Chronicle Editor
Saul Mauruka,Masvingo Correspondent
THE Masvingo business community has been commended for taking the lead in promoting business growth and innovation after coming up with a platform that seeks to create synergies and explore business opportunities as well as investment potential of the province.
The idea dovetails with the country’s devolution agenda and aims to contribute to the attainment of an upper-middle-class economy by 2030 as espoused in the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1).
Officially opening the inaugural Masvingo Business Expo 2022, at a local hotel, the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Dr Anxious Masuka, applauded the Masvingo business community for pioneering the innovative platform to help the business sector identify opportunities for growth in the province.
The expo was held under the theme “Masvingo an Investment Hub Towards Vision 2030.”
“I would like to commend the Masvingo business community for pioneering an important event to showcase Masvingo’s potential and current capabilities as provided for in the devolution agenda where attention is given to development of local communities in line with pronouncement by President Mnangagwa that no one and no place should be left behind in the development agenda,” he said.
He said it was rare to find provinces taking the lead in innovating around businesses adding that in the past, innovation used to come from the head office where provinces would only be required to implement at the pace of the Central Government.
The Masvingo business expo which was attended by over 100 exhibitors is the first of its kind in the province and the country and has aided businesspeople to identify opportunities. The expo provided an opportunity for businesses to market their products, widen their network, and interact with the target market. It has also been a platform for the launching of new product promos and campaigns.
The Masvingo Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Cde Ezra Chadzamira, paid his gratitude to the organisers of the event saying it had succeeded in shaping the future of the province.
“This business expo marks the beginning of both horizontal and vertical linkages among businesses and will go a long way in improving our national and provincial GDP,” he said.
“I congratulate the Masvingo Business Expo Organising Committee for creating a platform that positively responds to our national aspirations of achieving vision 2030. In coming with such platforms, the province is attentive to the call by the President Mnangagwa that, Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo/Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabaninilo,” said Minister Chadzamira.
Bongani Ndlovu