapse of the major functions of the economy, have ignored the need to raise more awareness of and support the young business population. In Bulawayo, there was a rise in companies started up by these young people who despite the hardships of getting properly integrated into the business world made a foot stand and operated to serve a community in need. From around 2007, when many of the factories and other forms of employment failed, many were thrown out of work and hardships set in. Many people joined the exodus to the diaspora- to South Africa, Botswana making it by illicit means and some went across the seas just to get in better places and earn a living and education. These immigrants faced new dangers in those lands and lack of opportunity. In countries like Botswana, there has been public floggings of undocumented Zimbabweans while in South Africa, the world witnessed the xenophobic attacks of foreigners including Zimbabweans prior to and after the world cup. Everywhere else, the story of misery goes untold pretty much as it is difficult to completely thrive in an environment that is not naturally your habitat.
      Thus the business sector of Bulawayo saw a rapid rise in entrepreneurs who lived a cat and dog life with the tax watch dog, ZIMRA who seemed to cash in on these. First of all, the inflexible policies of the tax regime seemed to pose a heavy impediment on these businesses. To obtain a Tax Clearance Certificate was very hard for young businesses because at one time ZIMRA demanded that an entity has to be in operation for at least a year or so, then it came to six and finally to three months. While most substantial contracts, local and national government tenders required this document, many start-up companies were at a disadvantage and it seemed to contradict the Ministry of Youth's effort and preaching that the youth were being helped to run businesses. These entities that sprouted to cover the glaring chasms created by the collapse of industry in the city and I believe at that time, there was need to decentralize control of government functions such as ZIMRA for the smooth flow of tax revenue into the country's coffers. There were technology companies that specialized in selling computers, components and software. Then was the colleges formed by former teachers who could not afford to live off their paltry government salaries. These helped sustain the heavily shaken education sector and there was also medical supplies companies, hardware stores, computer services, phone sales, unlocking and the whole nine yards. I ran a Financial Services organization a friend and I had started up and we specialized in these start-up businesses helping them to report to stakeholders and also seek for funding. It is through this that I encountered the indifference of the people who influence economic decisions in the country of Zimbabwe. There was a time when I wrote a letter adressing it to Geshom Pasi the Commissioner of Taxes, complaining about the unrealistic demands of the tax regime and how hard it was for new companies to operate legally. The manager at ZIMRA offices in Bulawayo, a certain Mr Rombe (if my memory still serves me well) reacted to this request with total disregard. His actions were, the companies had to do what they wanted and not the other way and I felt sorry for him, to run an organization with such out of touch demands is like trying to paddle a boat with a spoon. The refusal by ZIMRA to flex their demands led to them losing hundreds of thousands of dollars to their own agents who accepted bribes and it killed the business culture because companies ceased drawing their accounts correctly so as to pay their tax dues, instead, they just went over to the ZIMRA offices and sought their friends who wrote the clearances out for them, for a fee of course.
   Then there was the unannounced visits by ZIMRA on the same businesses over and over again. Not to say they were not necessary, these visits were very important but given the number of businesses that had sprouted in the city, the tax officials seemed to target the same businesses every time they did conduct these visits. As a result, those subjected to the visits were further constrained from growth because of the severe penalties they suffered after such visits. This is what we tried to help companies avoid by providing a service that was cheap and guaranteeing that their books of accounts tallied with their tax contributions and in times of visitations like these, they would be able to walk off unscathed.
   The city council also had a statute stating that for a business to obtain a shop license, they had to have been cleared by the taxmen and thus, for those start up businesses that were in retailing and every other business, it became hard for them and knowing of this glitch in the system, the city council sent around their enforcers who dished out tickets and collected bribes from the businesses who were trying to make it in business and that ate deep into their profits rendering it difficult for them to thrive.

   It is lastly a great thing to hear about the unveiling of the program JUICE by Prime Minister Tsvangirai because it aims among a plethora of positive things, promote entrepreneurship and the creation of a sound small business environment goes a very long way in helping an economy to be afloat. It is a welcome initiative and now the job is left for us to vote in a man whose promise embraces our dreams.