Walter Nyamukondiwa
Mashonaland West Bureau Chief
KADOMA-based Craft Properties Holdings is promoting Zimbabwe as an investment destination at CNN International’s inaugural Asian edition of Global Perspectives, which brings together global business leaders and policymakers in Bangkok, Thailand.
The company’s founder and group chief executive, Prof Kudakwashe Taruberekera, and his wife, operations director Mrs Yeukai Taruberekera, are attending the invitation-only forum at The Ritz-Carlton on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Group Annual Meetings.
The gathering brings together leaders from finance, technology, geopolitics, healthcare and other sectors to discuss global influence, market trends and emerging technologies shaping the future.
Speakers include Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde, and World Trade Organisation director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, alongside executives from major international companies.
Prof Taruberekera said Zimbabwean businesses needed representation on platforms where global economic trends and investment opportunities are discussed.
“We are here to carry the flag of Zimbabwe as Zimbabwe’s Business Ambassador to the World. To tell every investor here that Zimbabwe is open for business,” he said.
Beyond promoting Zimbabwe, the group is seeking insights into solar technology, smart housing, green financing, hospitality and artificial intelligence to inform its projects locally and across the region.
These include Holyland in Kadoma and Greenfield Cherries Agro-Residential along the Harare-Bulawayo Highway, as well as ventures in Zambia, Namibia and South Africa.
Prof Taruberekera said Zimbabwe’s mineral wealth, fertile soils, water resources, wildlife and educated young population presented opportunities for international investors.
Founded in Kadoma in 2008, Craft Properties Holdings has expanded into a pan-African group with interests in real estate, construction, renewable energy, education infrastructure, hospitality, property technology and security.
The group says it was registered as a United Nations supplier and service provider in January 2019 and has since participated in international conferences, including energy and artificial intelligence engagements in Dubai.
Its upcoming engagements include the Global AI Show in Abu Dhabi on November 11 and 12, and the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2027.
The company also says it is pursuing community development initiatives, including housing for vulnerable groups, renewable energy and borehole installations at schools, wheelchair donations and livelihood projects for people with disabilities.
On September 23, the group handed over two houses in Holyland, Kadoma, to people living with disabilities and people with albinism.
It has also supported schools in Chakari, Mt Darwin and Murombedzi through various interventions.
Prof Taruberekera, who is also an evangelist, urged young people to shun drug and substance abuse, saying the country needed a healthy generation to drive national development.
