Opportunities and challenges for Zimbabwean youth entrepreneurs in the African continental free trade area

Abstract

The study was on "Opportunities and Challenges for Zimbabwean Youth Entrepreneurs in the AfCFTA." AfCFTA is the second largest, from WTO, economic integration bloc in the world. AfCFTA seeks to boost intra-regional trade. It came after a lot of false starts by predecessor RTAs owing stalmates on tariffs and non-tariff barrers. The study sought to assess opportunities and challenges for Zimbabwean youth entrepreneurs in the AfCFTA in Harare metropolitan. The study used qualitative methodology aligning with an interpretivist research paradigm in seeking to collect qualitative data on the subjective experiences of the selected study participants. The research engaged 10 male and 10 female youth entrepreneurs and a 10-member focus group discussion with non-youth entrepreneurs in order to gain insights on changes and discontinuities on RTAs. The study used in-depth interviews, key informant interviews, focus group discussions observations to collect primary data, two separate interview guides were used, one for entrepreneurs and the other for officials. The research adopted a case study research design. The study made use of both liberal economic interdependence and neofunctionalism to account for the challenges and opportunities presented by AfCFTA, particularly supranationalism, interdependence and spillover effects of integration. For Zimbabwe it was noted that cereals, tobacco, and agro-processed goods are likely to have impact in the economic bloc. However, Zimbabwe’s youth are being weighed down by powercuts, multi-currency makes their products less competitive compared to others that use ‘soft money,’ the problem is compounded by many roadblocks and checkpoints, the personnel manning them solicit for bribes, causing unnecessary expenses and delays. The research found out the AfCFTA is hyped by government officials saying that there are loads of opportunities, these opportunities are in a distant future and is punctuated by ‘will’ yet on the ground Zimbabwe has a negative balance of trade owing to Deindustrialisation which traces back to structural adjustment programmes and other economics challenges. the researcher recommends Zimbabwean youth entrepreneurs in the same trade must consider pooling together their resource together in order to purchase in bulk and later break-bulky once the imported container reaches the country. This in turn brings comparative advantage to Zimbabwe youth entrepreneurs and bridge a gap between them and foreign nationals operating in the country.