Online Reporter
Martin Kadzere
Zimbabwe’s trading capacity has received a major boost following the launch of the Africa Trade and Distribution Company Zimbabwe in partnership with CBZ Holdings on Friday.
As a strategic subsidiary of the African Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank), launched with US$1 billion in seed capital in September last year, ATDC aims to drive and support member-country trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
AfCFTA is a landmark free trade area encompassing 54 of the 55 African Union member states, creating the largest free trade area in the world by the number of participating countries.
ATDC operates in four African markets — Egypt, Nigeria, Malawi and Zimbabwe — where it started operations three months ago — using joint ventures with major local financial and corporate partners.
It targets a structural gap in African commerce by transforming the continent’s immense market potential into scalable trade flows while driving intra-African trade.
The company operates as a logistics and trading platform designed to connect local enterprises across agriculture, mining and manufacturing directly to continental supply routes.
The platform resolves local supply-chain bottlenecks by coordinating storage, cross-border transport and transaction structuring.
To increase market competitiveness, its role includes aggregating fragmented output from smallholder farmers to artisanal miners into standardised, dependable bulk volumes for international trade, while advancing value addition and import substitution to retain a larger share of value chains on the continent.
It also facilitates securing raw materials for manufacturers and provides structured working-capital financing through its banking partners to support transaction execution.
Speaking at the launch of the ATDC Zimbabwe in Harare, ATDC chief executive Mr Stewart Makura said the platform was established around a simple proposition: the African continent does not lack opportunity, but rather the commercial linkages that convert opportunities into trade.
“ATDC exists to close that gap by building a pan-African trading and distribution platform that can originate opportunities, connect supply with demand, structure transactions and move goods efficiently across markets,” Mr Makura said.
“That platform must solve the practical logistics of storage and transportation, not merely match buyers and sellers,” he added.
Mr Makura noted that Zimbabwe possesses considerable productive capacity across agriculture, minerals, manufacturing and other value-added industries.
As such, ATDC will help connect Zimbabwean businesses more deeply with markets across Africa and beyond, while improving access to essential products and raw inputs.
“Where a Zimbabwean producer has a competitive product, where else can we help them sell it?” he asked rhetorically.
“Where a local manufacturer needs an input, can our network source it more competitively and reliably?
“Where financing, logistics, or market access constrain a viable transaction, can ATDC and its partners help unlock it?”
Mr Makura emphasised that no single entity can transform regional trade in isolation. Successful execution requires an ecosystem encompassing businesses, financial institutions, logistics providers, insurers and governments.
Within this framework, CBZ Holdings brings deep market knowledge, strong customer relationships, and local financial capability.
“Together, our organisations give this venture a strong foundation — but the true measure of our partnership will be the trade we actually create,” he said.
Mr Makura underscored that intra-African trade cannot be created by speeches or strategies alone, but through actionable commercial execution.
“Companies, entrepreneurs, farmers, and manufacturers trade, banks finance trade, and logistics companies move trade. Our responsibility is to convert Africa’s trade ambitions into actual transactions,” Mr Makura said.
Industry and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu, whose speech was read on his behalf by the ministry’s director, Ms Netsai Magade, said the ATDC initiative opens critical avenues for local businesses to expand beyond domestic boundaries.
“In the case of Zimbabwe, our domestic market is far smaller, so we need to be outward-looking,” Minister Ndlovu said.
“Zimbabwe has the potential to make an important contribution, connecting productive capacity to commercial opportunity and helping our businesses to participate more effectively in regional and global trade.
“Businesses need access to buyers, suppliers, investors, market intelligence, logistics and trade support. They also need reliable commercial relationships that enable them to expand beyond their traditional markets,” said the minister.
She emphasised that the ATDC must deliver tangible economic metrics across manufacturing, mining and agriculture.
“The value of this initiative must ultimately be reflected in and measured by the (number) of businesses expanded, the value of investments mobilised, trades facilitated, exports increased, and jobs created.”
Minister Ndlovu called for the aggressive integration of small and medium enterprises into global trade, leveraging platforms like the newly established Zimbabwe Entrepreneurship Exchange (ZEEX).
CBZ chief executive Mr Lawrence Nyazema underscored Zimbabwe’s central position in regional commerce, revealing major capital-raising initiatives and infrastructure projects designed to anchor continental trade.
To support the regional trade ambitions, CBZ is raising US$600 million to rehabilitate the Harare-Chirundu highway—a critical stretch along the trade route connecting Beitbridge to Cairo.
Beyond road infrastructure, the banking group is partnering with the Public Service Pension Fund to develop a 26-acre dry port in Mutare to streamline cross-border logistics, while also intervening in Harare’s municipal water supply to guarantee reticulation for local factories.
“We will continue to ensure that the whole value chain is addressed…in a sustainable and viable way,” Mr Nyazema said.
CBZ Bank has since gone live on the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), enabling instant and secure cross-border trade payments in local currencies.
The centralised platform connects over 200 commercial banks across 31 African nations, streamlining continental trade.
The platform has registered explosive growth, with transactions processed surging by more than 1 000 percent since 2025.
By providing instant payment settlements, the system slashes transaction fees and accelerates trade turnaround times for local exporters and importers across the continent.
