Khumbul Ekhaya Investment Conference …BCC speaks on venue choice

Sikhumbuzo Moyo

THE Bulawayo City Council has said the decision to host an investment conference in Harare was influenced by its target market, which is Bulawayo-born individuals who are now doing business or holding influential positions in the capital.

Running under the tag Khumbul’ Ekhaya Investment Conference, the event will be held at a Harare hotel on July 30, with the council saying that a minimum of 150 delegates are expected to be in attendance, but already indications are that the figure has long been surpassed.

Mr Kholisani Moyo, BCC’s economic development officer, said the Harare choice is informed by development realities and buttressed by the Second Republic’s mantra that ilizwe lakhiwa ngabaninilo, after the realisation that no one else can build the country except its own citizens.

Following mixed reactions on why the city has decided to hold an investment conference in another city, Mr Moyo said the move was deliberate and is the first of many such outside-the-city investment conferences that are being planned, as the city goes on a vigorous marketing drive, which will see it even going beyond the country’s borders.

“Going to Harare is a deliberate strategy by the city. We are targeting specific potential investors who are sons and daughters coming from the city and the region but now running big businesses or holding positions of influence in Harare. It’s the very reason we are naming the event Khumbul’ Ekhaya, because we are saying to them, the time is now to invest back home,” said Mr Moyo.

He said the investment conferences are part of the city’s calendar of events, which was crafted last year in line with its events planning policy.

“This is our first out-of-city conference but not the first investment conference this year. We have had a number right here in Bulawayo, as our conferences are based on targeting different investors. You may remember the conference we held in collaboration with the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution’s office, where we were targeting the diaspora. We also held a sports Indaba conference right here in the city,” said Mr Moyo.

 

 

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