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Mandaza Chikarango

Herald Correspondent

Zimbabwe is making significant strides towards attaining Vision 2030 and youths should not focus on negativity and petty politics on social media, but work to emerge as new entrepreneurs or else they miss the economic train, a leading businessman has said.

Speaking at a jobs summit in Harare recently, property investor Dr Phillip Chiyangwa chronicled the journey he travelled towards economic success and the ability to remain focused in business.

“Some years back in the early 1980s, I identified the problem that many Zimbabweans could not afford to buy home and office furniture from big white-owned furniture companies,” he said.

“I started buying second hand furniture and re-selling it. Later, I identified the problem that these white-owned companies were manufacturing furniture that was mainly suitable for whites and not blacks.

“I then established my own furniture manufacturing companies. This is how my business journey started. Years later, I identified the problem that many city councils in Zimbabwe were having challenges paying their workers and I chipped in by lending my money to these city councils in exchange for land.

“I had realised that in future land would be scarce in many cities because the population is growing and when these city councils approached me asking for money to pay their workers in exchange for land, I grabbed the opportunity to buy lots of land and I also bought from private players.

“Many people laughed at me as I was lending my money in exchange for land. Some actually said, ‘Phillip Chiyangwa is mad, he is buying useless forests’. But today I am one of the biggest property moguls in the country. Those forests are giving me lots and lots of money.”

Dr Chiyangwa noted the crumbling of many businesses after being inherited by children of the founders.

“One of the reasons why some people get mixed up is the fact that they mistake richness and entrepreneurship,” he said.

“You can be born rich if your parents are rich and you inherit their wealth.

“However, inheriting wealth from your parents does not make you an entrepreneur. If my son Bruce or my daughter Ellen or Cherish inherit my wealth, that doesn’t mean they are now entrepreneurs.

“This is why you have heard so many stories of children who after inheriting their parents’ business they run them down and in no time the business collapses. It’s because the children are not entrepreneurs. In my view and based on my experience, entrepreneurs are not born. Entrepreneurs are made.

“Unlike other fields like sports that require an inborn physical talent and endurance, entrepreneurship is about the ability to identify problems, find means to solve the problem and in the process make money. No one is born with that ability. This ability is acquired through a combination of experience, education and not necessarily formal education, patience, self-motivation, innovation, fearlessness, discipline and the ability to lead.”

Emerging entrepreneurs needed to be innovative and possess traits of hard work.

“To be a successful entrepreneur, an individual must be able to locate a problem and offer innovative solutions to that problem,” said Dr Chiyangwa. “What keeps most entrepreneurs in business is the ability to keep developing new strategies. Without innovation, an entrepreneur will lose their touch.

“For instance, Apple releases a new model of iPhone, iPad or Mac. This means that the company has researchers working round the clock to be able to meet consumer expectations. Innovation, however, is not something a person is born with; rather, it is a quality nurtured through leveraging and they need to work hard to flourish in their businesses as entrepreneurship is a daunting task.

“I know many people would rather devote themselves to a more stable career path than be an entrepreneur. Many prefer working for other people.

“This is quite understandable because it is not easy being an entrepreneur. You have to be willing to work hard and take risks with your company.”

Dr Chiyangwa urged entrepreneurs to be disciplined and self-motivated.

“Entrepreneurs have a huge drive, ambition, and determination to get things done,” he said. “They know what they want and do whatever it takes to make it happen.

“The entrepreneurial mind is very persistent in its pursuit of the goal. It has the patience for trial and error, while still being resilient enough not to let failures stop them from continuing its pursuit.

“Self-motivation is an integral part of entrepreneurship, so entrepreneurs need to be disciplined as it is a skill that needs to be learned, created, and practiced.

“Discipline is difficult to teach but it can be taught by example. It is the backbone of an entrepreneur’s success. Without discipline, one cannot reach their full potential.

“Discipline is a good example that shows that entrepreneurs are not born; they are made with the right mind-set and the right skillset.

“They need to know how to set priorities, stay disciplined in their work habits, and execute their plans. If you want to be an entrepreneur, then you need to practice self- discipline.”