ZIDA unearthing Zim’s prospects

Tino Kambasha

In February 2020, the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) Act was signed into law.

This brought ZIDA to life.

At the official launch of the agency on December 17 last year, President Mnangagwa said its constitution was in line with Government’s agenda to leapfrog economic growth.

“The establishment of Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) became imperative after the advent of the Second Republic as we accelerated our quest to leapfrog our economy to an upper middle-income economy status,” he said.

But what exactly is ZIDA, and why do we need it?

ZIDA is a statutory agency that was born from an Act of Parliament. The reason it was set up is primarily for:

Promoting, planning and implementing investment promotion strategies;

Facilitating entry and implementation of investment projects;

To establish and regulate special economic zones;

To promote, appraise and recommend private-public partnerships;

Investor after-care and monitoring of projects;

Promoting decentralisation of investment activities.

It is there to make it easier for a business to invest in the country.

ZIDA is a one-stop shop for both local and foreign investors.

Before it was established, investors had to deal with many different agencies.

These included the Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA), the Joint Ventures Unit in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, the Zimbabwe Special Economic Zones Authority (ZIMSEZA) and the Export Processing Zone Authority.

All these agencies have now been brought under one roof at ZIDA.

To invest in Zimbabwe, an investor needed many licences.

This meant they had to go from one service department to the other.

They had to go to Zimra (Zimbabwe Revenue Authority), the Registrar-General, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority, local authorities, NSSA, EMA and relevant line ministries.

All this red tape discouraged investors, both local and foreign.

Now, an investor will not need to go to all these departments. All these services will now be offered under one roof.

Already, ZIDA has been involved in facilitating successful investments into Zimbabwe.

They include new investments in mining, agriculture, manufacturing, energy and other key sectors of the economy.

It is also the agency’s job to assess all investment transactions involving Government entities and third parties.

This is to make sure they are done properly, and for the country’s benefit.

This includes assessing all joint venture proposals, mergers and acquisitions, public-private partnerships and all general investments into the country.

It ensures that a social dividend is realised through skills transfer, mechanisation and community benefits, including guaranteeing that these transactions also yield a financial benefit to the fiscus.

ZIDA, together with sister agencies such as ZimTrade, CZI (Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) and Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and many other departments, also works with local companies to help them increase exports via bilateral relationships with other countries.

One-Stop Investment Service Centre

OSISC was set up to close the gap in the country’s investment facilitation matrix by making available officials from key regulatory bodies and ministries relevant to the investment process.

Further to that, OSISC has been developed to assist investors in different areas where they may be facing bottlenecks to access services and/or investment information under one roof.

It is, therefore, a critical and fully empowered unit of the agency meant to ease the overall investment process.

Availability of seconded officials

The full support to the investment facilitation process is evidenced by the strong support received from ministries, departments and agencies who have seconded their seasoned officials to occupy various desks within the OSISC.

As of December 2020, the following was the status of OSISC desk occupation:

Department of Deeds, Companies and Intellectual Property
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (Exchange Control Authority)

iii. Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA)

Department of Immigration Control
National Social Security Authority (NSSA)
Environmental Management Agency (EMA)

vii. Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA)

viii. Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare

Ministry of Mines and Mining Development
Ministry of Local Government and Public Works
Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement

xii. Ministry of Industry and Commerce

Additional secondees are expected to join ZIDA in 2021 from the Zimbabwe Regulatory Authority (ZERA) and the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ).

Activities within OSISC

The following are some of the key activities within OSISC:

business promotion;
business facilitation;
benchmarking of services with regionally acclaimed investment promotion agencies;
liaison with seconding ministries and/ or agencies on pertinent investment information;
crafting of OSISC operating procedure manuals; and
engagements with key stakeholders among others.

ZIDA has begun a drive to engage all its stakeholders to firstly understand their needs and eventually provide a service par excellence.

These engagements will also involve the dissemination of information in areas of cooperation, pipeline projects and the ease of doing business.

In some instances, this will involve the setting up of committees or task forces to ensure communal contributions exist in addressing concerns and ideas alike.

Our key stakeholders are the people of Zimbabwe, both near and far. The people of Zimbabwe are the gems of this nation and its greatest asset. The agency would like to assist in realising his great potential our country has.

Tino Kambasha is ZIDA’s chief investments and corporate affairs officer. Feedback: Harare – 1st Floor, ZB Life Towers Cnr Jason Moyo & Sam Nujoma. Bulawayo – 3rd Floor Fidelity Life Centre, Fife Street & 11th Avenue,

Tel: +263 86 880 02639-42, Email: [email protected]. Website: www.zidainvest.com