Zimbabwe is addressing a major financing gap for startups and small businesses with a strategic agreement between the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) and the National Venture Capital Company of Zimbabwe (NVCCZ).
This agreement aims to create a pathway for high-growth startups to move from venture capital funding to public capital markets via the upcoming Zimbabwe Entrepreneurship Exchange (ZEEX).
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), announced on June 25, marks one of the country’s most significant efforts to strengthen entrepreneurial finance by connecting early-stage venture funding with long-term capital market access, an area that has historically remained fragmented in Zimbabwe.
Rather than relying solely on venture funding or bank lending, the partnership seeks to establish what both institutions describe as a complete growth ecosystem, allowing innovative businesses to access capital throughout every stage of development.
The collaboration comes as African governments increasingly look to deepen domestic capital markets to finance entrepreneurship, industrialisation and economic diversification.
Across the continent, small and medium-sized enterprises account for more than 80% of employment in many economies, yet access to growth capital remains one of the sector’s biggest constraints.
Under the agreement, the ZSE and NVCCZ will jointly identify venture-backed startups and SMEs with strong growth potential that could eventually qualify for listing on ZEEX, Zimbabwe’s newly approved digital capital market platform.
The partners will establish structured graduation pathways from early-stage venture financing to public market participation, supported by clearly defined governance, compliance and eligibility standards.
The agreement also provides for collaboration on blended finance and co-investment models that would enable businesses supported by NVCCZ to raise additional capital through ZEEX while combining public venture funding with private investment.
Beyond financing, the institutions will jointly deliver programmes covering corporate governance, financial reporting, investor readiness and listing requirements to prepare entrepreneurs for public markets.
The partnership will further include investor roadshows, SME financing conferences, sector-focused financing platforms and the exploration of new financial products tailored for growing businesses, including SME bond programmes, green and sustainability-linked financial instruments, structured SME funds and alternative digital listing platforms.
The initiative highlights a shift in Africa, where stock exchanges are positioning themselves as engines of entrepreneurship instead of just places for trading shares.
Regulators and policymakers are seeking new ways to help startups transition from informal businesses into investment-ready enterprises capable of attracting institutional capital.
Zimbabwe hopes ZEEX will play a central role in that transition.
The digital exchange is designed to support primary capital raising, secondary-market trading and asset tokenisation while providing SMEs with a regulated, transparent and lower-cost platform to raise capital.
The exchange also aims to broaden investor participation and accelerate economic formalisation by bringing SMEs, invoice-discounting instruments and digital assets into a single regulated ecosystem.
The ZSE said operational preparations for ZEEX remain on schedule, with the signing of multiple institutional partnerships intended to strengthen the platform ahead of its launch.
“Venture capital and capital markets have historically operated in separate worlds in Zimbabwe, with very little structured dialogue between the two. This MOU with NVCCZ is a deliberate effort to change that. By creating a recognised pathway from NVCCZ’s portfolio of early-stage enterprises to ZEEX, we are introducing a degree of capital market planning into the venture space that has simply not existed before. Entrepreneurs who receive NVCCZ support will now be able to see, from day one, a credible and well-defined route to public market participation. That clarity of purpose is invaluable,” said Justin Bgoni, Group Chief Executive Officer of ZSE Holdings Limited.
NVCCZ said the agreement will strengthen venture investing by creating a viable exit strategy for investors while recycling capital into future high-growth businesses.
“Successful venture investing is not only about providing capital—it is about supporting businesses throughout their entire growth journey. Our partnership with ZSE creates a clear pathway from early-stage funding to capital market participation, ensuring that promising enterprises have access to long-term growth opportunities. Through ZEEX, NVCCZ’s venture investments will have a strategic exit route that strengthens investor participation, value realization, improved liquidity, and recycling of capital into the next generation of high-impact Zimbabwean businesses. Together, this historic partnership is key to strengthen entrepreneurship, drive innovation, create employment, and contribute to sustainable industrialisation and economic growth,” said Tinotenda Kambasha, Chief Executive Officer of NVCCZ.
Established as a state-owned venture fund, NVCCZ was created to commercialise innovation by providing financing to startups and early-stage businesses that often struggle to secure traditional bank funding. The institution focuses on closing the financing gap between innovation and commercialisation while supporting businesses capable of generating sustainable economic impact.
For Zimbabwe’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, the partnership could represent a significant shift in how startups access growth capital.
Instead of treating venture capital as the final destination, the agreement positions it as the beginning of a structured financing journey that could ultimately see promising Zimbabwean businesses graduate to public markets.
If successfully implemented, the initiative would strengthen Zimbabwe’s capital markets while providing entrepreneurs with a clear, institutionalised pathway from innovation to investment and from startup to publicly funded enterprise.
