The informal economy has been credited for absorbing a number of the unemployed and for sustaining the economy during country’s most turbulent years. Information made available by ZEPARU reveals that 60% of economic activity is in the informal sector and thousands are earning a living within this informal setting. There is of course the famous Mbare Musika, Mupedzanhamo market, the flea markets across the country and within the ranks of informal traders or entrepreneurs are carpenters, welders, electricians, builders and the list goes on.
In this article we highlight a very vibrant informal industry, the Glenview home industries located in the Glenview high density suburb of Harare. It is there where one can get a glimpse of what the informal economy is all about as well as to understand its importance to the greater or rest of the economy. There are probably hundreds of traders, entrepreneurs, workers involved in this vast furniture making complex. The foremost business there is the manufacture of home furniture units such as lounge suites, beds, televisions stands, wardrobes etc. and there is a number of different types of these on display. A good number of the entrepreneurs there are involved in the actual making of everything on display although in some cases they do employ workers to assist them.
However that it is only the beginning because these are very busy entrepreneurs who do not have the time to go out and source materials and this is where the other group of enterprising individuals comes in. There are several stalls or retail outlets numbering in the hundreds and here everything that the furniture manufacturer needs he/she it will be found. These traders sell timber, the adhesives, paints, nails, all the hardware needed and all of them are located inside this teeming complex adding convenience to manufacturers. The other group in this value chain includes those individuals providing food to traders and workers, those selling airtime, those providing entertainment.
Now when customers purchase furniture there is ready transport that is provided for by over a 100 trucks waiting outside the complex. It gets even crazier because the congestion inside the complex makes it difficult for vehicles to go in and some enterprising youths have cashed in by offering to carry the sometimes heavy furniture with bare hands for a small fee. To round it off you then have the noisy yet very persuasive salespersons that will pounce on anyone showing even the most remote interest in their furniture. This Glenview complex is what one might refer to as the Silicon Valley of furniture albeit on a much smaller scale because you have every business that is directly or indirectly involved located at this place and this quite a novel for the country.
Business and activities normally spike when fellow informal entrepreneurs, that is the tobacco farmers descend on Harare to sell their produce. It is not clear why but most small scale tobacco farmers will visit this place each year to buy after selling their crop and it is during this period especially now in the era of dollarization that one can appreciate the significance of the informal economy to the formal economy. The furniture’s quality is quite good and a number of furniture retail outlets in Harare and outside Harare actually source their merchandise from here.
However clearly there are some problems that are inhibiting the flow of activities and perhaps the further growth of this industrial area. The sanitation is not presently very good and space seems to be getting less to allow for others to join in. The road network appears overwhelmed most of the time and recently there was a fire that destroyed furniture worth thousands of dollars since these traders were not insured they suffered the losses.
There are no reliable statistics on the figures involved in the informal economy that may perhaps be the reason why government has not really come to the party in terms of supporting this informal economy. However what is happening there is real, people are earning a living from this and it is imperative that due recognition and support be accorded. In fact support should be accorded to all small scale traders throughout the economy as evidence on the ground suggest doing so drives the economy forward.
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