Local companies urged to change approach

He said the companies could only remain in business and be competitive on the regional markets if they changed their approach.

Mr Bimha was speaking in an interview on his experiences at the just-ended Zambia Agriculture and Commercial Show.

He said there was a need for Zimbabwean companies to produce high quality goods and this can be achieved through upgrading of technology.

“We established that some Zambian companies had better products than ours, but with our human capital and adequate funding we can also get there and even go further than that,” said Mr Bimha.

He said Zambian companies are now adding value to their products other than selling raw materials.

“In terms of value addition, Zimbabwe is trailing behind. We should upgrade technologies to catch up with the rest of the world,” said Mr Bimha.

Local manufacturing companies, he said, have been affected by sanctions, that have limited their ability to mobilise funds.

“We would have been at a higher level than where we are, but there are no lines of credit and local companies can not access funding,” said Mr Bimha.

He said it was good that local companies showcased their products at the Zambian show and fared well.

“We had the opportunity to showcase to the region what we are capable of producing,” said Mr Bimha.

“I do not have the exact statistics, but I can confirm Zimbabwean companies registered some business.”