Entrepreneurs have commended government for translating political independence to economic empowerment through implementing favourable policies that allow business to flourish.
As the nation commemorates independence next Tuesday, leaders in various economic sectors ranging from industry, mining and agriculture to education services are taking time to reflect on the gains of independence.
Veteran educationist Dr Cleopas Kundiona says there was a lot of segregation in the colonial era with blacks unable to learn at certain institutions let alone own schools.
“There are a lot of fruits of independence, a lot of profits, a lot of dividends. In education we used to have a ministry of education for whites and ministry of education for blacks, so when we got independence we had to establish our own schools so now there is mushrooming of independence,” he said.
Small and medium enterprises are flourishing as a result of supportive government policies introduced after independence says industrialist Mr Tinashe Mutarisi.
“We want to thank government, we want to thank freedom fighters. As SMEs our companies are growing, we started off with just three employees but now I have 175 because of government support,” says Mr Mutarisi.
The land reform programme which started out at the turn of the new millennium also stands out as the major economic empowerment policy undertaken in Zimbabwe as vast tracts of land were redistributed from only 2 000 white farmers to around 300 000 black farmers who now produce lucrative crops like tobacco.
