Zimbabwe’s Indigenous SME policy Framework, a tool for black empowerment

Abstract

Zimbabwe embarked on the policy to empower its local people through enacting into law a policy that targeted the empowerment of its citizens. The ‘Indigenisation and Empowerment Act’ (IEP) of Zimbabwe was made into law when the state President, Robert Mugabe signed the Act on March 7, 2008. It is stated in the (IEP) that the foreign-owned companies should offer at least 51 percent of their shares to indigenous Zimbabweans, and also provide for the creation of an empowerment fund to finance the acquisition of working capital, shares, and other forms of finance for indigenous people. The indigenisation process mainly focus on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as the key drivers of the new economic dispensation hence their performance is of great significance to this cause. This development was viewed by the citizens as the best strategy to implement in order to empower the nation to participate in the economic development of the country. Methodologically, the study critically analysed the literature of indigenization policies that were applied by some regions of the world and how they impacted on the disadvantaged groups. The researcher went on to analyse the Zimbabwean indigenous policies and how they impacted the SMEs and drew insights from the findings of other researchers.