Applying Entrepreneurship Concept to Decrypt the Socio-Economic Environment of Zimbabwean Rural-Urban Informality Since 2000

Abstract

Zimbabwe’s economic revival and growth lies in whether initiatives such as privatisation, liberalisation and entrepreneurship are the lasting solutions to the economic woes that have bedevilled the country in the past two decades. This paper will focus on the entrepreneurial spirit among the people of Zimbabwe and their preparedness in fulfilling their goals despite the country being in economic distress. Empirical evidence suggests that the government led economic fundamentals have failed to improve Zimbabwe’s macro-economic principles as the country continues to perform badly both on local and international economic indices as a result of low economic growth, low Foreign Direct Investment, high unemployment rates, structural economic inefficiency, corruption and poor policy implementation. As Zimbabwe is making its economic and political transition, it becomes imperative for an unprecedented economic trajectory. This paper further seeks to explore whether entrepreneurship is the best option for Zimbabwe, and what characteristics make a venture be considered entrepreneurial. All of which is premised in the socio-economic challenges that the country is facing and to ensure a successful transition to sustainable economic growth. Hence, the importance of entrepreneurial initiatives to fulfil the UN Sustainable Development Goal on Economic involvement of Countries of the Global South (GS) will also be cross-examined. A qualitative approach is applied and through interrogation of literature review of business economics and document analysis. The paper further opines that the economic surge created a plausible intent for a deeper critical analysis of economic and development policies.

Key words: Business, Consumption, Economic growth, Entrepreneurship, Environment, Sustainable development, Vendor