Sundaymail Editor
Harmony Agere
WHEN Mr McAlister Motsi left his formal job as a regional sales manager for a local petroleum company in 2012, some friends and relatives thought he was leaving the country for greener pastures.
But Motsi had other ideas.
Having gained vast experience in logistics, financial and business management as well as oil distribution during his time with his former employer, he decided to try his hand in entrepreneurship.
Things did not go too well during his first few years as an entrepreneur.
A cocktail of challenges ranging from a difficult operating environment to challenges with accessing capital threatened to stymie his dream.
He contemplated giving up and even considered returning to his former employer to beg for his job back.
But his luck took a turn for the better with the coming in of the Second Republic when President Mnangagwa came into office in November 2017.
Suddenly, the Government was preaching an open for business mantra and removing all the red tape that hamstrung local entrepreneurs.
“When I started, it didn’t work out the way I thought it would but giving up was not an option for me,” he told The Sunday Mail.
“In 2014, I had three cars then and I had to sell them to raise capital for a new project.
“With that money, I partnered with my brother Kelvin to form another company MC Freight solutions.”
The company deals in shipping, freight clearance, trucking and distribution of lubricants.
It has grown to become one of the fastest-growing locally-owned companies in a sector traditionally dominated by multinational companies.
“The current policies have given us confidence as entrepreneurs not to fear anything. From 2017 to now, the progress that we have made as a company has been phenomenal.
“When I look at it, I see that the policies that have been introduced by the Second Republic are convenient for budding businesses to grow.”
He said his company had created 45 jobs to date, in addition to other downstream ones. He says his success is testimony to the Second Republic’s achievements in promoting job creation, as espoused by President Mnangagwa.
“Currently, for MC Freight Solutions we have about 10 employees and for our oil distribution subsidiary, Boas Distribution, there are about 35,” he said.
“Due to the nature of the business, we do we don’t permanently employ many people, most of the jobs we create are downstream and these are clearing agents, drivers, and mechanics. So this shows that there are many other jobs that we have created on top of the 45 that I have talked about.”
Mr Motsi said under the Second Republic, entrepreneurs have found it easier to formalise their businesses and get new contracts.
According to the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business report for 2020, Zimbabwe registered significant improvements through removal of bureaucratic red tape, including streamlining approvals for construction permits and a reduction of the business licensing fee by Harare Municipality.
Other achievements made in the Ease of Doing Business include making the regulatory environment conducive to business operations and better protection of property rights.
In terms of overall ranking, the country improved from position 155 in the world to 140 out of 190 countries that were included.
This has helped scores of workers to transition seamlessly to becoming employers.
“I would encourage SMEs to formalise and register because this opens a lot of avenues for you.
”This is what the President is encouraging and we can see that it is working.
“If you carry yourself in a professional manner even if you are still small you give yourself an opportunity to serve even bigger clients. A big entity will not come knocking if you are not conducting your business professionally.”
Mr Motsi urged Zimbabweans to change their attitude, saying speaking negative about the country can only hurt its opportunities.
“We have beautiful infrastructure, we have got beautiful people, we have got a hard working human resources capital.
“So Zimbabwe can succeed if we work hard and we are positive, negativity doesn’t help anyone. Most of the countries speak negative about Zimbabwe because Zimbabweans speak negative about Zimbabwe.
“So as young entrepreneurs we need to believe in our country. All the countries that are great now went through their challenges, we need to believe in our Government.
“If the Government of the day is in power that is the Government of the day, it does not matter whether you like it or not. It’s better for me to succeed in my own country than making someone’s economy tick.”
Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe (Emcoz) president, Dr Israel Murefu said the Second Republic’s policies are nurturing entrepreneurs and creating jobs.
“The shift in policy by the Second Republic has been very positive. There is a clear thrust to open the economy and support business.
“The Government is looking to grow the economy and this will result in more jobs. The signs are already there, inflation has come down and there is stability in the economy.
“All these things will only encourage more investors to come in the country and even create more jobs. What is more exciting is that, now, we have so many youths that are starting their own companies and they are growing,” he said.
CZI said this year it anticipates a growth in capacity utilisation to 60 percent. If attained, this will be highest level since 2009.
Data compiled from 2009 to date, shows that the manufacturing sector has only surpassed the 50 percent mark once, in 2011, when industry capacity utilisation rose to 57, 2 percent.
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