Let’s have a common economic strategy

Steering Committee meeting recently, I realised that as Buy Zimbabwe we are on the right track.
The presentation by Mr Mupamhanga is in sync with discussions and activities to be held during our forthcoming Buy Zimbabwe Conference and Experiential Expo.

It became clearer to me that we are finally getting close not only to a solution on power but to all the challenges we are facing as a country, or at least that there is now a well thought out desire to deal with our power shortages.
He highlighted that one of Zimbabwe’s greatest challenges has been that we always seem to be found wanting when it comes to presenting a united front when tackling national challenges.

The truth is that we all stand to gain if we are united and speak with one voice.
I must say Mr Mupamhanga rightly played the ball into court when he said that business needs to capacitate the power enablers as part of the country’s wholesale strategy to support economic growth.

It only makes sense for business to take up some ownership or responsibility of the national power grid.
The discussions provoked by Mr Mupamhanga and his team in the ministry and Zesa will definitely be a huge topic in the “Energy and Power Cluster” whose title is “Unlocking the Power Enablers” at the second annual Buy Zimbabwe Conference and Experiential Expo.

Government must be applauded for reaching out to business and as Buy Zimbabwe we encourage local businesses to take up this opportunity sooner rather than later.
Expectations at the conference would be to have Government articulate its proposed leasing of small thermal power stations for the benefit of local business.
However, if the joint venture between the Essar Group and ZPC is anything to go by, then this will be a shining example of how this can be successfully implemented.

From a Buy Zimbabwe point of view, however, the sad thing would be for local companies to let such opportunities go to foreign firms before they even explore them. If the conference can generate strategies that will capacitate the country’s energy infrastructure then maybe the country can well be on its way to achieve the US$100 billion economic vision, which is based on the availability of 12 000 megawatts for industry.

This brings me to another very topical subject, which should definitely come out with tangible outcomes, that of infrastructure development.
Pipe, road, rail and air transport in Zimbabwe definitely needs a lot of attention at the moment.
Last year, there was a lot of interest around the Air Zimbabwe issue, which obviously led to a lot of debate in the public and private domain.

My feeling is that if business also takes responsibility of infrastructure then maybe we can witness sustainable growth in the relevant sectors.
Government and business working together is guaranteed to yield positive results. As Buy Zimbabwe, co-operation is one of our key focus and we fully support the stance

taken by the Energy and Power Development Ministry and trust all line ministries will follow this positive example. With Zimbabwe co-hosting the United Nations World Tourism

Organisation 2013 meeting together with Zambia, the tourism sector will be in the spotlight too at the conference.
It is encouraging that the three UNWTO inspectors who visited the  country last week were impressed with the progress Zimbabwe is making in   preparing for the event.

While the facilities are ready, there is however, concern over Air Zimbabwe and our hope is that come 2013, a lasting solution will have been found. The involvement of a united business community might actually work here.
This is a huge event for the country and a united front would not be a bad idea at all.

We just have to ensure our timelines are realistic and adhered to and in respect of Air Zimbabwe we need a quick solution.
We have a lot of projects that have been dragging for too long even though winning strategies have been tabled.

Next week we will be looking at the ICT, mining and motor industry clusters, which are also going to be major topics at the second annual Buy Zimbabwe Conference and Experiential Expo to be held on March 29, 2012.

Till then, May the good Lord bless all of you.

• Robert Muganda is the Media and Communications Executive for Buy Zimbabwe.  He can be contacted on: 0772 714 233, [email protected], Facebook: Buy Zimbabwe Campaign, Twitter: Buy Zimbabwe Campaign