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Bernard Bwoni Correspondent
It is a very delicate centrepiece of economies worldwide and it can easily fall apart under the burden of unpredictability, unreliability and uncertainty.
Investor confidence is built on pillars of probity, certainty and preciseness.
It is a fact that investors require mollycoddling by virtue of being the bearers of the much-hyped and much-needed foreign direct investment into the country.
It has to be said that Zimbabwe as a country has a just cause for some of the economic decisions and policies the country had to embark on in the past.
Unfortunately, some of these decisions have led to conflict with potential investors, mainly those from the West.
This is such an unfortunate scenario because Zimbabwe has a contrived but shared history with the West, especially the former coloniser Britain.
The past shared history has been far from rosy, but there is a shared history all the same.
Words are very powerful and even more so in business. Getting the right tone of voice is probably one of the most important steps in rebuilding Brand Zimbabwe to the outer and wider world.
The tone is often an external prognostication of Brand Zimbabwe’s core values and it needs to consistently continue to demonstrate what really defines this brand called Zimbabwe.
The fact of the matter is that Brand Zimbabwe is warm, welcoming, peaceful, fair, accommodating and flexible and all this needs to be conveyed appropriately.
The national tone has to be consistent as it is a key determinant of how potential investors, visitors and other interested stakeholders view Brand Zimbabwe.
It is the nature and nurture of the tone that either pulls in or pushes out those interested in doing business with the country.
In any business relationship and setting, tone is critical because words are precise and can be precarious if not measured accurately to gauge potential reactions of the recipients of the message conveyed.
It is stating the obvious that low confidence impedes economic growth, destroys national reputation and reduces investment into the country.
The national tone and marketing of Brand Zimbabwe is not the prerogative of the ruling party alone, but all Zimbabweans.
The opposition in any country is there to challenge the ruling party on matters of policy and that is good.
However, there is need to separate the lure of political mudslinging from the marketing of Brand Zimbabwe.
There is everything wrong with Zimbabweans themselves de-marketing Zimbabwe. Negativity devours at national spirit, it fractures the very essence of our potential as Zimbabweans and cripples every deoxyribonucleic acid traits dedicated to national progression.
The thing with negativity is that it amplifies itself thousands of times and if unrestricted it has disastrous and ruinous consequences.
The mind is susceptible to negativity and negativity has a life of its own. Zimbabweans of all affiliations have a duty to market the country and market it well.
This negativity destroys national vision, results in individual internal blindness and makes it impossible to see any of the opportunities the country has to offer.
That Zimbabwe is confronted with many challenges is an understatement but when addressing these challenges it is important to focus on the unlimited possibilities of tomorrow.
The country has to start looking at all available strategies to rebuild Brand Zimbabwe, lure investors, to instil confidence and add real value to the economy.
For Zimbabwe to build a sound and dynamic market it has to build on exceptional standards of corporate governance premised on key principles of impartiality, honesty, clarity and responsibility.
Zimbabwe has the right policies and people in place and all that is required is to offer assurances to those who want to bring their money into the country.
It is their money at the end of the day and the country could do with that money right now anyway. Changing the tone cannot be that hard surely, for the sake of Brand Zimbabwe.
The information to potential investors has to be precise and sufficient to enable them to make informed decisions.
There is need for clarity and composure in terms of communicating and presenting the brand called Zimbabwe. The frustrating thing is that Zimbabwe has massive potential yet it has continued to fare poorly against regional neighbours on the global investor confidence and perception scales.
The key stumbling block has been communication, conflicting tones from some sections of the upper echelons of power and the inter-party and intra-party squabbling.
There is an urgent need to find the right balance between local value addition to the economy and providing a positive investment climate for all investors.
Zimbabwe has to urgently start simplifying processes, improving the country’s attractiveness and start massaging the investor with open palms using the locally-packaged Brand Zimbabwe attractiveness oils.
The country is an attractive investment destination but not to everyone apparently and as such has to address those areas where it is less attractive.
There is need for simplification shocks and in some cases the over-simplification of the lives of potential domestic, regional or international investors. The country will have to simplify all systems and manners of doing business in Zimbabwe, simplify everything and start looking at case studies from regional neighbours to see where they are excelling and lacking and can look into improving and buttressing its own internal systems.
Zimbabwe has to start looking into attracting more entrepreneurs, more regional and international inventors, thinkers, brains and the best that is out there. There is need for thorough, robust and corruption-resistant mechanisms to follow up on every investment project presented into the country from the moment the investor lands until they leave.
The country has a well-educated population but focus now should be on attracting more talent into the country. The key word here is “talent” not just education on its own. There is a highly talented Diaspora community and beyond to tap into.
Zimbabwe can draw on the experience of regional neighbours such as South Africa and Botswana who have all been benefiting from the country’s own talents, skills, expertise and experience.
The priority now should be on creating the right environment to attract these exceptional minds and this critical human investment back into the country.
The United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, Canada, New Zealand and many other countries have provided attractive conditions to Zimbabwean expatriates and Harare has to match those conditions to be able to gain this crucial resource back into the country.
This is in no way meant to say that there are no great minds, skills and experience in Zimbabwe presently because there are, but there is need to highlight the fact that there is competition out there for skills and talent and the reality is that the country is not benefiting at all from any of this.
The indigenisation and economic empowerment policies have no doubt been misunderstood and misrepresented and this has created doubts in some potential and current investors.
The country’s VP Emmerson Mnangagwa has rightly pointed out that there is need to look at addressing some of the bureaucratic bottlenecks that continue to frustrate potential investors into the country.
Attractiveness is about looking into comprehensive responses to investor enquiries taking all the specifications into account and adding others such as health systems effectiveness, quality of life and good infrastructure and public transport systems in place. Investors want to know that workers will be healthy and are able to get into work on time. Businesses run smoothly on good infrastructures.
China is Zimbabwe’s saviour from the East and learning from how she went about attracting investors during the 1970s when she initially opened her economy to Foreign Direct Investment is crucial to the country’s own re-emergence.
Interestingly, the decision to open up China to the world economy was drafted into the state constitution adopted by the 6th National People’s Congress whereby investors were allowed to undertake their own infrastructure development and other investment as long as they could raise the funds from taxation, from profits of the businesses they owned or from banks.
Zimbabwe just had its extraordinary 6th National People’s Congress and could take a leaf out of the Chinese approach by calling upon more investors to develop their own businesses inside the country thereby creating more formal jobs the electorate would so much prefer compared to the unpredictable informal sector.— bernardbwoni.blogspot.com
Online Reporter