Zimbabwe enterprise development, 613-0239 : PP [project paper], annexes A - R

The 6-year project has three components: (1) employee ownership, focused on both private companies and state-owned enterprises, as a means to increase ownership and productivity and, in the case of privatization, to achieve high- priority indigenization objectives; (2) business/trade association support, entailing program grants to a wide range of business organizations aimed at specific measures to increase employment, enterprise creation/expansion, ownership of shares in publicly listed companies, and opportunities for disadvantaged groups including women; and (3) access to capital, geared to both the debt and equity finance requirements of formal small- and medium-sizes enterprises (SMEs), as well as special financial needs of micro/informal enterprises. Key anticipated results by the end of the project include: (1) a minimum of 500 SME creations/expansions, resulting in an average increase of 10 jobs for each creation or expansion by 2001; (2) an increase in the percent and value of shares held by small investors by 2001 (exact target to be determined through a baseline study); (3) 256 SMEs nationwide that are either management buyouts/employee buyouts/management buy-ins, or spinoffs that have either employee ownership or a significant (greater than 5%) shareholding by employees through employee stock ownership plans. The project will be overseen by a steering committee consisting of representatives of the Government of Zimbabwe, the private sector, and USAID. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce and USAID will co-chair the committee, whose role will be to guide all USAID activities associated with private sector development in Zimbabwe.