Most Zimbabwean SMEs we meet have a Facebook page long before they have a website, and that's reasonable — it's free, fast to set up, and customers are already there. The problem shows up later, once the business starts growing.
A Facebook page is rented space. The platform decides what your page looks like, how it ranks in search, which posts get shown, and whether your account stays accessible at all. A website is owned space — you control the design, the domain, the data you collect, and what happens to it.
There's also a credibility gap. When a customer is deciding between you and a competitor, a proper domain (yourbusiness.co.zw) and a fast, professional site signal stability in a way a page alone doesn't — particularly for B2B sales, tenders, and any deal above a certain size.
None of this means abandon social media. The two should work together: social platforms for discovery and engagement, a website as the place that closes the sale and holds the information that matters — pricing, services, contact details, testimonials — in a format you control.
The practical starting point is usually smaller than business owners expect: a five-page site with clear services, a contact path, and a handful of strong testimonials outperforms a twenty-page site that never gets finished.