What are the new businesses being established in the small towns of Zimbabwe? As the last blog has illustrated our long-term study of Mvurwi, Chatsworth and Maphisa shows a variety of changes, with different drivers associated. There are varying links too with a changing agriculture, but what is evident across our study sites is that land reform has shifted the spatial pattern of economic activity in the countryside, with major impacts for small towns.
The last blog highlighted the changes across a variety of enterprises seen in the three towns (see table), exploring the wider drivers of change. Here, we focus on the businesses themselves, asking who is involved, why and how were they established and what are their fortunes. We do this across five categories and explore the dynamics through some focused case studies based on interviews carried out in late 2024.
This article is from Zimbabweland, a blog written by IDS Research Fellow Ian Scoones. Zimbabweland focuses on issues related to rural livelihoods and land reform in Zimbabwe.
