A MAN driving a Peugeot 406 near Scotland is stopped by cops after being clocked doing 120mph.

Cop says, "Where are you going that you have to drive so fast?” The man answers: “I’m going to Milton Keynes.”

Cop says, “it must be very important for you to be up so early and driving so fast” Man acknowledges “Yes, I am going to buy meat!”

The man couldn’t give any sensible reason when asked why on earth he would drive so far to buy meat which is readily available in all butchers in Scotland.

Although this is a joke, such is the plight of the Zimbabwean folk in the UK!

Zimbabwe has been independent for more than three decades.

Although the Queens’s men and women no longer occupy Zimbabwean soil they continue to have a significant grip on the mindset of the average Zimbabwean.

With the level of education Zimbabweans have, one might think we would have the know-how to rid ourselves of the colonial blinkers that most of us still have.

To date, some of us still seem to hold the notion that services or goods offered by non-black service providers are somehow superior to those offered by their black counterparts.

This problem is not only peculiar to, say, the retail industry where people travel for hours to go and patronise a Briton who runs a butchery in Milton Keynes;  ignoring excellent suppliers in their own home towns, many of whom are Zimbabwean, selling exactly the same products.

It’s time someone asked few pertinent questions.

What are we doing  and where do we as a community see ourselves economically in the Diaspora in say 10 years time?

There are currently more than 10 Zimbabwean owned butcheries and shops scattered all over the UK.

In Birmingham there is Nyama Butchers, Makore Family Butchers and OJ Butchers; with Prime Butchers not far away in Wolverhampton.

In Leicester, less than 4 miles from the M1, there is Pamuzinda which offers range of groceries and exceptional, quality meat; all at competitive prices.

Despite these choices our people are still wasting valuable time travelling the earth, spending small fortunes on fuel to get exactly the same goods and services that are available locally from a Zimbabwean-owned supplier.

Having said that it is important that these Zimbabwean suppliers strive to provide the highest quality products and service so that people can support them secure in this knowledge.

Part of this process however, is the need for our community to take the first step in supporting their own and where products or services are not up to standard providing constructive feedback to the suppliers.

Like Indians, due to our colonial past Zimbabweans always had a gateway into the UK. However, unlike the Indians we have failed to break into the British economy, not because we lack numbers but due to the fact that we do not support our own efforts.

Indians are perfect models for us Zimbabweans as India was subjected to the same colonial ordeals as Zimbabwe by Britain.

The similarity ends there .

Even though they have lived in this country for a lot longer than us they have successfully kept their community together and have thrived.

They maintain their culture, language and and way of life.They support their community businesses, celebrate their culture and eat their traditional foods.

Yet when one looks at the average Zimbabwean we see that the exact opposite is true.

In many cases we seem to be too quick to adopt foreign cultures at the expense of our own

Similarly, after Poland joined the European Union in 2004 there was an influx of Poles into Britain.

Since then Poles have managed to make substantial inroads into the UK economy.

In the short period of time that they have been in the UK they have managed to set up large firms, clubs of all sorts, associations and the like.

Yet when we look at Zimbabweans who have been in this country a lot longer we notice that we have not achieved half as much.

Despite being almost identical to the Pols in numbers, Zimbabweans have not managed to set up enterprises of value and the few that do often have to close down their businesses largely due to lack of support from their immediate markets; fellow Zimbabweans. Some people reading this article might feel that I am encouraging segregation, or that I am being racist; that is not the case.

The fact is, like all other foreigners Zimbabweans in the UK need to build their own community. There is a lot of value in supporting each other, whether in business or other pursuits.

It is important to remember that in times of need we can always count on the support of fellow Zimbabweans

The average Zimbabwean does not have collateral security needed to secure capital from banks and other financial institutions, neither would they have been in business long enough to be offered credit terms by suppliers.

These problems do not exist in the world of the local business person.

In most cases he will have access to collateral and will probably be on first-name terms with suppliers resulting in him qualifying for 30-90 day credit terms.

With this in mind, why do we continue to give these guys an added advantage by giving them more business?

How do we expect Zimbabwean entrepreneurs to effectively compete with these businesses when the odds are so much against us?

Although the odds are against the Zimbabwean business owners; Zimbabwean customers can level the playing field by patronising their businesses.

I conclude by quoting a great man who once said: “if you have to go to the market, make sure you know who you are dealing with, most importantly make sure they speak your language!”

Our allegiance should be to our own; our own community!

With the economy in such a bad state there has never been a better time to show our support.

This plea is not for individuals but for the collective gain of Zimbabweans as a whole.

To succeed as people we first need to succeed as individuals.

Tendai Zvoushe is a Zimbabwean entrepreeur based in the UK