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Livingstone Marufu
A GROUP of women-owned SMEs is looking to tap into the South African market after it was invited to the Musina Business Conference this week.
The three-day conference begins November 17 and will be graced by Womens Affairs, Gender and Community Development Minister Nyasha Chikwinya and South Africa’s Minister in the Presidency Responsible for Women Susan Shabangu and Small Business Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu.
Local businesswoman Ms Irene Musarurwa said the event could unlock opportunities for joint ventures and partnerships in South Africa.
“This is a convention where we are going to highlight the opportunities that exist for local business people to venture into in South Africa. One of the plans that we have is to establish a warehouse in Musina with commodities that are in demand in both Zimbabwe and South Africa. As such, it is a great opportunity for SMEs and even bigger companies and we are mostly encouraging women entrepreneurs to attend.
“Musina is the gateway to South Africa and we want to exploit the opportunities that are latent there. Much of the business that is taking place is mainly informal but we want to formalise it so that we grow the business prospects,” said Ms Musarurwa. According to information from organisers, Minister Chikwinya will make a presentation on “A journey towards building a sustainable economy for the Sadc region”.
Minister Shabangu’s keynote address will focus on how women can benefit from the economic value chain and infrastructure projects in Musina.
The chair and CEO of Dracura Investments, the company organising the conference, Ms Esther Netshivhongweni, will present a paper on “Organisational intelligence for local businesses in exploiting potential, versatile and unexploited natural wealth of the Musina region”.
There are major development projects that have been planned for Musina by the Limpopo provincial and national governments that include an eco-industrial park, power station, agro-processing plants, gasification plants, mining, shopping malls, agriculture and property development opportunities. The conference will to explore business opportunities in aquaculture, agro-processing, telecommunications , insurance, banking, water purification, mining, educational college, hotel, airport and special economic zones in mining, tourism, housing and hospital among other things, upgrade and maintenance of central business district buildings, gateway park truck stop and infrastructure for informal trading.
Online Reporter