Online Reporter
By Conrad Mwanza
President, Zimbabwe Achievers Association (ZAA)
Zimbabwe’s diaspora is no longer simply a community of citizens living outside our borders. It has become one of the country’s most important economic, professional and strategic constituencies.
For decades, the diaspora conversation has largely centred on remittances. Those remittances are important, but they tell only part of the story.
I have consistently argued that the true Zimbabwean diaspora economy is worth US$5 billion or more annually. Around US$2.5 billion comes through formal channels, but I believe another US$2.5 billion, if not more, reaches Zimbabwe through informal transfers and wider diaspora economic activity — money brought home, family support, property and construction, school fees, healthcare, tourism, business investment and other direct expenditure.
But perhaps the greatest untapped diaspora resource is not money at all.
Across the world, Zimbabwe has doctors, nurses, engineers, academics, scientists, accountants, bankers, entrepreneurs, investors, technology specialists, creatives and executives working at some of the world’s leading institutions.
This raises an important national question:
Does the scale and strategic importance of this global Zimbabwean community now justify a dedicated Ministry of Diaspora Affairs?
I believe it does.
Beyond Remittances
Zimbabwe should think much bigger about its diaspora.
The ambition should be to move from remittances to investment, from consumption to asset creation, and from diaspora engagement to diaspora participation in national development.
Zimbabweans abroad will always support their families. That is an important economic and social contribution.
But imagine if a greater proportion of the billions already flowing into Zimbabwe was also channelled into agriculture, property, tourism, manufacturing, mining, infrastructure, technology, capital markets and entrepreneurship.
Imagine simultaneously creating an organised mechanism through which Zimbabwean specialists abroad could contribute their knowledge, technology, mentorship, international networks and professional expertise.
The diaspora should not only be viewed as a source of foreign currency.
It should be viewed as national capital — financial capital, intellectual capital, social capital and international connectivity.
Harnessing something of that scale requires permanent institutional capacity.
From a Diaspora Desk to a Dedicated Institution
Zimbabwe has already taken important steps through existing Government structures, particularly the Diaspora Desk within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
That work should be acknowledged and strengthened.
The question, however, is whether the economic and strategic importance of the diaspora has now outgrown the “desk” model.
I believe it has.
There are useful lessons elsewhere in Africa.
Kenya provides perhaps the most relevant example. The country created a dedicated State Department for Diaspora Affairs, recognising that diaspora engagement requires its own institutional focus within Government.
The distinction is important.
Foreign Affairs is primarily concerned with a country’s relationships with other states and international institutions.
Diaspora Affairs is principally concerned with a country’s relationship with its own citizens and communities living around the world.
Those citizens have very specific requirements around investment, property, banking, mortgages, pensions, documentation, skills transfer, returning home, establishing businesses and maintaining economic and cultural connections with their country.
Ethiopia has similarly developed a dedicated institutional structure through the Ethiopian Diaspora Service, building on earlier structures specifically established to engage Ethiopians abroad.
These African examples demonstrate that Zimbabwe would not be entering entirely new territory.
But Zimbabwe does not necessarily need to copy anybody else’s model.
We could consider a Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, a State Ministry for Diaspora Affairs, or a sufficiently empowered Diaspora Agency or Commission.
The name is less important than the mandate.
What matters is having dedicated leadership, resources, measurable targets and sufficient authority to coordinate diaspora matters across Government.
The argument is therefore not that Zimbabwe has done nothing.
It is that the time may have come to move from a Diaspora Desk to a fully-fledged national diaspora institution.
A One-Stop Doorway into Zimbabwe
Diaspora affairs do not fit neatly within one traditional Ministry.
They touch foreign affairs, finance, investment, housing, agriculture, mining, tourism, immigration, education, health, skills, industry and technology.
A Zimbabwean in Britain wanting to invest in agriculture should not have to work out which five institutions to approach.
A nurse in Australia wanting to contribute specialist skills should have a clear pathway.
A Zimbabwean in Canada wanting to buy property or plan for retirement at home should be able to access credible information and appropriate financial products.
An entrepreneur in Dubai wanting to establish a Zimbabwean operation should know exactly where to start.
A dedicated diaspora institution could become that one-stop doorway into Zimbabwe.
