Victoria Ruzvidzo Business Focus —
Compliments of the season to you good people! We thank God for blessing us with yet another year that already looks and feels promising.
What, with the rains pounding most parts of the country, its only a matter of time before we see the vast expanse of land in Zimbabwe turning green, not with grass but crops as the agricultural sector rises again.
We certainly hope that the new year is not just a shift of calendar days but also of the mindset as we prepare, plan, strategise and set objectives for 2017.
Quite a number of meeting places are naturally going to be fully booked as companies and other institutions meet to set objectives and map strategies to take their operations to the next level.
The words that failure to plan is planning to fail indeed hold true. While it would have been more tactful to plan for the year, last December or thereabouts, there is still time to do so this month and ensure there in no warm up time, the cylinders must just begin to fire at full throttle to get things gone.
Gone are the days when many would want to ascertain the economic or political temperature first before deciding the course that they would take.
This is now a generation where things don’t just happen, we make them happen. We create the environment in which we want to live. We create the temperature we are comfortable with.
The earth seems to be orbiting faster than before which means there is not much time to wait or to assess trends. Business and life in general is now a matter of just jumping on and correcting mistakes, making bends, or turning left or right as and when the need to do so arises.
Of course this is not to say we enter the fray blindly but we just do not need to awaken at half year only to find out we haven’t done anything and there is not much time to cover or do that which we had intended. We just need to be on the go. Time waits for no man indeed.
Indeed we have mourned, complained, murmured and done all we could as we blamed this or that for our state of affairs but we need to be more aggressive and more assertive by directing our energy towards making the difference ourselves.
The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange has not been doing particularly well in recent years but it ended the year bullish. The bears were nowhere to be seen. The year ended on a better footing with slightly improved cash for depositors while economy-wide, the onset of rains, with increased intensity and consistency as 2016 paved way to the new year, has induced optimism and great hope that this year we may not only have enough to feed ourselves but the number of dollars from exports could grow significantly. We may begin to enjoy a healthier balance of payments while the effects of a positive out-turn will be felt throughout the economy.
This will not happen automatically as we are all well aware of. It requires that we all work hard and work smart. We should all do our bit and the sum total will leave many of us smiling again. We surely need something that softens the wrinkles that we developed last year as we cringed and made faces when confronted by one challenge or another. God has been gracious to give us yet another opportunity to showcase His wisdom so generously deposited in those that seek it.
Already many have said nothing much will happen this year in terms of development because it’s an election year, as 2017 is a run-up to the 2018 elections hence focus will be more on electioneering rather than development programmes. But I beg to differ. I think a lot will happen this year if we must have the energy and motivation to participate in the elections. As I said previously. The economy has to be the number one priority, even as campaign materials and manifestos are being crafted.
On its part, Government needs to expend more energy to steer the economy back on track. It must create a facilitative environment through policy consistency and ensure that all or at least most ingredients are in place and in their right quantities for business to grow.
Business will need to think away from the box and work towards improving the economy. The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, the Institute of Directors, the Professional Women and Women in Business Forum (Proweb), The Network of African Business Women (NABW) and the whole list of business organisations should complement each other in bringing better results for this economy.
The Zimplats, Deltas, Econets, Innscors, Seed Cos of this world and all the giant and small corporates should stand out and be counted.
If production processes must be changed then they must be, if new technology must be adopted, this must happen, where jobs can be saved, they must be so that it all adds up to achieve a solid Gross Domestic Product figure for this country.
Build, own, operate initiatives and public and private partnerships must be pursued with vigour to ensure every avenue to grow the economy is accounted for.
Universities and all academic institutions should find space on the arena to play their part in turning the economic wheels of this country. These could lead in research and introduction of new production processes, new chemicals for agriculture, cost-effective ways of doing things or localisation of foreign technology or any such initiatives that will yield results.
Local and international development partners, the informal sector, communities and households should make decisions and implement strategies whose sole goal is to create a better economy and a better Zimbabwe in which we all prosper.
