For a long time, discussions about Zimbabwe’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have centred on how to survive.
These businesses are the backbone of our economy, employing about 4.8 million people.
We talk about how hard it is to get funding, how unstable the local currency is, and how hard it is to run a business.
But here’s the hard truth for small businesses in Zimbabwe: you can’t use AI with a paper ledger.
You can’t rely on your gut to train a machine-learning model. We need to first bridge the digital transformation gap so that Zimbabwean small and medium-sized businesses can not only take part in the AI revolution but also benefit from it. Today is the day to go digital.
Many people think AI is a magic wand that can fix problems in a business. AI is really a hungry engine, and data is what it runs on. Digital data that is well organised and of high quality.
AI can’t help you predict demand if you’re a store owner who tracks your inventory in a hardback book.
AI can’t improve your supply chain if you’re a manufacturer who tracks supplies through WhatsApp voice notes.
AI can’t tell you how to improve your service if you have customer feedback stored in your head or on random pieces of paper.
Digital transformation means moving from manual, analogue processes to automated, digital ones. It involves using basic enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and customer relationship management (CRM) tools, and digitising your financial records.
The work isn’t glamorous, but it’s the foundation of the AI skyscraper. You can’t build the future on a stack of paper receipts.
The good news is that Zimbabwe has a history of adopting new technologies.
We went straight to mobile phones rather than landlines. Many of us skipped traditional banking and used EcoCash for mobile money. We can do this again if we want to.
However, the current rate of digitisation among formal SMEs remains slow.
Industry reports indicate that although mobile usage is high, the adoption of digital tools in core business processes such as inventory, accounting, HR, and sales is still in its early stages.
Many business owners view software as a cost rather than an investment, or they use disparate solutions that don’t work together.
This splitting up is bad for AI readiness.
You have created “data silos” if your sales data is on one platform, your supplier data is in an email chain, and your financials are on a spreadsheet on a different laptop.
To give you useful information, AI needs a single, clean, centralised view of your business.
Why should a busy small business owner in Bulawayo or Mutare spend time and money right now to digitise their business? Because the benefits are real and extend far beyond the vague notion of “AI readiness”.
By digitising your inventory management, you can see what’s on your shelves in real time. You stop ordering too much dead stock and too little of your best-sellers. This saves money, which is important for any small business.
Better access to finance is a critical issue in the Zimbabwean market.
Banks and microfinance companies are increasingly reluctant to lend to businesses that keep their records in a way that is hard to understand.
A business that has gone digital creates clean, easy-to-check data trails.
This builds trust with financial partners and gives you access to credit lines that were previously closed. A bank sees a business on QuickBooks or a similar platform as less risky than one with a shoebox full of receipts.
A digital business tracks customer information. Who buys from you? When do they buy? What do they like best?
With this information, you can tailor your advertising, run effective promotions, and build customers’ trust. If you don’t have the data, you’re just guessing.
Transforming Zimbabwe’s small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector into an AI-ready powerhouse will require collaboration among three groups. It can’t be the business owners’ job alone.
For small and medium-sized businesses: Start now. You don’t need to spend a million pounds on IT.
Begin with one step. If you own a store, create a digital copy of your inventory. If you’re a consultant, digitise your client management.
Choose affordable cloud-based solutions that can grow with you. Train your staff. Get used to it. The goal is to move your business processes from the real world into the digital world.
For the Government and Regulatory Bodies: The government’s recent actions to support innovation hubs are a positive sign.
But we need rules that encourage people to go digital.
This could include tax breaks for small businesses buying licensed software or support for local developers to build custom solutions for the informal sector. We also need reliable, low-cost internet access.
If the cloud is always raining buffering symbols, you can’t run a business in the cloud.
This is a huge opportunity for the private sector and telcos. Banks and mobile network operators should offer digital tools with their business accounts.
Provide the platforms. Provide the training. Just as they use EcoCash, make it easy for a tomato seller in Mbare to use a simple app to track stock and sales.
In developed countries, artificial intelligence is not a distant dream. It is a practical set of tools that can help small and medium-sized businesses in Zimbabwe compete globally.
It can help a farmer in Norton decide when to plant and when to sell. It can help a Gweru-based manufacturer reduce waste. It can help a store in Kariba make tourists’ experiences more personal.
We can’t run before we can walk, though.
Right now, we need to build the digital nervous system for our small and medium-sized businesses.
Every spreadsheet created, every digital receipt filed, and every customer record saved is a building block of that base.
Let’s stop treating digital transformation as an IT problem and start seeing it as essential to survival.
The future belongs to those with a lot of data. We need to make sure that Zimbabwe’s businesses don’t get left behind in the analogue age, for the sake of our economy and the millions of people who depend on small and medium-sized businesses.
The AI train is on its way. We need to make sure that our small and medium-sized businesses are ready to go digital.