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Leroy Dzenga, Correspondent 

With the job market having constricted points of entry, young people have resorted to the informal sector.

Beyond the mundane breaking of bulk and reselling, some are utilising their earned qualifications, but on a small scale basis.

Many families are surviving this way.

A simple stroll in down town Harare will show the proliferation of photo studios, printing houses, advertising agencies and other small business units.

These humble businesses once they capture their clientèle are fairly profitable ventures, some go as far as employing people.

The presence of small youth run business units have eased pressure on the job market as it provides a viable option for school leavers who would previously be waiting to be assimilated by some big corporation.

Calls for youths to start their own businesses and opportunities have become a chorus from Government, as well as business leaders.

Every platform graced by thought leaders has words of encouragement crafted to inspire the youths to take purposive steps towards shaping their future.

The missed nuance is; average Zimbabwean youths may not be coming up with Silicone Valley ideas, but as far as coming up with small entities that serve an existing market is concerned, they are doing their best.

Some have had to forget they have degrees in other fields and just focus on hustling, a stance which is a product of necessity.

Authorities on the other hand, seem not to be taking seriously the revenue potential in that section of the economy.

The taxman`s office should direct its focus towards quasi-professional business units because there is a lot of untaxed money exchanging hands.

Everyone who makes money by one way or the other should pay taxes, that is how things should be, without compromise.

An amicable approach would be ideal to mainstream the small youth run companies into the economy.It should be easy to register companies, if the process is smooth there should be increased compliance.

Currently, there is a stressful barrier which has dissuaded young people from formalising their work. 

It may take more than three months for people to register a company and hard pressed youths do not afford that amount of time in waiting.

The fact there are people who earn a living from helping others register companies should be a red flag for authorities.

Company registration should be as easy as getting a birth certificate for a child, intermediaries should be rendered irrelevant.

According to the book, it should take 12 days to register a company in Zimbabwe, but it is taking more, there is belief that officials at the company registry benefit from the delay.

Those with money have their papers expedited, while those who register without underhand dealings wait for months.

As a result, youths who have had their patience eroded by the waiting period sometimes decide not to formalise their work.

In Rwanda, it takes between 24 and 72 hours to register a company, online reviews have been indicating adherence to these times.

For a person who flies to Turkey to buy suits and come to Zimbabwe to resell them from a corner office in a derelict building, there should be advantages laid out to them to encourage them to formalise their business.

Access to loans should be easy, especially for businesses with a track record.

Capital is a problem with most entities, big or small, access to funds can get entrepreneurs to buy the idea of formalising their work and contributing to the fiscus.

In the past, youth loans have been problematic, the challenge was money was given to those who hold concept papers at the expense of those running actual businesses.

If the Youth Empower Bank can identify small businesses and give them loans with forgiving interest rates on conditions that they register properly, there will be takers for their loans.

The impact of the loans can also be felt in the economy. Some business ideas have remained stagnant because of lack of engineered thought.

Young people who start small businesses out of necessity sometimes forget to think about growth and expansion.

Government, through the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises should provide business development advice to youth who run businesses. If the early adopters of the provided insights show signs of growth, others will be encouraged to register and enjoy the same benefits. In addition, Government should purposively seek to grow youth run businesses.

A percentage of public tenders should be reserved for youth run businesses that show capacity.

Instead of giving money to the same old entities, there should be objective support given to youth-run businesses.

One big tender can change the trajectory of a business, if ambitious youths know they stand a chance to grow their business through brisk Government guaranteed business, they will register to ready themselves for the opportunity. Once they register, it means they have to adhere to the conventions of the formal business world.

This includes paying taxes and levies.

That way, Government benefits through revenue collection and if these businesses are incubated to grow, their taxes grow as well.

They will also employ more people, and as they earn, they will be taxed.

There is economic potential for the country if youth run businesses in down town are helped to formalise.

Even if it means giving them tax holidays in the first few years, it will still have benefits when those entities finally grow.

Zimbabwe needs to tap into the cash rich down town economy and including young people in the economic mainstream is one way of doing it.