Its guiding principle should be straightforward:
Make it easier to engage with Zimbabwe, easier to invest in Zimbabwe and easier to come home.
From Brain Drain to Brain Circulation
For generations, Zimbabwe has invested heavily in educating its people. Many of those people now work around the world.
We often describe this as brain drain.
Perhaps we should increasingly talk about brain circulation.
A Zimbabwean does not necessarily need to permanently relocate home to contribute to national development.
A surgeon working in Britain could spend several weeks each year training medical professionals in Zimbabwe.
An engineer in Australia could contribute remotely to infrastructure projects.
A technology executive in America could mentor Zimbabwean start-ups.
Academics could establish research partnerships between Zimbabwean and international universities.
Diaspora investors and executives could connect local companies to international capital, technologies and markets.
A dedicated diaspora institution could build a national skills database and systematically match Zimbabwean expertise around the world with opportunities and requirements at home.
Instead of asking only, “How do we bring our professionals back?”, we should also ask:
“How do we connect their expertise back?”
That is the difference between brain drain and brain circulation.
Diaspora Week Should Become a National Event
Institutionalising diaspora engagement should not stop with Government structures.
I believe Zimbabwe Diaspora Week should ultimately become an officially recognised annual national event.
Zimbabwe already understands the importance of creating major national platforms around strategic sectors and constituencies.
We have major programmes recognising the importance of youth and women.
The Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) provides an established annual platform for trade, business and investment.
The Zimbabwe Agricultural Show provides a major annual focal point for agriculture.
The diaspora deserves its own recognised place on Zimbabwe’s national calendar.
Imagine if Zimbabweans around the world knew that the first week of August is Diaspora Week in Zimbabwe.
It would become a date around which families plan holidays, professionals arrange annual leave, entrepreneurs schedule meetings and potential investors plan visits home.
Our embassies could spend the preceding months mobilising Zimbabweans to attend.
Government Ministries and investment agencies could prepare actual investment opportunities.
Banks could showcase diaspora accounts, mortgages, investment products, insurance and pensions.
Property developers could organise investment tours.
Provinces could present regional opportunities.
Farmers, mines, manufacturers and tourism operators could open projects to diaspora delegations.
Universities and hospitals could identify skills and partnerships they require from Zimbabweans abroad.
Businesses could meet diaspora customers, partners and investors.
Diaspora organisations around the world could mobilise their members to come home.
It would become much more than an event.
It could become an annual marketplace connecting Zimbabwe with its global human and financial capital.
ZITF Brings the World to Zimbabwe. Diaspora Week Brings Global Zimbabwe Home.
There is a simple way of understanding the opportunity.
ZITF brings the world to Zimbabwe. Diaspora Week can bring global Zimbabwe home.
Those global Zimbabweans arrive with international experience, professional expertise, networks, capital and, importantly, an emotional connection to the country.
They are not simply tourists.
They have parents here. They have families here. Many own homes and land here. They send money here. Some intend to retire here. Many want their children to maintain a connection with Zimbabwe.
That creates a relationship with the country that can potentially last generations.
Diaspora Week could therefore combine investment, trade, tourism, skills, culture, family and national identity in a way few other events can.
From a ZAA Initiative to a National Platform
At the Zimbabwe Achievers Association, we have spent more than a decade building relationships among Zimbabweans internationally.
Our experience during Zimbabwe Diaspora Week 2026 demonstrated the appetite that exists for structured engagement with home.
Zimbabweans travelled from different parts of the world to reconnect, engage Government and business, visit developments and explore opportunities.
Our Patron, Hon. Tino Machakaire, Minister of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training, has been an important supporter of this diaspora engagement agenda.
During Diaspora Week, our delegates had opportunities to experience developments in Zimbabwe first-hand. We were also privileged to visit President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s farm, where delegates saw productive agriculture in practice and an example of leadership through action.
That experience reinforced one of our strongest beliefs:
Zimbabweans abroad need to see Zimbabwe for themselves.
There is a significant difference between reading about an investment opportunity online in London and standing at that project in Zimbabwe.
There is a difference between hearing that opportunities exist in agriculture and walking through a productive farm.
There is a difference between receiving an investment brochure and sitting across the table from the people responsible for delivering a project.
That is what Diaspora Week can facilitate.
