ENTREPRENEURS in Bulawayo say the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe more than 20 years ago have hampered their growth and penetration into global markets.

Their sentiments come in the wake of growing calls for the removal of the illegal economic embargo imposed on Zimbabwe by the West.

“Sanctions limit growth. Our vision is to manufacture and also supply all over the continent, but you will find that because of that condition, we are really deprived and it limits our growth,” said Providence Moyo from Divine Pro-Company.

With the rest of the world already growing its digital economies, Zimbabwe remains deprived of its potential to fully enjoy the fruits of e-commerce as it is not listed on some of the digital payment platforms.

“When we buy equipment or get orders to buy laboratory suppliers, some institutions like in the US there will tell you that our country is not registered in that system. They will end up referring us to their distributors in SA. Now there is social media and it is a global world.

“Now you can sell things on Facebook and people can pay you, but Zimbabwe does not have that facility. We can only advertise and have the Facebook online shop, but no transaction that you can do through that online shop,” said Liberty Nyathi, the operations manager for Chemical Technology Africa.

Apart from discouraging foreign investors from coming to Zimbabwe, the sanctions have seen many local companies fail to retool or get working capital to sustain their operations.