‘We should create an economic choir’

chapter in June 2011 Engineer Mzembi declared that Masvingo would hit its own US$10 billion threshold and all it would take was for people in the province to concentrate on the right things.
Zimbabwe is definitely headed for an exciting future. People often wonder about the importance of a unitary vision and singularity of purpose in the pursuit of economic growth.
The reality is that a country is really like a choir. For good music there is need for everyone and all instruments to be in concert and in tune.
More importantly, it is imperative that the choir sings from the same hymn book.
This is why we must invest in writing a single economic hymn book for the country so that all instruments can now produce an economic concert.
My positive outlook stems from the fact that Zimbabwe’s potential for growth is anchored in all the right fundamentals.
We have the natural resources in mining and agriculture, unique tourist attractions, a matching climate, an educated labour force and a great work ethic amongst our people.
Unfortunately, all these are raw materials for a high and sustainable economic growth rate.
Actual growth begins to occur when as a people we transform the way we think.
Growth is a decision and all our activities should be aimed at getting two things to happen.
There is need for the country as a unit to make the decision that economic growth will be the dominant priority for the next 28 years and beyond.
To make this decision would mean all leaders in the country should affirm the position that economic growth would be the overriding consideration in any decision.
There is need for all Zimbabweans to ascribe to the fact that the country should develop without hindrance such that political considerations will not be allowed to derail economic progress.
The pursuit of building a US$100 Billion Economy by 2040 would therefore transcend all political differences for purposes of facilitating perennial growth.
These two decisions are fundamental to the achievement of any of our aspirations, in particular, moving the country towards US$100 billion.
We are promoting a dream, which makes sense to the life of every ordinary Zimbabwean.
It is introducing a concept that motivates a Zimbabwean to work towards a target, which will change their lives from subsistence to a middle class existence.
It is a dream which allows a rural farmer to shift his sights from a bicycle to a one-tonne truck.
For the established corporate, it becomes the time to plan for a billion-dollar company. In essence, it is a dream which makes sense to all people.
This is in fact a call for us Zimbabweans to take ourselves more seriously if we are to promote ourselves into a serious nation worth a US$100 billion.
The achievement of a US$100 billion economy is no mean feat given that this target entails sustaining a 10 percent Gross Domestic Product growth for the next three decades thus multiplying the size of our economy tenfold over the next 30 years!
Two questions: Is this realistic and doable: Yes! Is this going to require hard work, unity of purpose and focus: Yes, yes!
The US$100 billion economic vision is more than just a dream! It is a call by Zimbabwean sons and daughters who are genuinely tired of mediocrity and are calling for all of us to come together and change our fortunes and chart a different more positive direction and legacy for our nation.
The US$100 billion dollar call is a mantra that should pierce the dark veil of doom and rally all of us above the spirit of dejection, resignation and helplessness that tends to overly dominate our thoughts and beerhalls.
For once Zimbabweans are starting a great conversation about a bright future full of promise and potential.
The Business Council of Zimbabwe, the apex body of business in this country, has added their collective voice for us as a country to start the journey towards a US$100 billion by taking action on 10 imperatives, among them:
l Establishment of clear and time-framed strategies to boost power generation by an additional 1 500MW.
l Clear working plans to improve transport infrastructure in particular air travel, dualisation of trunk roads as well as rail system restoration
l Pursue ways of ensuring that land can be transformed into an asset that can create collateral and enable farmers to finance cropping activities
l The need for the country to put more emphasis on productivity analysis as a basis for remuneration negotiations.
l The need to formulate an implementable development policy that is around clusters.
The clusters should have clear comparative and competitive advantages.
It is ironic that the Zimbabwean work ethic is legendary. Despite a decade of decline from 1998-2008 Zimbabwean sons and daughters have continued to shine in all spheres of life across the globe.
In South Africa, Zimbabweans can be found on top of the largest corporates.
Our own Professor Mutambara rose and left a mark in the robotics world in the United States.
Recently, Securico’s Divine Ndhlukula was in 2011 named by Forbes magazine among the most successful women on the African continent.
Ngoni Makusha, a Zimbabwean, was named a top US athlete and earned the Bowerman Award.
Makusha’s 8,40 metres jump was the longest in the NCCA in 18 years.
His best time for 100m is an incredible time of 9,89 sec! Muzhingi’s dominance of the Comrades Marathon is also legendary on the college circuit.
In 2010, John Mberi’s Afrosoft won the Global IT innovation company beating Microsoft to third place!
The list goes on. Strive Masiyiwa, Joe Mtizwa, Nigel Chanakira, Kirsty Coventry, Willard Zireva.
Here is my question or rather my point. Zimbabwe has serious talent across a whole spectrum of disciplines.
We therefore have all it takes to win. The only problem thus far is we have won as individuals and have not taken the time to work together and express our capability as a nation.
To succeed as a country and rise above mediocrity requires that we act in concert.
With our act finely tuned and our efforts well synchronised I cannot see how such a collection of talent can fail to achieve a US$100 billion by 2040.
We have work to do to get to our goal. Growth is simply a decision we must make as a country.
I concur with those who say that time waits for no man. After all, fortune favours the bold.
As aptly put by Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara at the Zimbabwe Indaba in November 2011: “US$100 billion is about execution, execution, execution.”