If all of us, in our specific corners, do the best we can, this year could turn out to be the best in recent years. Everyone has a role to play and we will all be complicit if 2017 ends on a miserable note.
For me, the rains we are receiving just set the right tone. Zimbabwe is an agro-based economy hence the rains mean our anchor sector will perform well, combined with human efforts such as timeous availability of inputs and hard-work of course. If agriculture performs well, the manufacturing sectors smiles hence mining, tourism and other sectors of the economy.
Zimbabwe’s economy has lied dormant for too long and its about tine that the sleeping giant awakened again. If nudging doesn’t do the trick then let’s light fire under it and force it to reawaken.
Herewith something I found helpful and worth sharing:
A list of what we need to do at a personal level to ensure success.
1. DO A THOROUGH REVIEW OF YOUR LIFE: You can’t just jump into 2017 without picking the lessons in 2016 and you can’t pick the lessons in 2016 without doing a thorough review of the year. This is why Socrates says “An unexamined life is not worth living”. You must do a review that looks closely at very specific details of your year, month by month, activity by activity. For some years now, I’ve used a very rigorous tool to review my year and that of my private coaching clients. This year, I will make this tool available to you so you can share in its power to put your year on a different growth trajectory.
2. SET SMART GOALS FOR 2017: Goal-setting is a mark of all high achievers. You don’t need new year resolutions. You need new year goals. Goals that are SMART in nature. Goals that will take you from here to there. There is goal-setting and there is “goal setting”. Some goal lists are better described as wish-lists. A real goal list comes out of a deep reflection of where you’ve been and where you want to go. It bridges the past, the present and the future in a very orderly, attainable and reasonable manner.
3. MAKE A STOP DOING LIST: As we grow in life, there are things we need to stop doing. Many times we only consider things we need to start doing. However, when we can stop doing certain things, it gives room to start doing better things.
So, before you enter 2017, sit down and ask yourself, what were the habits, actions, decisions or behaviours that did not serve me well in 2016. List them and if really they didn’t serve you well, then you need to stop doing them. You must give up to go up!
4. MAKE A START DOING LIST: There is a Ghanaian adage that, for you to take a knife from a child, you need to replace it with another object. For your stop doing list to remain intact in practice, you need to replace those actions and behaviours with new ones. You need to sit down again and identify which behaviours or habits in your opinion could serve you better than those on your stop doing list. Write them out and get to work immediately.
Human beings are programmed beings. Every habit and behaviour is the product of your programming. So, for you to change a habit, you will need to uninstall the bad programming and replace it with a new and better.
5. MAKE A THANK YOU LIST: Every year, God brings some people into our lives. People who have made us better through the influence they’ve had on our lives, either privately, at work or place of worship. Before you enter 2017, call these people up and thank them for the value they’ve added to you. Remember, THE MORE GRATEFUL YOU ARE, THE MORE REASONS THERE WILL BE TO BE GRATEFUL. Start by calling your Creator and thanking Him for all the graces He freely showered on you. I hope you still have His number. It’s the commonest of all phone numbers, because you don’t need to dial any number on any phone, you just need to start talking and the call will be sent straight to Him. So, thank God and proceed to thank the human beings who were your heroes in 2016.
6. FORGET ABOUT ALL THE PAINS OF 2016: You must move into 2017 with excitement, enthusiasm and joy. This step is very very important. Don’t think you are the only one who had a bad time in 2016.
Everybody had. Even those you see on top of their game and living all the flashy life had all tasted life’s knocks at some point in 2016. If you don’t start a race with energy and enthusiasm, there are high chances you won’t end on a good note.
No matter the pain, hurt, difficulties or disappointments of 2016, please don’t enter into the new year with a heavy, sad heart. There is one very good reason to be happy, excited and thankful; YOU ARE STILL ALIVE. And once there is life, there is hope for a better life tomorrow – Bismark Tay.
In God I trust!!!!
My Email:victoria.ruzvidzo@zimpapers.co.zw OR victoria.ruzvidzo@gmail.com/ Whatsapp: 0772129972.