eBusiness Weekly
Zimbabwe has made modest progress in making it easier to do business in the country but still has a long way to go, being still below the average sub-Saharan Africa, although now only just below.
While the actual move in the ranking from 161 out of 190 countries to 159 will not generate gasps of amazement, we do need to remember that just about everyone is trying to improve so any rise in the table is commendable. The World Bank found 119 of the 190 countries tracked have pushed through reforms over the past year, and that means we are improving faster than quite a few other people are improving. If you do nothing you do not just sit on a ranking, you actually get overtaken. So we have to run quite fast to stay in place and even faster to improve.
The rankings in the end just indicate relative progress; they do not tell a business leader or a potential investor just how easy it is to do business and as most countries push hard towards implementing best practices the gaps between each ranking will narrow. So in the end what those thinking about opening a business, keeping a business running, increasing investment or making that first investment want to know is just how easy the process will be and how long it will take.
Some elements are administrative and legal changes already implemented and planned will make these easier and faster. Other elements, such as how fast you can be connected to the electricity supply, and how easy it is to access banking and credit facilities require others to do their job faster.
It also needs to be recognised that however wonderful laws and regulations are, these need to be administered by competent people trying to be helpful. You might have regulations that allow the complete set of forms to be processed in two days; but if there are lazy and incompetent civil servants and municipal staff working on these, keeping them in an in-tray for two weeks and then making a pile of mistakes in processing, the delay becomes burdensome.
So we need to push forward on several fronts simultaneously.
Legal and regulatory changes are perhaps the easiest, so long as we keep the goals in mind. Businesses obviously have to pay taxes, hire Zimbabweans unless there are very good reasons to hire a foreigner, have to obey the labour law, have to make sure that they are not polluting or being unsafe. These are all requirements the world over.
Our tax code and labour codes are far simpler than many and are reasonably logical. They can always be updated and simplified, while keeping to the desired goals of being adequate and fair, but so long as a person wanting to be honest, rather than someone trying to cheat, can move quickly there should be no problems. Town planning regulations and local licensing should be simple to adhere to, be fair and be easy to apply. There should be no need to run between five offices in four buildings to get through the municipal processes for example. A simple single visit should be all that is required to hand in a single understandable application form.
Obtaining an electricity connection should surely not be complicated. Zesa should have the costs and requirements online for the various options and a business can then see what the right connection for their sort of work and how and to whom one applies. Then Zesa just need someone who can process the application quickly and efficiently.
Parts of the private sector show how we can combine adequate safeguards and efficient service. A good example is the banking system. Banks compete so they try and be efficient. There are listed and fairly obvious requirements set by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and bank managements for anyone wanting to open an account or obtain a loan. But in both cases helpful staff help a potential customer go through the forms, list the documents required and then take only a few days to have the necessary checks done and decisions made. And even more importantly they are given the day they should return to collect the results of the successful application.
Others in the regulatory process are not so fast and it is here that legal changes have to be backed up by training and motivation. People needing to meet certain requirements also need to be told that the decision should be available “tomorrow” or “Thursday” rather than some vague “we will contact you”. And again it should be possible to have, as banks do, knowledgeable people on hand who can explain the less obvious parts of the requirements and check everything before taking in the application for whatever service is required.
Those making and implementing regulations and applications should continually put themselves in the place of the person they want to see doing business here and ensure that this person, while having to obey obvious safeguards, is treated properly and regarded as a friend of the country.
