Whilst Africa embarks on the economic empowerment as defined by BEE laws in South Africa and Indigenization regulations in Zimbabwe the absence of Entrepreneurial infrastructure remains a challenge.
Entrepreneurial infrastructure, represents the facilities and services present within a given geographic area which encourage the birth of new ventures and the growth and development of small- and medium- sized enterprises.
The model of entrepreneurial infrastructure that they provide support to potential new business owners, owners of small growing businesses, and existing small- and medium-sized enterprises by way of assisting them with tasks, physical and monetary resources, information and knowledge.
Well funded and structures programs which provides Business Advisory Service are part of a robust Entrepreneurial infrastructure which Zimbabwe and Africa in general need to invest in.
The continent has numerous examples of once thriving enterprises which have suffered due to lack of expertise and managerial skills which could be sourced from a well developed Entrepreneurial infrastructure.
Entrepreneurial infrastructure helps to develop strong tradition of self-reliance and entrepreneurship which is critical in starting up new ventures which create employment and deliver superior services and products.
In addition Africa generally lacks the spin-off culture whereby major firms often encourage their employees to quit their jobs to start their own businesses and will sometimes even provide them with financial backing.
This is the culture that allowed Silicon Valley in the USA to develop at an amazing pace with companies feeding the entrepreneurial infrastructure and appetite by encouraging employees to quit and form own businesses which often supplied products and services to their former employer.
The spin off culture normally leads to second wave of entrepreneurs once the pioneers had become successful. This is a culture which is desperately needed in Zimbabwe in particular and Africa in general to ensure that the black empowerment program does not just become sloganeering and election rhetoric but rather becomes sustainable policy which will systematically increase Africa’s middle class.
The presence of a much stronger entrepreneurial infrastructure will naturally make it easier to attract Foreign Direct Investment as many well equipped locals will be available to partner foreigners and achieve desired and regulated ownership thresholds.
In the physical realm, for example, it is hard to imagine life without roads, communications networks, airports, ports, sewer systems and electricity grids. Since they are defined for their “public good” nature, government plays a central role in financing, if not operating, such infrastructure facilities. It is taken for granted that the Government must install these. It should not stop on these alone the presence of rule of law, respect of property rights come as part of the Entrepreneurial infrastructure package.
Even though Economic Empowerment is a noble idea there is need to work on providing and establishing the network of support institutions, zones, centres and incubators, stimulates establishing of institutional support to small entrepreneurship and their connecting in an integral network of support institutions for the purpose of entrepreneurship advancement.
These are the Institutions which will make the economic empowerment program a success and not mere rhetoric or slogans.
In today’s business internet connectivity and availability is a critical component of the entrepreneurial infrastructure. However Zimbabwe and Africa remain mostly with limited access to the internet for budding entrepreneurs and the costs are way too high. The Internet represents perhaps the most significant infrastructure project of modern times. Its growth has been fuelled largely by competing cable and telecom providers seeking to demand for faster computational power and transmission speeds.
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This article was prepared exclusively for 3MG MEDIA by GMRI Capital a Division of the ENG Capital Group.
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