Establish fund for indigenous businesses, Govt urged

Million Chinamasa said the fund would be a lending window for indigenous persons venturing into small and medium enterprises.
He said the fund would go a long way in assisting entrepreneurs into manufacturing, mining and farming, among other business entities.
“The Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment, the Minister of Industry and Commerce, the Minister of Small to Medium-Scale Enterprises, the Minister of Investment Promotion and Economic Planning, the Minister of Mines and the Minister of Agriculture are called upon to impress upon the Minister of Finance to establish a fund known as Nerfund.
“The fund will be managed by a board whose members will be drawn from the 10 provinces,” he said.
“Each province will choose its own member, but the board members will be people of high integrity.”
The Nerfund would be an indigenous economic vehicle to accelerate the entry into Zimbabweans into mainstream business and empower them in line with the country’s laws.
He said one way of raising the fund was to use the National Social Security Authority, which derives its income from workers.
“As NSSA derives its income from workers, its aims and objectives should be that of employment creation by availing money to the Ministry of Finance which will be channelled to Nerfund for the construction of factory shells and wholesale outlets on a rent-to- buy basis,” he said.
Turning to people who lost out due to the demonetisation of the Zimbabwe dollar, Mr Chinamasa said there was need to pay them the equivalent in foreign currency and bring to finality the issue.
He said it was important to bring finality to the issue so as to restore people’s confidence in financial institutions.
Several people had their money locked in banks after the demonetisation of the Zim dollar.