Successful entrepreneurship is a collective achievement

and it treats the social, economic, and political factors influencing entrepreneurship as external demographic statistics.
The process of entrepreneurship is a collective achievement requiring key roles from numerous entrepreneurs in both the public and private sectors. One has to understand how this infrastructure for entrepreneurship emerges.
While this infrastructure facilitates and constrains individual entrepreneurs, it is the latter who construct and change the industrial infrastructure. This infrastructure does not emerge and change all at once by the actions of one or even a few key entrepreneurs.
Instead, it emerges through the accumulation of numerous institutional, resource, and proprietary events that co-produce each other over an extended period.
Moreover, the very institutional arrangements and resource endowments created to facilitate industry emergence can become inertial forces that hinder subsequent technological development and adaptation by proprietary firms.
This process has a dynamic history that is itself important to study systematically if one is to understand how novel forms of technologies, organisations and institutions emerge.
Entrepreneurship is rarely a solo enterprise, it requires a solid support to encourage and nurture risk taking and enterprise creation. “Smart” people learn from each other, and an infrastructure for entrepreneurship naturally encourages connection between aspiring entrepreneurs and like minded individuals.
With credit to my brother Gilbert Muponda, I am reproducing his article on the lack of entrepreneurial infrastructure as an impediment for growth.
For Africa and Zimbabwe to properly leap into global competitiveness there is greater need to raise awareness of what has been lacking over the last 50 or so years. As an example Ghana and South Korea and Malaysia were almost at equal stages of development 50 years ago.
Yet today they are worlds apart with Korea being home to a host of world leading firms such as Daewoo, LG, Samsung, Hyundai and many others. Africa has not managed to create such huge corporations despite having serious natural resource base.
Partly the answer lies in the lack of entrepreneurial infrastructure. These are social, economic and political factors influencing entrepreneurship. These involve creation of an enabling environment and support system to allow entrepreneurs to flourish with minimum hindrance.
This entrepreneurial infrastructure includes:
(a) Public resource endowments of basic scientific knowledge, funding mechanisms, and a pool of competent and educated labour,
(b) Proprietary research and development, manufacturing, marketing and distribution functions by private entrepreneurial individuals and firms to commercialise their ideas for profit.
(c) Institutional arrangements to legitimate, regulate and standardise new ideas (products). The goal should be to attract a large number of “smart” individuals and then to get out of their way and let them focus on building great ventures.
Risk taking will and ability has to be encouraged and nurtured. Unplanned creativity is a natural trait of entrepreneurship that should not be controlled by the state or government authority inasfar as an entrepreneur is creating an enterprise that provides a service or product that serves a need.
Unplanned creativity can be the most critical driver of economic prosperity success. African governments need to put their faith in the ability of smart people to build their own economic futures through building businesses that serve the community they live in.
As noted above smart people learn from each other and through that process, new ventures and businesses are formed from simple interaction between smart people who are driven.
Zimbabwe in particular and Africa in general should encourage aggressive and imaginative local entrepreneurs in creating an infrastructure for the new knowledge-based economy.
This must be targeted at encouraging local homegrown entrepreneurs and not flooding the economy with foreign traders while preaching local economic empowerment.
On the cultural front encouraging the development of an entrepreneurial culture, tolerant of risk and cognisant that honourable failure is the price of ambition has to be accepted.
Sound policies and investment in infrastructure attuned to market and environmental needs will have an entrepreneurial return. Entrepreneurial infrastructure encourages and supports creative, innovative behaviour attracts smart, entrepreneurial people.
Once those entrepreneurial people come to live in an area, they will help to maintain and improve upon the “smart” physical infrastructure they need to succeed and connect with other innovative individuals and entrepreneurs to share ideas and encourage each other.
Strong commitment by business-friendly government and established businesses should support entrepreneurs.
The creation of entrepreneurial infrastructure has the benefit of rubbing shoulders with globally competitive talent. Studies indicate that entrepreneurs who run in packs will be more successful than those that go it alone to develop their innovations will.
While the legal framework for economic empowerment is being put in place there is need for mentorship programmes and entrepreneurship classes in public schools provide other means of connecting entrepreneurial individuals and nurture their talent.
As always let’s make money.