Local investors must also come to the party

was missing a few months ago.
I saw a new service station that has been opened recently to take care of the the heavy traffic.

This can only be a welcome development away from supermarket franchises that had become an eyesore in the suburbs or the ever increasing bottle stores and kombis who are good at disobeying every rule of the country’s roads.
What is happening to our industrial area? Is it a sign of the revival of the economy? Well, with the ever increasing language of indigenisation and economic empowerment on our air waves and print media, maybe, this has caught on with those who have cash to start business operations again.

If the activity in the industrial areas is about manufacturing and not just to distribute imported goods, then the country is on the right path to economic revival.
But the major drawback will still be that of lack of primary products from the farming areas to spur the manufacturing industry.
What a discussion that took place at one sports club at the weekend! Everywhere one goes, the topic is the economy and the questions as to what went wrong for us to be in the state of affairs we are now without credible jobs and earning capacity.

One man related his experience when he earned in US dollar terms, three times his current salary although the currency was in Zimbabwe dollars.
The value of the Zim dollar was equivalent to two US dollars and on par with the British pound.
A banker who joined the discussion explained that the country, instead of keeping the gold we mined in the RBZ coffers, we sold everything and were left with nothing to support our Zim dollar currency.

But now, we are using the US dollar, why are we failing to run an efficient economy? One man could not understand why people are buying cars and building houses instead of banking the money to provide capital for those companies that are short of cash?

The banker admitted that banks had a lot of cash in deposits from ordinary people and insurance companies, but the Zimbabwean investor was not capable of paying back the money borrowed which, in actual fact, belonged to the depositors who are not even getting interest on their money kept in banks.
The net result is that local capital is available but the borrower does not understand how to run a business.

Therefore, to say that there is no money to invest is just disingenius. The banker lamented the fact that the country did not have experienced people to run businesses.
On the question of agriculture, one participant could not understand why the farmers were not producing enough products for the industry.

Once again it was explained that the farmer was not experienced to do commercial farming. But, if rearing cattle could be taken as an example, why if the African people, who have kept cattle for over hundred years were failing to run cattle ranches?

How much experience does one need to look after cattle where diptanks are available and veterinary surgeons cannot find enough work?
There are many ranches that have no cattle at all especially those along the Harare-Masvingo road, to mention just a few.

At the end of the day, the major problem was narrowed to incompetence in our business and farming people.
How could anyone explain the lack of economic development while people are going on an unexplained spending spree on cars and houses?

The ever concern of lack of external investment is quite a misplaced culture. What it means is that foreigners can bring their capital and run their businesses better than the locals.
The locals are interested in spending their money on consumables and then sit back and complain about the lack of jobs and capital. Capital is awash in banks but no one wants to pay back what is borrowed.

If any lesson has to be learned, it is what is being beamed on our television screens daily about the debt crisis in the European Union countries, like Greece, Portugal, Italy, etc. Borrowing for consumption is not the answer but borrowing for manufacturing.

Even from local resources, it is the only way forward to achieve economic development.
But the funds borrowed must be paid back because the money belongs to the local depositors.

The culture of paying back loans must be inculcated into the minds of those who are keen to invest in business.