Building a mass driven economy

well-being and prosperity of the entire society.
We may therefore need to stimulate debate on the implementation strategy, particularly on share acquisition, apart from the noble programme of Share Ownership Schemes for resource-endowed areas. Floating of shares under the current financial system may not benefit ordinary citizens because it is a traditional, exotic styled bourse inaccessible to ordinary people.
The stockbrokers rationally prohibit low-income earners by demanding a justified high minimum deposit for anyone seeking to trade on the stock exchange. They are currently justified to exclude low-income earners because they have to cover administrative costs with the one percent of allocated brokerage fee.
The indigenisation policy therefore prompts the need to overhaul the status quo in share trading in order to allow entrance of ordinary citizens into the mainstream economy. This brings the idea of creating equity co-operatives, something our local society is already familiar with because many today own houses built out of such clusters.
There is no need to reduce the minimum deposits demanded by securities to unviable paltry figures, hence the need to form equity co-operatives protected by a legal framework just like companies and partnerships.
All equity co-operatives need the compulsory administration of independent nominees or trustees to represent them and registered financial institutions such as banks are ideal to avoid embezzlement of people’s funds by bogus institutions.
If share registers of all listed firms would create a single entry for an equity co-operative it would enable all aspiring low-income earners to mobilise their funds to buy into specific entities of interest through their independent trustees.
Equity co-operatives can cater for SMEs, the youth, women and men in the informal sector, who can be encouraged to invest their income into the formal sector of our economy. Equity co-operatives help accelerate the re-formalisation of our economy as informal traders who respond cannot avoid opening and re-opening bank accounts in the process of being empowered with an opportunity to buy into the formal sector.
Low personal bank deposits are not just about bank charges but possibly the question of idle money. The formally jobless and self-employed traders prefer spinning outside the formal sector because the securities cannot accept their paltry investments as individuals.
Equity co-operatives make the informal traders relevant to the economy by treating them as domestic investors who can co-partner in turning around the fortunes of current and future enterprises, considering they are sitting on an estimated US$2 billion in un-deposited money.
Informal traders cannot be underestimated. When given an opportunity they can recapitalise many ailing local companies and even be future partners in the formation of future commercial juggernauts.
While the need for foreign financial and technical partners is necessary in the resuscitation of ailing parastatals through Private Public Partnerships, the Government can also incorporate its own people through equity co-operatives in their turnaround process and also enhance national security by placing its citizens into its strategic institutions.
Securities require figures of around US$500 to US$5 000 for private equity from individuals, which eliminates even the civil servants. In contrast, the equity co-operatives catering for individuals who cannot meet the securities threshold can start from as low as US$10 for its members.
Equity co-operatives also teach, expose and promote professional entrepreneurship among our informal traders. They are an opportunity to increase the middle-class bracket because dividends become an additional source of revenue for our households.
Monocentred revenue sources are the challenge for many households living below the poverty datum line hence equity co-operatives can cater for subsistence farmers in the villages to vendors and hawkers in our cities to also start exploring opportunities in other sectors of the economy.
Through consistent investment and re-investments many marginalised people can graduate from collective investments into independent investors who will stand on their own feet as individuals to acquire private equity.
The Buy Zimbabwe Campaign can also become easily self-driven by consumers who buy local brands they can also easily co-invest into.
The perception can be different from a capitalist environment of elite promotion against mass promotion. The timing aspect of the empowerment program which looks into starting time and duration of implementation is important.
Our economy is agro-based with more than 70 percent being subsistence farmers, hence it is possibly ideal to launch between February and August when rural folks get their annual pay cheque to set aside some of their proceeds for such investment opportunities. Livestock farmers in southern parts can also consider trading their livestock to join such co-operatives so that no region or group is excluded in the empowerment process.