Preparedness key to investment

because of mutual interest.
This year, however, promises to be bigger since we will be going into the conference after the launch of the Industrial Development Plan by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
The dates for the Buy Zimbabwe Conference and the country’s first-ever experiential expo have been moved to April 11-12, 2012.
This is to pave way for the launch of the IDP to give conference delegates ample time to analyse the resolutions from Euromoney and the IDP document and feed that well into Buy Zimbabwe Conference.
I must begin really by applauding the efforts being made by the Ministry of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion in terms of attracting the much-needed investment into Zimbabwe.
A lot of positive outcomes are coming out of the relationship between Zimbabwe and Euromoney Conferences, however, the discussions on Wednesday left me a bit worried about our preparations for such engagements.
For those whose memories serve them right, you might recall that some two or three weeks back I quoted Permanent Secretary of Energy and Power development Mr Justin Mpamhanga.
He said that Zimbabwe’s greatest challenge when given an international platform to attract investment is that we are always found wanting when it comes to presenting a united front to tackling national challenges.
This then affects our level of preparedness at times.
I sensed that at the investment conference particularly during the discussions on “Doing Business in Zimbabwe” but I will not dwell on that.
With Buy Zimbabwe conference coming up we really need to focus on unity of purpose.
We shall be discussing “How we can create win-win partnerships in Sadc (and indeed the rest of the world)” so I shall say the conference is our opportunity to get our act together before we go on a Sadc roadshow with our local products.
Readers might have noticed how South African companies move into to foreign markets as a train.
That is because they formulate solid partnerships between themselves before even deciding on taking the world.
Let’s all come together and say that this is what Zimbabwe has to offer in terms of product and service.
Singular efforts are good for companies but at times they have proven to be futile yielding only marginal gain.
When the foreign markets buy Zimbabwean products they are essentially buying brand Zimbabwe because it is synonymous with quality, reliability and oft times lasting value. The brand is, however, threatened when brands operate in silos in foreign markets.
At Buy Zimbabwe we strongly believe in working as a group.
We are really excited about the coming of Leslie Sedibe from Proudly South African to the conference and sincerely hope that he still available for the amended dates.
He has expressed interest in coming to share the South African experience on how they have managed to keep the South African brand alive. It’s really how we can expand the issue of win-win partnerships to a global scale though.
Maybe if I can drift back to the investment conference held this week. Richard Banks, Director Emerging Markets, Euromoney Conferences mentioned something that had my mind thinking.
He said that not all investors are “crunchy investors” meaning that not all investors are good for the country.
Considering where we are coming from, it is important that we go to bed with people that have our interests at heart not only theirs.
It is important that we carefully evaluate who invests in the country and the reason behind their investment. I have heard the Look East policy being questioned and Mr Banks mentioned something that came as a rude awakening to me and perhaps a lot of other people.
There has been a push from the Chinese government on how they invest abroad. Simply put, the Chinese government has focused more on domestic investment, so ours will definitely be a hard sell.
Perhaps we ought to focus on someone with a better foreign policy for investment.
Food for thought.
For me, however, this issue of foreign investment is a nutcracker.
I would be happier if we could generate our own financial pool in Zimbabwe that will allow me to invest in a power project or two and my neighbour next door has put his money in the national airline.
That’s my final thought.
Till next week . . . God bless.

Robert Muganda is the Media and Communications Executive for Buy Zimbabwe. He can be contacted on: mobile: 0772 714 233
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