An assessment of Zimbabwe’s indigenisation and economic empowerment (ZIEE) policy in supporting and developing youth entrepreneurs

Abstract

This research essay is an assessment of the Zimbabwe National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Policy (NIEEP) against its objectives of supporting and developing youth entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe. The purpose of this study was to establish the extent to which the NIEEP was achieving its objectives of enhancing and creating employment opportunities for youth entrepreneurs to actively participate in the economy. The study also sought to identify the challenges affecting the implementation of the NIEEP as well as to understand the link between the National Youth Policy and the NIEEP. A qualitative research approach was used to answer the research questions. Secondary data was gathered from various government ministry reports, lending institutions, scholarly articles, and daily newspapers among others. Content and thematic analyses were used to critically review and analyze the literature and to answer the research questions. The study found that the NIEEP managed to establish the youth fund to finance youth projects, reserve shares in some sectors of the economy for youth businesses and reserved company shares for purchase by youths. Despite these achievements, the study found several irregularities and challenges faced by the NIEEP. The main challenges include inaccessibility of the youth fund by the youths due to restrictive collateral requirements, abuse of power and corruption to access funding, fraudulent activities by applicants, lack of training in entrepreneurial skills among the youth applicants, inadequacy of the fund as well as a non-conducive economic environment for entrepreneurship leading to the policy failing to meaningfully empower and support youth entrepreneurship and creation of employment opportunities. The study recommends that the government, through responsible ministries, strengthen institutions to reduce corruption, train youths on entrepreneurship, grow the youth fund as well as create a conducive economic environment which allows youths entrepreneurship