adminSydney Kawadza Chinhoyi Bureau
President Mnangagwa’s popular refrain that “Zimbabwe is open for business” is not meant for international investors only but also targets individual investors that have potential to contribute to Government’s economic turnaround efforts.
This emerged during a preparatory meeting on Monday for the forthcoming “Mashonaland West is Open for Business” conference set for Chinhoyi next month.
Minister of State for Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs Mr Webster Shamu chaired the meeting, which was attended by Government officials and Chinhoyi Municipality Mayor Cde Test Michaels.
Similar conferences hosted by the Chartered Institute of Project Managers Zimbabwe (CIPMZ) have been lined up across the country at provincial, district and ward level.
In a recent interview, CIPMZ director Dr Proctor Nyemba said the conferences are designed to relay the message that was made by President Mnangagwa at Davos, Switzerland early this year.
“We thought that we need to spread this from provincial level, district level to ward level such that we can engage the local and international investors, going up to ward level.
“For Mashonaland West province, we are going to host the conference on April 20 here in Chinhoyi, where we expect the business, private sector and Government department heads to attend and come up with ways of making the call a success,” he said.
A similar conference has already been held in Manicaland Province.
Dr Nyemba said many Zimbabweans have projects that have been affected by bureaucracy and bottlenecks, but Government has since committed to address this through the ease of doing business reforms.
“They are expected to go to Harare but you have noticed His Excellency has mentioned the issue of provincial business zones, the economic zones from provincial level. This is what we want and even at the end of the day, we want to have the statistics of the economy at provincial, district and even ward level.”
Zimbabweans, Dr Nyemba said, should aim for tangible results from all Government initiatives.
“This means everybody has to play a role to show that we are open for business from ward level. That’s what we are doing, so we are expecting the business people — foreigners and local businesses — to become the investors,” he said.
The initiative is looking at various key areas of focus, including infrastructure development, agriculture, aviation, forestry, ICT, industry and trade, commerce, transport, tourism, mining, energy, financial services, health and education, among others.
During the weekend, the ruling Zanu-PF provincial structures passed a resolution to host the conference.
Zanu-PF central committee Cde Philip Chiyangwa moved for the adoption of the resolution for Minister Shamu to convene the business conference.
“The conference should cover the following economic areas: mining and mining interest, energy, transport and logistics, construction, housing and infrastructure, agriculture and agro-industry, manufacturing, tourism and hospitality and education,” he said.
Online Reporter