adminenterprises in Zimbabwe.
Reflecting on their experiences after the expo, Zimbabweans who attended the annual trade fair said they had managed to forge business linkages with their Indonesian counterparts.
They added that the Indonesian experience was an eye-opener in many respects.
“We have a good experience since we managed to forge a number of fruitful linkages with the Indonesians.
“If everything goes well, we are expecting a business delegation from Indonesia to come to the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair next year. The delegation has expressed interest in partnering us in a number of areas especially textiles,” said Mrs Junior Gumbochuma.
“If we manage to utilise the skills we acquired in Indonesia, it will help transform the face of our small businesses.
“We discovered that it does not require us to have big multinational companies to grow our economy. The small businesses that we operate can make a remarkable difference if we get enough support from Government,” said Mrs Gumbochuma, who runs a clothing company known as Bambino Clothing Factory.
Mrs Jenny Madzivanyika, who is the director of Upheave Investments, said she was also communicating with some Indonesians who had expressed interest in hardware and industrial protective clothing.
Said Mrs Madzivanyika: “The visits to various companies during our stay in Jakarta were very fruitful.
“The onus is upon ourselves to transform what we have learned for the benefit of our country. Our visit to clothing and textile industries in Bandung showed us that we have the capacity to do better than what we are doing in that area at the moment.”
Indonesian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Eddy Poerwana who facilitated the trip said it was his wish to see trade between Harare and Jakarta scaling to greater heights.
He said his government was ready to work with Zimbabwe in a number of areas including agriculture, particularly in the production of beef and tobacco.
“Our two countries should open a new chapter in the way we do business. Zimbabwe is one of the countries that produce the best tobacco and beef in the world and those products are on high demand in Indonesia.
“In this regard some senior officials from our ministry of agriculture are coming to Zimbabwe this month to explore ways of enhancing trade between our two countries,” he said.
About 15 Zimbabwean business people specialising in different fields attended the Trade Expo Indonesia that was held under the theme “Remarkable Indonesia”.
More than 8 000 exhibitors and buyers across the globe attended the expo.
The visit to Indonesia by Zimbabwean business people is in line with the Government’s Look East Policy.
The policy is now bearing fruit with many Asian countries expressing interest to invest in Zimbabwe.
Interestingly, some of the Western countries that imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe are also looking to the East for economic salvation.
Online Reporter