Crying out for an industrialised economy — Part II

Prof Christopher Chetsanga
A project on establishing the Zimbabwe Diamond Technology Centre (ZDTC) in Mount Hampden appears to have lost steam. The centre was going to serve in training Zimbabweans in the cutting and polishing of diamonds, a much needed skill among Zimbabweans. The centre could have used the training services of the experts from India who are among the developing world’s leading diamond processors.
One hopes that our government will give the establishment of the ZDTC the urgency it deserves.

At the moment, raw diamonds are leaving Zimbabwe to go and shore up the jewellery industries in industrialised countries. Our exporting of raw materials is depriving our people of job opportunities.

There is a growing number of unemployed university graduates and other people. For a population of 13 million people, the beneficiation of our considerable quantities of primary products by industrialisation can help us to reasonably solve our unemployment problem.

I can cite the example of Malaysia whose massive industrialisation programme has enabled it to attain zero unemployment out of a population of 30 million people.

In fact, Malaysia now has to bring in foreign workers to provide labour for some of its industrial enterprises.

Urgent Need for Industrialisation
Zimbabwe urgently needs to get the process of industrialisation underway.
There is a crying need for the benefits of an industrialised economy.
Who is to blame for the slowness of Zimbabwe’s economic development?

Don’t we all share the blame? Internationally, it has been observed that it is the triple helix that is responsible for a country’s economic development.

The triple helix is composed of government, academic and research institutions and the business and industrial sector.
The government sector provides the policy environment which encompasses strategising, assigning and facilitating the execution roles of different players.

Academic and research institutions have the technical experts who can develop and provide the science, technology and innovations (STI) knowledge and skills needed by the industrial enterprises.

The industrial sector is the hub of the entrepreneurial productions that drive and execute the economic growth of a country.
For Zimbabwe, it is clear that there is no strategising process that is underway to promote the execution of research and development (R&D) by the academic and research institutions which would technologically equip the industrial sector with production competences and skills to boost industrialisation.

In your view, which sector of the triple helix is to blame for the slow pace of our economic development?
Zimbabwe at large is also responsible.

If you have a project on which you can start a business of any type, or a factory production, please move on to launch that enterprise.
I want to cite Strive Masiyiwa as an example of a person whom many of us knew as a young engineer in the 1980s. He holds a BSc degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the UK.

The idea of launching a telecommunications-based enterprise clicked in his mind and so he established the Econet Wireless enterprise.
Econet now provides financial services through EcoCash, Steward Bank and telecommunications services in Zimbabwe and in several countries in Africa and beyond.

We thus need service providing companies as well as industrial companies.
I am saying to the reader, the lackadaisical “ndiri bhoo!” salutation response you give when your country is crying out for economic development, is vanity of the first order.

Zimbabwe seriously needs us all to try to do something to enliven its economy. Let’s join Strive Masiyiwa in enterprise machination. He is a lonesome 21st century Zimbabwean success story; he needs collegial synergism with similarly determined Zimbabwean entrepreneurs. You can be the one.

Establishing sustainable and large scale industrial enterprises will make Zimbabwe a country of producers and not one of consumers only.
Industrialisation will enable Zimbabwe to reap technical knowledge dividends, which can enhance the country’s economic prosperity.
It is hoped that this article will give implementation muscle to the “Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-economic Transformation (ZIM-ASSET),” the new economic blueprint which has been crafted by the Government of Zimbabwe for implementation during the five- year period of October 2013 to December 2018.

The Zim Asset document has not put enough emphasis on the critical priority of industrialisation for Zimbabwe.
I hope that the members of the Zim Asset implementation team will give topmost emphasis on Zimbabwe’s industrialisation as the critical instrument for the growth of our country’s economy.

The recent requirement by government that mining companies invest in establishing local enterprises for value addition to their minerals before exporting them as raw materials is a welcome move towards industrialisation.

All mining companies should invest in this refining or beneficiation of their raw minerals as Zimplats, Mimosa and Unki have indicated they are going to do.

The story was in the Sunday Mail of January 19, 2014. Small mining companies could partner with each other to facilitate the establishment of cooperative value addition plants.

The two advantages of this venture are that the beneficiated minerals will then be exported at higher prices while the mineral refineries will provide employment for Zimbabweans.

The upcoming Pan African Minerals University of Science and Technology (PAMUST) to be established at Sardc will do a lot to train mineral processing specialists who will provide technological services to these mineral beneficiation enterprises.

It is for this reason that one hopes that arrangements can be made for the mining sector to provide part of the funding for the operations of PAMUST.

To be continued……..