SUCCESS stories dominate Zimbabwe’s thriving entrepreneurial landscape. Tech startups, boutiques, agro-processors are not only sprouting in urban areas but also in growth points and peri-urban areas; each new venture showcasing resilience and innovation.
However, we often overlook a pressing question: “how sustainable is the business boom?”
In today’s unpredictable environment, starting and growing a business is impressive, but it is also important for entrepreneurs to think about a strategic exit plan.
Unfortunately, many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) lack clear exit strategies that preserve reputation and value, thus enabling the entrepreneur to adapt and move forward with minimal loss when circumstances change.
Entrepreneurial success tends to be measured by the size of their expansion or the number of outlets they open. Closure is stigmatised as failure even when it is a strategic choice responsibly executed.
This cultural mindset has perpetuated the illusion that business success is guaranteed if the entrepreneur works hard. But reality tells a different story.
Rising costs, intense competition in the global village, rapidly evolving consumer needs, currency fluctuations as well as unpredictable policies continue to threaten the SME sector.
Even well-managed enterprises find themselves struggling to survive amid erratic power supply, capital shortages, and the complex dual currency environment.
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In such conditions, the line between growth and collapse is razor-thin. As one Mutare based entrepreneur recently lamented: “I never thought I would have to shut down. Business was good until supply chain disruptions turned my profits into losses overnight.”
An exit strategy is not a sign of failure but a transition. It is a plan for continuity or closure under control. It is the foresight to ask, “What will happen to my business, my employees, and my assets if I can no longer continue?”
Exit planning allows entrepreneurs to decide how and when to transition. This can be done by selling, merging, succession, or liquidating. Sale to another investor or competitor involves transferring ownership while preserving value.
Examples include Instagram and WhatsApp who were sold to Facebook for billions of US dollars. Mergers combine resources to enable the business to survive economic storms, for example the 2017 merger between Disney and 21st Century Fox, which expanded Disney’s global presence.
Going public and listing the company on the stock exchange is an exit strategy that allows the founder to still retain shareholding as seen in the case of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, which listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange in 1998.
Management or employee buyout is an internal takeover by trusted staff, ensuring continuity and minimal disruptions as the new owners are already familiar with the company’s operations. Voluntary liquidation allows for orderly closure and sale of assets to settle obligations.
Succession planning entails grooming a family member or successor for continuity ensuring preservation of the founder’s legacy and vision. Each option requires preparation.
Financial records must be clean, debts reconciled, and assets valued. Yet, many SMEs lack even basic documentation, making exits chaotic, emotional, and costly.
Although it is tough, Zimbabwe’s business environment is vibrant and the entrepreneurial drive is unmatched in the region. The constant shifts in currency policy, high inflation, and volatile interest rates mean even profitable ventures can become unviable overnight.
Moreover, because our economy is largely informal, many entrepreneurs operate without proper legal or financial structures. When shocks occur, such as a pandemic, drought, or currency revaluation, they have little legal or strategic protection.
Without a strategic exit plan, business owners often watch years of effort evaporate into debt, lawsuits, or reputational ruin. A well-designed exit strategy, on the other hand, cushions the fall.
It allows entrepreneurs to protect their investment, preserve their networks, and redeploy capital into new ventures when conditions improve. It also demonstrates professionalism to investors and lenders who increasingly value business continuity planning.
The business narrative focuses on new venture establishments and successes, shying away from discussions on planned exits, strategic endings and lessons learnt from failures. This “entrepreneurial success only” outlook discourages honest conversations on the full business lifecycle.
Yet, entrepreneurship is not a straight road; it is cyclical. Around the world, the most resilient entrepreneurs are those who have exited once, learnt, and re-entered wiser.
Steve Jobs, who was forced out of Apple only to return and lead it to unprecedented success, is one example. It is time to normalise strategic exits as a mark of maturity, not weakness.
Just as farmers know when to harvest and when to rest the land, business owners must recognise when it is time to consolidate or let go.
For Zimbabwean SMEs, adopting an exit conscious mindset begins with education and planning. Business training institutions, incubators, and financial literacy programmes must teach entrepreneurs to think beyond start up and growth phases.
Simple steps such as regularly valuing one’s business (even if sale is not imminent), documenting transactions and tax records to ease transitions, exploring partnership opportunities that can cushion future risks as well as mentoring successors to maintain continuity can make a
difference.
Financial advisers and banks also have a role to play. Encouraging SMEs to plan for exits can reduce loan defaults and improve creditworthiness.
Policymakers too, must recognise that fostering sustainable entrepreneurship means supporting both entry and exit; creating a business environment where transitions are safe, legal and transparent.
Across Zimbabwe, there are quiet examples of entrepreneurs, who exited strategically; selling their businesses before inflation eroded value, merging to stay afloat, or shifting operations regionally. These are not failures.
They are signs of foresight. Their stories rarely make the front page, but they hold the true lessons of resilience.
One small scale manufacturer in Harare sold part of his operations to a South African partner just before the 2023 inflation surge.
Today, he remains a consultant in the same field, financially stable and debt-free. That is not defeat — it is evolution.
The Zimbabwean economy will continue to challenge entrepreneurs, but planning for exit does not mean giving up on success. It means recognising that economic cycles are inevitable, and survival often belongs to those who plan ahead.
In a country where innovation thrives amidst uncertainty, the next phase of entrepreneurial maturity must include not only how to start and scale, but also how to exit with wisdom.
After all, the mark of a great entrepreneur is not just how high they rise but how safely they land.
- Dr Chirima is an entrepreneur and a seasoned academic, a holder of a Doctor of Business Administration with Binary University, Malaysia whose research focus is financial retirement planning. She is a lecturer in the Accounting and Finance Department at Africa University in the College of Business and Management Sciences. She writes in her personal capacity and can be contacted on [email protected] , +263772811598.
