adminpresentation on the Look East policy and I cannot help but agree that it is high time it is crafted into a public statement that will guide the country forward.
It is important, however, that as we continue to look East we do not overlook the fact that the East itself is looking elsewhere for opportunities.
It’s true that Zimbabwe has the political, social and economic influence the Eastern bloc is looking for.
It is also true that we have the vast resources that can give them the global political and economic support that they desire.
The other issue that investors are looking for are markets for goods and services which makes our competitiveness ideal for attracting Foreign Direct Investment.
Zimbabwe certainly is a good market for Chinese goods and we have seen them fly off the shelves and we should leverage on this by ensuring that they invest in factories locally.
The big question for every investor is whether their investment destination has markets for locally produced goods internally and externally.
We all know that when it comes to markets, there are two things involved, it’s either you have them or you don’t, if you don’t you are in trouble.
Now if you don’t have markets there are two things involved, it’s either you get foreign direct investment or you don’t.
As Buy Zimbabwe, our work is crafted to ensure that before anything else, the country and indeed its leading producers create markets for products and service created locally.
This, I feel is greater than any other effort to create investor confidence that we might choose to talk about.
The investor is interested to note that once they come in and invest in a factory, there exists an open and ready market willing to consume its products within that locality, even before thinking of exporting.
Countries such as United States of America, Australia and South Africa are well known for creating hype for the brands they produce.
Consumers there have a sense of pride that even goes beyond patriotism and will always prefer to buy locally made products.
This generally creates positive perceptions about doing business in these countries.
During this year’s Nelson Mandela Day celebrations, Proudly South African in partnership with Media 24 had a target of creating 93 000 jobs in honour of the great South African statesman, Nelson Mandela.
The entire country rallied behind this initiative which involved supporting local manufacturers to increase their capacity.
The current Rugby World Cup has had South Africans up in arms claiming that replica shirts being sold to Springbok devotees were made in China at the expense of the African nation’s beleaguered textile and clothing industry.
Clearly, these are people who are serious about their country.
When Zimbabwe played Mali in June this year, one could have mistaken the Zimbabwean support team for South Africa because of the number of South African replica jerseys in the stands. This
needs urgent attention from all responsible stakeholders.
Like I mentioned before, Buy Zimbabwe exists to create as much hype as possible for local products.
Buy Zimbabwe is a competitiveness driver whose mandate is to unlock the country’s potential through a structured aggressive support of the production and consumption of local goods and services.
Buy Zimbabwe seeks to actively promote homegrown products for the domestic and global markets.
To promote the Buy Zimbabwe brand and partner brands, we aim to host annually numerous events such as the Buy Zimbabwe Week and Buy Zimbabwe Day, which give local companies a platform to market their goods and services in the Buy Zimbabwe context.
Other opportunities that include the Buy Zimbabwe soccer tourney; tankard race and golf days have been explored.
Following the examples of other similar international “buy local” campaigns we are working to increase our presence in the media on behalf of our partners to ensure that they enjoy maximum visibility.
As a parting note it is very critical that we create the necessary confidence in the current range of brands that we have in the country.
It would be good for the country’s ambassadors to seek the much-needed investment, communicating to potential investors the investment potential in the country.
Till next week . . . God Bless.
- For comments, contributions and membership contact Buy Zimbabwe on:[email protected], [email protected], 0772 714 233 or visit 46 Lawson Road, Milton Park, Harare. Website: www.buyzimbabwe.org.zw
Online Reporter