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Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
A MAJORITY of men do not want their spouses to be involved in their family businesses, a development that leads to entities collapsing when the proprietor dies, a senior Government official said.
Chief Registrar of the Companies and Intellectual Property Zimbabwe (CIPZ), Mr Willie Mushayi said while most businesses were family owned, it was concerning that women were shut out yet they are the majority.
He said this on the sidelines of a tax incentives beneficial ownership capacity building workshop, which was held in Bulawayo recently.
“Most private limited companies are family owned. This is not a recent phenomenon but it has always been like that. Even before independence you would find that most families were owned by families,” he said.
Mr Mushayi said children were in most cases involved later as they grew up.
“The start was therefore usually a partnership of husband and wife, which is a good set up and an acceptable one. The only problem is that the wife is usually not involved in the day-to-day running of the business and this has got several implications.
In the event the man dies, the business cannot continue because the wife has not been properly inducted in the operations,” he said.
Under such circumstances, he said, when a man gets a second wife, he usually moves the business from the first wife to the second wife.
“So, that again disrupts the operations and there is a wrangle,” said Mr Mushayi.
He said in most instances the challenge was that men do not involve their spouses in the business operations even if they inject capital into the enterprises.
Mr Mushayi said what is surprising is that if women start businesses, they want their husbands to be fully involved in the businesses.
Commenting on the issue,Padare/Enkundleni coordinator Mr Ziphongezipho Ndebele said men register their spouses on company businesses mainly for legal formalities yet they will not want them involved in the daily operations.
“We live in a patriarchal society and as such men believe that they are bread-winners who should provide for their families. It is for this reason that their wives’ names just appear on company papers but the wives are not involved in the running of the businesses,” he said.
Mr Ndebele said a woman can be named a director but totally shut out from the day to day operations of the business.
He said some women were comfortable being excluded in the running of the company business but the sad part is that when the man dies, their livelihood is threatened.
Mr Ndebele said men should nurture their wives in family businesses for continuity in the event of death or any other misfortune.
Women’s organisations said men’s behaviour was largely to blame for society’s failure to empower women.
Women’s Institute for Leadership Development Trust executive director Ms Samukeliso Khumalo said while men were self centred, women were community oriented.
“There is always continuity with regards to empowering a woman as opposed to empowering a man. In empowering a man, you are empowering an individual,” she said.
“In an African setting when a man gets money, you are rest assured that he will start having small houses so there are few men who really invest in families.
“I don’t know what to blame but when they get money, they start having more women and driving fancy cars. When the man dies, the business also collpases,” said Ms Khumalo.
She said her organisation was on a drive to empower women to run businesses as they already dominate the informal sector.
“For me 80 percent of women are already running businesses but this is in the informal sector. We are therefore empowering women to set up and register these businesses so that they become formal business enterprises,” said Mrs Khumalo.
She said women should pay tax and be able to get loans from banks. — @nqotshili
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