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Entrepreneurship: Key to job creation in Zimbabwe
Youth Forum
November 20, 2013

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The formal employment sector in Zimbabwe is not capable to reduce the astronomical high levels of unemployment amongst the young people which is hovering over 80% and there is compelling need to put more emphasis on developing technical skills and providing management skills to those leaving school with various trades.

Given the many political, social, economic problems grappling Zimbabwe, entrepreneurship should be seen as a way out to the problem of joblessness.

There is growing apprehension in most African countries that training in technical and vocational skills are necessary to lessening the unemployment problem.

Entrepreneurship has a role to play in easing the youth unemployment problem in Zimbabwe, but the government is not creating conducive environments to promote youth entrepreneurship. Economic maladministration, corruption and bad policies and programs continue to choke the entrepreneurial potential of many Zimbabwean youth.

For entrepreneurship to flourish, a reasonable infrastructure of service institutions in the financial, administrative, legal, and educational fields is needed. Regrettably these factors are not adequately provided in Zimbabwe and the Youth Fund initiative established by the government has been accused of being partisan and only benefiting the politically connected individuals at the expense of the need and marginalised young people. Entrepreneurship should not be seen as a form of corruption whereby access to scarce goods or to such strategic factors of production as bank loans is determined by political patronage rather than by the interplay of market forces. Policies and programs must also address the highly varied socio-cultural faces that make for success in entrepreneurship.

In Zimbabwe there is a need to systematically build up a body of knowledge and skills in the new field of entrepreneurship education. With this in hand, educators can build a useful curriculum in schools, colleges, and vocational and technical training institutions in Africa.

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