FOLLOW me on Business Trends as I embark on this column which will look at a wide range of business issues including enterprise development in Zambia and beyond.
Together, we will look at the development of the business sector in the country prior to the privatisation era and the developments on the post-privatisation era.
This will culminate into the highlight of the remarkable strides achieved by the government in developing the economy through enterprise development before stressing the need to harness the services of accredited professional business strategy consultants.
All these efforts are aimed at enhancing enterprise development and consequently economic growth.
We will look at the economic policy and empirical research findings that have been carried out by the ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry as well as the problems being faced by various business firms and suggested long-term solutions.
In the early 1970s, Zambia’s economic growth strategy was founded on growth through parastatal corporations.
This policy proved a failure with prolonged poor performance forcing the government to adopt a free-market economic policy in 1991.
Later, the government adopted the structural realignment of the economy through a policy shift to entrepreneurship development, giving   yield to the private enterprises.
The survey carried out by the Ministry of Commerce Trade and Industry between 2003 and 2004 revealed that there were low educational and entrepreneurial skills.
As a result, sufficient capabilities were lacking in financial analysis and management, human resources management, production management, and technology.
Interactions with business strategy consultants from United States, United Kingdom and India have revealed that in developed countries, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in many sectors of the economy.
They contribute about 90 per cent of their respective country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) hence they play an important role in economic development, job creation and poverty reduction.
Empirical evidence demonstrates that Zambian firms have been facing stiff competition from foreign and other larger firms although in some cases the emerging and smaller businesses are able to produce better or cheaper goods and services.
Although basic survey suggests the need for upcoming businesses to defend their market and create new ones through policy challenge to be addressed, the government through the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) is working tirelessly to promote new and emerging businesses.
Even in developed countries many businesses still fail despite government assistance to support enterprise development.
Zambia has a large business sector, of which over 90 per cent is informal and this has serious implications on the functioning of the economy in terms of planning, data collection and tax revenue planning and collection.
As a result, it is difficult to estimate the total size of the private sector in Zambia as data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) does not disaggregate national output in relation to enterprise size.
There has been a general    outcry on the slow rate of economic growth and the development of enterprise, entrepreneurial skills and the business consultancy sector could inevitably contribute to national development.
For this reason, economists, entrepreneurs and others interested in economic development should not necessarily emphasise on fostering startup growth but should devote their energies towards enabling businesses to grow.
Further empirical evidence suggests that increasing the number of startups is less important to ensuring the maturation and transition of established business firms that could have considerable sustainable growth potential.
Increasing the scale of operations or encouraging the four-phase transition of small firms to large enterprises without mentioning the services of business development service providers will be incomplete.
The under-utilisation of strategic planning and strategic agility incapacitates enterprise development and consequently national development.
Business development services can help move firms from a business strategy position point A to strategy position B.
I have learnt from the ZDA and the Business Development Service Providers Association of Zambia (BDSPAZ) that there are numerous individuals in the country who are practising as business consultants.
The government through the ZDA recognises BDSPAZ as the only association that accredits business service providers to ZDA, which should regulate individuals and firms practising as consultants through self-regulation by ensuring professional and ethical conducts in their dealings with their clients.
There is, therefore, critical need for business and enterprise development in the country, through BDSPAZ, to utilise the business strategy consultants and strategic agility to supplement government tireless efforts to grow the economy.
The author is managing consultant at GN Grant Business Consultant, a Chartered Certified Accountant, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) holder and a candidate for the Herriot Watt University, (Scotland) Doctor of Business Administration (DBA).
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