Some years ago, I was very ambitious to be a successful entrepreneur. Realising that entrepreneurship requires dedication, resources and energy, I was left with no option but to approach some financial institutions for assistance. I dashed to town to see my bank manager hoping to get easier assistance, having been using the same bank for the previous four years. My dream of starting my own surgery was supposed to come to fruition as I now had all the professional qualifications and requirements to start one.
My hopes were dashed when I received a long list of requirements from the bank for trying to borrow just US$10 000 to start a small surgery which I was sure would benefit the community and the country at large.
Collateral was needed in the form of title deeds, financial statements, cash projections, project proposal and some of the requirements needed to be done by a qualified accountant who wanted US$1 000 from a young and poor doctor who was just four years after completing medical school. Tears drifted down my splotchy cheeks in disgust and I surrendered on the issue before looking at other options. The banks could not assist me to develop my career at a time when the country was in dire need of healthcare services. I am here today not because of bank assistance but through mere hard work. What a situation!
Today, 16 years after the trauma I went through with financial institutions, nothing much has changed. Financial access remains a pipedream and the poor continue to suffer despite some of them trying to run profitable projects. Banks are known for charging transaction fees and there is the possibility of going into a negative balance even if you never transacted via your account. The bank charges are repugnant. How many people will testify that they have benefitted something from banks despite the many years of doing business with them? For the lucky customers who access loans, the interest rates are extortionate and a natural deterrent to even apply for financial assistance.
How can we have only one side benefitting from us as customers and when you need assistance, there is no one to assist you? Why putting forward prohibitive requirements like title deeds to a prospective businessman who is a new graduate whose vision can transform the entire community? There is silent acrimony between banks and the population at large, but in many cases it is impossible to by-pass the same banks because deposits will be channelled through the banks. If people were given options, I bet many people were never going to deal with banks and that explains why many informal traders do not even desire to have a bank account. Cash circulation remains a challenge.
The old adage that the rich get richer while the poor get poorer applies here. Those who have many title deeds can access as much loans as possible while those without will continue to languish in poverty. Zimbabwe is a rich country with more than 93% literacy rate. Every year, our universities churn out thousands of graduates who remain dysfunctional despite them having Masters degrees, PhDs. We preach about our Heritage-Based Education 5.0 model but without financial support, it is just a theory on paper. How can we commercialise without financial support? Why not waiver some professionals so that they capacitate themselves quickly and that has potential to drive the employment rate up? An entrepreneur who wants to venture into education by constructing schools is one good example of someone who can be successful in just few years to come. A lawyer who seeks financial help to establish a law firm has high chances of success in a few years to come.
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A doctor who seeks financing to construct a clinic has high chances of prosperity in a few years to come. An agriculture graduate who seeks money to start horticulture and indulge in livestock farming has high chances of success in few years to come. We have a whole Ministry of Finance that needs to look at such things if really we are serious about education 5.0. Let us begin to notice mutual relationships between banks and clients and not the existing fake smiles shown when one is opening an account so that you are charged transaction charges on a daily basis. If a bank fails to assist me as I stagger to grow in business, the same bank should never approach me when I have grown in business.
It will be a mountain to climb to maintain education 5.0 with the absence financial support. Achieve Vision 2030 with financial support to entrepreneurs!
Johannes Marisa is a medical practitioner who is the current president of the Medical and Dental Private Practitioners Association of Zimbabwe.