Nicholas Bhero
Zimbabwe took over the chairmanship of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa as Harare hosted the bloc’s 25th Heads of State and Government Summit this week, taking the baton from Kenya.
The timing could hardly be better. COMESA spans 21 member states, about 640 million people and a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of roughly US$1,23 trillion.
At the same time, Afreximbank’s regional headquarters in Harare is nearing completion, placing one of the continent’s most important trade financiers on our doorstep.
The question is whether we treat these as ceremonial honours or as commercial instruments.
Zimbabwe has worn the chairman’s sash before. It has led the Southern African Development Community, the African Union and COMESA itself, and has served on the United Nations Security Council. Each role brought prestige, summits and communiqués.
Far fewer brought contracts, distribution deals or shelf space for Zimbabwean products. This time must be different and that will not happen by accident. It must be deliberate.
Start with the embassies. Every Zimbabwean mission abroad should host a fully-fledged business consulate, staffed by people who understand trade finance, logistics and retail, not only protocol.
Their scorecard should be simple: how many local firms did they help export, how many distributors did they sign and how much investment did they unlock?
Diplomacy that cannot be measured in market access is incomplete.
Then there is economic intelligence. Major economies openly deploy their intelligence services to advance national business interests: tracking tenders, mapping competitors, flagging regulatory shifts and spotting opportunities before rivals do.
Zimbabwe’s security establishment can play a similar, lawful role, gathering commercial insight on foreign markets, shielding local firms from economic sabotage and counterfeit goods and feeding actionable data to exporters at home. Information is the cheapest competitive advantage a nation can build.
Presidential and ministerial trips abroad should also change shape. Too often, delegations are dominated by officials and light on entrepreneurs.
Countries that win abroad travel with business entourages. Bilateral commissions should be converted from talk shops into deal rooms, with every session ending in signed commercial agreements, clear targets and follow-up mechanisms.
The COMESA chairmanship hands us a ready-made calendar of summits, ministerial meetings and business forums for the next 12 months. Every one of them should have Zimbabwean companies in the room.
Which brands should lead the charge? The list is long. In food and beverages, we have Proton, Cerevita, Mazoe Orange Crush, Chocolate Coated biscuits, Tanganda tea and coffee, Cairns Foods, Gloria flour, Zimgold, Zambezi Lager and Chibuku Super.
In industry and agriculture, we have Zimplow, Seedco, Varichem, Proplastics, Nash Paints, Turnall building materials, Capri, our steel producers and a tobacco sector whose leaf is prized around the world. Many of these names already enjoy fierce loyalty at home and across the diaspora.
The task is to integrate them into regional business networks through co-packing partnerships, regional distributors and retail chains in neighbouring markets, so that familiarity becomes demand. COMESA’s push to cut tariffs and remove non-tariff barriers, together with the African Continental Free Trade Area, lowers the cost of crossing borders. Our companies must be first through the door.
Commerce also rides on culture. Zimbabwe’s Instagram and TikTok personalities command audiences across the region and the diaspora. Musicians rooted in the mbira tradition carry a sound recognised far beyond our borders.
Faith movements such as ZAOGA have built congregations in many countries. These are distribution networks in their own right. Brands that partner with creators, sponsor tours and show up where Zimbabweans and their admirers gather abroad will find doors opening faster than any trade fair can manage.
Capital is the missing ingredient. Exporting brands need working capital, marketing budgets and, in some cases, the ability to acquire or build plants in target markets.
With Afreximbank establishing itself in Harare, local champions have a natural partner for trade finance, export credit and guarantees. A dedicated outward-investment facility, backed by development finance institutions and pension funds, could help them plant flags abroad rather than wait to be bought out.
The same logic applies to the extractive sector. Zimbabwean mining firms that have mastered difficult operating environments, complex geology and shifting policy regimes hold expertise that sister countries with untapped deposits badly need.
These champions should be encouraged to replicate their success across the region, exporting skills, services and capital alongside the minerals.
Underpinning all of this is a shift that should change how Africa thinks about its resources. The continent’s consumer market is expanding rapidly, driven by a young, urbanising population.
The products made from African raw materials, from chocolate to beverages to batteries, are increasingly consumed by Africans themselves. Whoever holds the largest share of end-product markets ultimately controls the raw material markets. Selling unprocessed commodities while importing finished goods is a surrender of that power.
Zimbabwe’s past chairmanships gave it a voice. This one, arriving alongside a regional Afreximbank hub, can give it a market. Diplomacy, intelligence, capital, culture and brands must be pulled in the same direction, toward one goal: making “Made in Zimbabwe” a regular sight on African shelves by the time we hand over the gavel.
Nicholas Bhero can be contacted on +44 7951 781988
