38 ASAC 2007 Ottawa, Ontario Mambo G. Mupepi Sylvia C. Mupepi Grand Valley State University Ram V. Tenkasi Benedictine University, Lisle-Chicago Peter F. Sorensen Jr. Benedictine University Unlocking entrepreneurial capabilities: developing rural entrepreneurs using social constructs in the Zambezi Valley of Zimbabwe This research was conducted at the request of the management of a consortium of small agro- businesses situated in the Zambezi Valley of Zimbabwe. The consortium, which we will refer to as the Association, is made up of more than 500 rural small-scale farmers and villagers of whom 70% are women. The Association has hardware/retail outlets, a fleet of trucks and tractors for tillage and produce haulage, interests in a fishing rig on the Zambezi River/Kariba Dam, and a conference facility. The Association employs 90 people fulltime and reaches an additional 500 to 1000 who are indirectly associated with its activities. This research was written at the request of the Association, which wanted to know the competencies the organization would require to accomplish its goals of poverty alleviation, food security, and improvement in the quality of life of the residents of the Zambezi Valley. Abstract This research focuses on the transformation of a rural-based organization in Zimbabwe, Southern Africa. The paper refers to this organization as the Association. A unique characteristic of the Association is that some of its members are neither highly literate nor formally educated. Using intellectual heuristics framed on a survey of Social Construction and Communities of Practice thinking, the research examines how the lowly literate and non-formally educated construct competencies and how their competency ratings compare with those made by the Association’s formally educated management. The research shows that management and lowly educated, non-management personnel construct differing competencies they expect of management, with the outcome that management rates itself differently than non- management rates it. Even more significant, management and non-management have different understandings of agreed-upon competencies. The thesis emphasizes that in-depth understanding of the subtle differences in the construction of competencies is essential in intervention. Irrespective of the extent of the education, members cannot conceive of competencies separate from their personal experiences; lowly educated, non-management members can contextualize competency using Appreciative Inquiry. The research shows that the development of commonly expected competencies requires that all members of the organization partake in the processes of competency construction—in terms of Appreciative Inquiry, there is no distinction between theory and practice. When lowly educated non-management contextualize competency, and management respects the real- life experiences of all of the Association’s members, theory and practice become one. A synthesis of the literature The site of the research is a rural Association in Africa. The primary focus of the review is on Social Constructivism. The review will explore the applicability of social constructivism on the research