Business Reporter
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) chief executive officer, Ms Sekai Kuvarika, reflecting on the outcomes of the opening-day discussions during the CZI Strategic Intelligence Forum (SIF), organised in partnership with Zimpapers, has described yesterday’s deliberations as ‘a very rich day’ and looks forward to scenario-building sessions today, which are expected to sharpen business strategies in the country.
The SIF has brought together chief executives, board members, entrepreneurs, regulators, development partners and sustainability practitioners.
She noted that discussions opened with an analysis of legal and regulatory risk environments, focusing on the build-up to upcoming regulatory shifts.
Ms Kuvarika emphasised the need for leaders to monitor parliamentary trends and notices to detect emerging commercial risks early.
The summit then transitioned into insurance risk management, drawing parallels between mining and manufacturing while highlighting ‘emerging cyber risks that people may need to insure and cover themselves against’. Additionally, sessions on corporate rescue analysed performance metrics and corporate distress.
Ultimately, this topic ‘circled back to corporate governance’, establishing its fundamental role in determining whether distressed firms can successfully recover.
Highlighting investment trends shared by the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) CEO Mr Tafadzwa Chinamo, Ms Kuvarika noted a strong emphasis on a primary-sector ‘boom’ in agriculture and mining.
She framed this as a vital operational reset:
‘We probably need to look at… reindustrialisation that is going to make sure that we build services, we build new sectors, we build new products around those sectors that are growing… almost like your reset of the initial industrialisation pathway.’
Shifting the focus to today’s agenda, Ms Kuvarika detailed a series of scenario-building sessions aimed at sharpening business strategy to navigate a dynamic domestic market.
First, Ms Chiedza Madzima from BMI Fitch International will present on global macro trends, exploring how global shifts interact directly with Zimbabwe’s economy so that leaders know ‘what they probably need to watch out for or track as they do their strategies’.
This will be followed by a comprehensive masterclass titled ‘Bring a Strategy to a Strategy Challenge’, led by global foresight expert Ninnenne Nomen from Kairos Futures. The session uses foresight tools to stress-test corporate strategy processes.
Ms Kuvarika stressed that adopting these tools aligns with broader national trends, as Zimbabwe’s public service and Parliament’s new ‘Committee of the Future’ begin embedding futures thinking into policy-making. As Ms Kuvarika concluded, adopting this approach will create a strong network effect, significantly improving ‘how we do business and how we do policy in the country’.