The next Zimbabwe Diaspora Week takes place from 2–8 August 2027.
But our ambition should ultimately be bigger than ZAA.
We should be prepared to say:
Diaspora Week belongs to Zimbabwe.
ZAA can bring its international networks, experience and infrastructure.
Government can provide national leadership and coordination.
Zimbabwe’s diplomatic Missions can mobilise communities internationally.
The private sector can provide investment opportunities, products and services.
Diaspora organisations can mobilise their communities.
Together, we can develop Diaspora Week into a national institution comparable in strategic importance to Zimbabwe’s other major annual platforms.
The question should therefore no longer simply be:
“How big can we make Diaspora Week?”
It should be:
“How economically important can we make Diaspora Week to Zimbabwe?”
The Ministry and Diaspora Week Should Work Together
A dedicated diaspora institution and a national Diaspora Week would complement each other.
The Ministry, State Department or Agency would provide the permanent institutional infrastructure throughout the year.
Diaspora Week would provide the annual national focal point.
Zimbabwe’s embassies and consulates would provide the international mobilisation network.
The private sector would provide the investment products, projects and commercial opportunities.
Diaspora organisations would provide the community networks.
That creates an ecosystem rather than another Government department.
Throughout the year, diaspora Zimbabweans could be identified, registered and engaged.
Investment opportunities could be developed.
Skills could be mapped.
Problems could be identified and addressed.
Then, every August, global Zimbabwe could come home to review progress, explore opportunities, make investments and establish new partnerships.
It Must Be Measured by Results
Creating another Ministry would achieve little if it simply created another layer of bureaucracy.
Any dedicated diaspora institution must therefore have clear economic and developmental targets.
Every year, Zimbabwe should be able to measure how much diaspora capital was converted into productive investment; how many diaspora-backed businesses were established; how many diaspora mortgages and investment accounts were opened; how many professionals participated in skills-transfer programmes; how many jobs resulted from diaspora investment; how many international partnerships were facilitated; and how many obstacles identified by Zimbabweans abroad were actually resolved.
Diaspora Week itself should eventually produce an annual Diaspora Investment and Engagement Report measuring commitments, investments, partnerships, skills transfers and outcomes arising from the programme.
Success cannot simply be measured by attendance.
It should be measured by investment mobilised, skills transferred, businesses created, jobs generated and relationships converted into economic activity.
Zimbabwe’s Global Network
Zimbabweans living internationally collectively constitute one of the country’s most powerful global networks.
They understand international markets.
They have relationships with companies, universities, hospitals, investors, governments and institutions.
They understand Zimbabwe while simultaneously understanding the countries in which they live.
Properly organised, they can become an extraordinary network of economic ambassadors for Zimbabwe.
Every Zimbabwean professional abroad potentially represents a connection to an investor, tourist, technology, market, skill or institution that Zimbabwe needs.
Our challenge is connecting those dots.
The Time Has Come
The case for a dedicated Ministry of Diaspora Affairs is therefore not about creating another Government department for its own sake.
It is about recognising an economic reality.
Zimbabwe has a substantial global population contributing billions of dollars to the economy, possessing extraordinary professional expertise and maintaining networks across some of the world’s largest economies.
That is a national asset.
The next phase of Zimbabwe’s diaspora policy should therefore be ambitious.
From counting remittances to mobilising investment.
From consumption to asset creation.
From brain drain to brain circulation.
From occasional engagement to permanent institutional engagement.
From sending money home to building assets at home.
And from Diaspora Week being simply an event to becoming Zimbabwe’s annual national homecoming for its global citizens.
Kenya and Ethiopia demonstrate that African countries are increasingly giving diaspora affairs dedicated institutional attention.
Zimbabwe can develop a model appropriate to our own circumstances and ambitions.
A dedicated Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, State Ministry or empowered national Diaspora Agency, working alongside an officially recognised Zimbabwe Diaspora Week, could give global Zimbabwe both a permanent institutional doorway into Government and an annual reason to come home.
The diaspora is already contributing.
The opportunity now is to organise that contribution, multiply its impact and make it a deliberate pillar of Zimbabwe’s national development strategy.
ZITF brings the world to Zimbabwe.
Diaspora Week can bring global Zimbabwe home.
