adminTHE Forestry Commission is seeking joint venture partners for its hospitality and timber divisions as part of its efforts aimed at improving viability and profitability of its entities.
Forestry Commission deputy general manager, Mr Abedinigo Marufu said the parastatal was in dire strait and needed potential investors to inject capital and requisite skills to grow and increase the productivity of its businesses.
“We want to work with experienced players with the requisite skills who are financially sound to engage them into joint ventures partnering us to operate our safari lodges and harvesting of wood as well as beneficiation of timber into furniture products,” Mr Marufu said.
Forestry Commission owns Ngamo Photographic Safaris and Ganda Lodge in Hwange and Jafuta Lodge in Victoria Falls.
In 2013, the company was close to clinching a joint venture with Stanley Livingstone Lodge for the running of its Jafuta Lodge with a view of turning the infrastructure into a three-star hospitality and tourism facility but the deal fell through.
“It (Jafuta Lodge and Stanley Livingstone Lodge) failed to take off. We were trying to find a partner for a joint venture but upon further assessment the deal failed. It just failed,” said Mr Marufu without further elaborating on what exactly led to the collapse of the deal.
Built in 1994, Jafuta Lodge is situated in Fuller Forest overlooking a waterhole. It is just 13 kilometres from the world famous Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
The lodge affords tourists access to the Victoria Falls as well as to the undisturbed and carefully managed teak forests.
Mr Marufu said the company was also seeking an investor to partner it in furniture manufacturing.
“We want to add value to our timber hence we are seeking those with the requisite equipment to partner us in furniture manufacturing as we don’t have (the equipment) as an organisation. We intend to add value to the timber as directed in Zim Asset,” he said.
Bulawayo’s renowned economic analyst Dr Bongani Ngwenya said Forestry Commission’s pursuit of joint ventures was likely to grow the organisation’s business.
“A joint venture is one of the strategies used when businesses come together to achieve growth. There are also mergers and acquisitions as well. The major advantage about joint ventures is that when the two parties come together they don’t lose and they will be equal to each other. In a joint venture there are synergies in terms of mobilisation of resources be it financial, human capital, technologies and machineries,” Dr Ngwenya said.
derick.khumalo