Online Reporter
Judith Phiri, [email protected]
BULAWAYO’S clothing manufacturing sector is emerging as a key driver of job creation and youth empowerment, with local firms employing hundreds of workers, equipping young people with industry-ready skills and creating opportunities for Zimbabweans returning from South Africa.
The growing contribution of the sector has earned praise from the Minister of State for Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Judith Ncube, who has challenged manufacturers to expand employment opportunities while accommodating Zimbabweans returning under the Government-assisted voluntary repatriation programme following a recent surge in xenophobic violence and anti-migrant protests in South Africa.
Minister Ncube, accompanied by a delegation comprising Joint Operations Command (JOC) members, Government officials and stakeholders from various sectors, recently toured Carousel factory and TICOZ Enterprise among other companies during a two-day visit to key development and legacy projects in the city.
The visits form part of Government efforts to gain a clearer understanding of the scope, implementation status and challenges affecting strategic projects across the city, while identifying interventions required to ensure their timely completion.
Minister Ncube commended Carousel factory, a manufacturing division of Edgars Stores Limited, which has 581 employees, while of those 537 were directly linked to production and 353 were females representing 65.7 percent of their employment levels.
At TICOZ Enterprise, the clothing manufacturer currently employs 200 workers, with capacity to increase its workforce to 650 people at its premises.
“We commend these companies for the work that they are doing and for creating job opportunities for our people here in the city. I am sure you are aware that there are people coming from South Africa and others are in the manufacturing sector. If we approach these companies, we will ask them to accommodate these people,” said Minister Ncube.
She also commended the companies for increasing the number of workers, stating that they were moving in the right direction in line with Vision 2030, which aims to transition the country into an empowered, upper-middle-income economy, with job creation a central goal.
On TICOZ Enterprise youth empowerment programmes, she commended them for taking up the initiative to empower the youth.
“TICOZ Enterprise is one of the businesses that we identified, and they got an award during the Women Investment Conference because of the services that they provide. These include training the young people through the vocational approach that they have, and this means a lot to the future generation,” she said.
“The youth are the future business people. We need more business people, especially women and the services being offered here align with that. Some of the young people here come from rural areas as far as Nkayi, Tsholotsho, Gokwe and Mberengwa, among others.”
Minister Ncube said empowering youth from rural areas speaks to rural industrialisation being spearheaded by the Government under the leadership of President Mnangagwa, ensuring no one and no place is left behind.
She said the skills the youth were acquiring were lifetime skills that enable them to effectively handle the demands, challenges and opportunities of everyday life.
“What is needed is for us to talk with those with resources to support these empowerment initiatives so that the youth could be able to start their small businesses. They will be able to grow because of the skills background they
have been given here at TICOZ Enterprise,” she added.
“Of interest, there is a girl from South Africa who came for the training here to do tailoring, pattern making, cutting and finishing of all the production. She talks confidently to say that she is so happy for the opportunity she got here.
As the Government we really appreciate the role they are playing.”
She applauded Carousel factory for their partnerships with tertiary institutions such as the Bulawayo Polytechnic, among other to make the students industry-ready when they graduate.
Carousel managing director Mr Menfree Tanyanyiwa said: “I am happy to report that the Bulawayo Polytechnic spent a week here on a sort of benchmarking visit where we were showing them what we expect out of the students that they produce and what the gaps are in industry.
“So that they can also tailor-make their curriculum to ensure that when we receive their students, they are industry-ready.”
He said they have also received communication from Chinhoyi University that they also want to come for a similar visit to Bulawayo, while they continue to feed off with each other with the local tertiary institutions.
TICOZ Enterprise Operations Director, Ms Tafadzwa Zimbudzana, said that to address unemployment challenges, they are training young people at their company.
“We have a very high unemployment rate, with young people being the majority. We came up with an initiative of training young people from across the country in their factory. When they finish our training programme for six months we hire them.
“So, with us being able to secure more jobs and more tenders, we are able to also have more orders and hire more of these students that just train them and then say we do not have jobs for you,” she said.
Ms Zimbudzana said most of the girls they train are from disadvantaged backgrounds, while they have also started to welcome people coming from South Africa.
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