OPEN ECONOMY: How rich nations build, converge political, enterprise interests

04 Jan, 2015 - 00:01 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

Zimbabwe was won. The history is well taught and cherished across our relatively new nation. Like 70 percent of the population today, I was not part of that battle yet still justly expectant to derive benefit from the committed sacrifices of the past.

However, it would be incompetent to simply expect an untroubled nirvana of joy, economic freedom and abundance.

Struggle is still necessary. Regrettably, numerous occurrences over time have muddled with our ability to focus and lock in on the task at hand for the presently economic active generation; specifically the new generation of entrepreneurs and aspiring industrialists.

Since the conception of trade and commerce in all human history, the individuals who have acquired an awareness of their existence along the timeline of their surrounding civilisation have derived great wealth.

This is an entrepreneurial virtue; a significant competence.

These eventual moguls of their respective times understood the trajectory of their civilisation, and they found how to extract value by enabling that civilisation’s advancement.

This is the entrepreneur and industrialist we are lacking right now! Do we understand where we are in the evolution of what is Zimbabwe?

It is not a bad thing at all that we live in politically loud times today in Zimbabwe.

There is significant economic relevance under all the sound. The key for entrepreneurs and industrialists is to listen closely; to listen very closely.

What does our economic ethos mean? Many fail to contextualize Indigenisation and land reform outside of political rhetoric; particularly because they fear the economic distortion these policies bring to the conventional economy that was Zimbabwe.

What is often overlooked is the motive behind these policies.

I worry it may be somebody’s intention to mute this motive from widespread consensus?

We do not pursue land and indigenisation simply for the immediate superficial assets acquired. What they give us are resources; resources necessary to determine our own economic direction.

I find it very hard to comprehend how that can be interpreted as anything else but the highest of national interest.

The idea of global capitalism is rather simple; he who has capital has ultimate discretion of economic activity.

Perhaps then it becomes clear why it is imperative for the Western world to keep the United States dollar as the global trading currency.

Likewise, it reveals why Bretton Woods institutions like World Bank and IMF operate as a cartel of capital disbursement to grip influence on the use of resources on the global economy.

This is all about who has discretion of global economic activity.

It would be unfortunate if we undermine this fact because it is economic activity that determines culture, security, subsistence, mental capacity.

Simply put, he who retains discretion of economic activity controls the people of the world; this is about Africa battling economic subjugation.

It is unfortunate that at times our political structures have allowed policy diluting polarisation, paralysing corruption, given influence to short sighted players and exposed us to giving credence to external influences within our own nation building.

Thus disrupting, delaying and confusing our own economic self-determination.

This has created the divisive effect of other Zimbabweans distancing themselves from contributing in the focused goal of self-determined nation building.

Ultimately, work in 2015 must be put into crystallising the economic opportunities that our political ethos avails to inclined entrepreneurs and industrialists of today.

This is necessary to converge political and enterprising interests, a requisite for nation building.

Our political ethos is founded on the premise of experimenting with our own form of capitalism, an economy where resources give native entrepreneurs and industrialists discretion of economic activity.

This is an attracting proposition for any shrewd businessman; assuming our political hierarchy stay consistent to this ethos in manner and conduct.

Such a convergence in political and business interests create a Zimbabwe with entrepreneurs and industrialists on a quest to create widespread wealth for themselves and fellow natives; patriotic business!

This must be a nation which offers the promise of self-created wealth to its sons and daughters.

Now, that is the battle and responsibility of our present day generation of enterprise.

What our institutional structures should strive to create is a competitive economy where discretion of economic activity is held locally and to the benefit of our nation.

That is culturally customised corporate governance, financial institutions that carry Zimbabwean names, globally competitive capital goods of local brands, industry using means of production and processes of local intellectual manifestation.

Of course all of this will not simply be given to this generation of entrepreneurs and industrialists; indeed we must demand the opportunity and it must be given to us.

It’s commonplace knowledge that entrepreneurs and industrialists influence the global economy. Further evident is that these individuals and institutions are disproportionately not African individuals or African enterprise under the discretion of locals.

This was for years the case in this country of ours. Would you not like to see, and perhaps be a part of a group of influential Zimbabweans that stand for patriotic enterprise?

It is a simple lack of ambition, for an entrepreneur and aspiring industrialist, to fall short of the desire to possess discretion on economic activity.

On this hangs exactly where our political and enterprise interests converge.

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