What’s next after ZEP (Zimbabwe Exemption Permit)?

 

The South African government decided to terminate the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP) which for more than a decade afforded thousands of struggling Zimbabweans a special opportunity to work and study in one of Africa’s richest countries. Despite a lot of controversy being stirred little has been offered on the table in terms of viable ideas pertaining how these brothers and sisters can survive life after ZEP. I have decided to fill this vacuum by sharing entrepreneurship ideas that someone affected by ZEP termination may find useful in as far as starting a new business in Zimbabwe is concerned. This is my solidarity contribution for fellow country men. WE ARE A PEOPLE TOGETHER !

There is an impending crisis in Zimbabwe after ZEP because the shrunken economy’s carrying capacity can’t accommodate more. However, there is a light of hope for those innovative enough to create new opportunities and I will suggest ideas on how this can possibly be done.

At a time when many young people were leaving Zimbabwe for greener pastures I for one decided to stay behind because of some stubborn self belief that I can make it here. I don’t believe that God allowed problems to happen in Zim and then he placed solutions overseas. If we seek solutions we shall find them not far.

No great nation rose to positions of prominence by delegating the solving of their own problems to other people. Talk about Rwanda, talk about Germany, talk about the Asian Tigers - the list goes on and on and it will continue to feature people who put the solving of their own problems upon themselves. Likewise we Zimbabweans its only us who will make Zimbabwe great ! After all the ancient dzimba dzamabwe  or zimbabwe (houses of stone) monuments in Masvingo which are an epitome of ancient African civilization under the mysterious Munhumutapa Empire and from which the country acquired its modern name are rightly called Great Zimbabwe ! Its you who will make Zimbabwe Great !

So when I stayed behind I joined a real estate agency. Real estate was attractive to me because I considered its commission based remuneration as something that encouraged entrepreneurship. However, with the scarcity of mortgage finance selling a house was tough due to over dependence on cash buyers. In real estate however, I learnt that some of the things that made our problems worse were something of our making like the continued dependence on traditional marketing methods at a time when the entire world had gone digital.

So I joined Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and became a blogger too. The use of digital media was a game changer. In 2014 online media helped me make a sales breakthrough by assisting me to earn $1 000.00 worth of commission after posting a blog article titled Financial Consequences Of Purchasing Property From A Seriously-ill Seller And Other Purchases To Avoid.

I realized that despite an economic meltdown if we would combine hard work with smart work our circumstances could be better. According to a World Bank and Ministry of SMEs sponsored research on entrepreneurship the majority of current micro and small enterprises in Zimbabwe can be described as “survivalist ”. This means that the owners get into business driven by the need to survive rather than the need to take advantage of an opportunity. This reduces the possibility of growth and sustainability because business success is based on clear and positively motivated business intentions.

Industrious Zimbabweans are opening all sorts of micro, small to medium enterprises ranging from mabhero (bales of clothes) to private schools. Unfortunately, the majority of these are survivalist. With the termination of ZEP I believe its high time we answer the hard question about what is required to be successful with entrepreneurship so that we really transform survivalist outfits into employment generating enterprises. So in this article I will focus on what I believe can be one of the answers and that thing is called a business model.

What is a business model ?

This is how a company creates value for itself while delivering products or services for customers.

In the old days we would think about how to organize a company around functional organizations. We would say “ No no a company is about its sales department, its engineering department …” and we would draw an org chart but today leading thinkers on entrepreneurship have come up with a different diagram and its called the business model canvas.

 

An Org Chart

 The Business Model Canvas

Created by Dr Alexander Osterwalder a business model canvas is a template for developing new or documenting existing business models. It has nine parts as follows;

(1) Key activities 

 What is it you need to be really good at ?

 

To think about key activities we can break your company down to probably one of four categories as follows;

a. Production company

b. Problem solving company

c. Software company

d. Platform / network company

The possible key activities involved in each of these companies are as follows;

 

a. Production company

i. Designing

ii. Making

iii. Delivering

iv. Marketing / Selling

 

b. Problem solving company

i. Knowledge management

ii. Recruitment

iii. Continuous training

iv. Marketing / Selling

 

c. Software company

i. Research and development

ii. Recruitment

iii. Marketing / Selling

 

d. Platform / network company

i. Research and development

ii. Platform management

iii. Service provisioning

iv Marketing / Selling

 

N.B Special note on marketing and selling.

As you can see marketing and selling appears in all lists of key activities for all companies. This is so because whatever product or service you create you must sell it.

According to a World Bank sponsored FinScope MSME Survey Zimbabwe 2012 a lack of online marketing knowledge is one of the key factors responsible for the failure of most micro, sole, small to medium enterprises.

To this end I am creating a training called The LinkedIn Connections Converter Special which will come as Part 1, 2 & 3. This training teaches entrepreneurs FOR FREE how to cost effectively launch a new product, service or company online and break into the market !

If you are interested please click The LinkedIn Connections Converter Special below to register today.

The LinkedIn Connections Converter Special

The other 8 parts of the Business Model Canvas are as follows;

 

(2) Value proposition 

What are you building and for who ?

 

(3) Customers 

 Who are my customers and why do they buy ?

 

(4) Channels 

How does your product get from your company to your customers ?

 

(5) Customer Relationships 

 How do you get, keep and grow customers ?

 

(6) Revenue model 

How does the company make money from each customer segment ?

 

(7) Key resources 

 What are the most important assets required to make the business model work ?

 

(8) Key partnerships 

 Who are the key partners and suppliers needed to make the business model work ?

 

(9) Cost structure 

What are the costs to operate the business model ?