Nhakanomics evolved from Dr Daud Taranhike’s PhD research innovation which aims to eradicate poverty among the majority of people and economic turmoil within Zimbabwe and many African nations after attaining political independence. As such Nhakanomics is an economic approach which is anchored upon the African indigenous ways of wealth creation and heritage based systems of creating an inheritance or legacy (nhaka) for future generations. Zimbabwe and indeed most African nations need an economic system which resonates with the majority of the people and which is integral and holistic. In other words, Nhakanomics is an integral economic system that is that incorporates the African principles of creating legacy (nhaka), hence the coined word Nhakanomics which is a combination of two words legacy or inheritage (nhaka) and economics.

Nhakanomics draws from the spirit of Ubuntu (Unhu in Shona language) which emphasises oneness and love with a strong focus on ensuring sustainability and a better future for the next generations. While Nhakanomics is based on African principles, it also draws and blends with some relevant exogenous practices. This approach recognises the importance of stewarding our heritage and all available resources to avoid deletion and exploring ways of taping on existing opportunities, gifts and talents. The important issue is to have an economic approach that is not alien to the majority of the people hence nhakanomics becomes an alternative of capitalism which is individualistic and narrow in scope. The development of nhakanomics destroys the notion that capitalism is universal and one size fits all. Instead, this a recognition that each society can and should nurture and develop its own economic system that helps each society to realise its economic genius which gives it rightful place on the global economic space.

The Nhakanomics model is shown in a diagram below and it emphasises the indigenous Shona way of creating inheritance and how that is blend with the Integral Economics approach as espoused by Lessem and Schieffer (2016). Although this model is in its infancy, it has attracted great attention from academics, researchers and practitioners on the important need to establish an economic system that resonates with our African cultural and traditional practices instead of assuming capitalism as universal and one size suits all economic system. Our strong belief is that each society should have its own economic system that resonates with its people rather than adopting alien models which have failed to provide real economic freedom to most African countries and the Global South.