Zimbabwean Business Council-United Arab Emirates advances multimillion-dollar UAE deals

THE Zimbabwean Business Council-United Arab Emirates (ZIBCO-UAE) has said several commercial discussions valued between US$10 million and US$200 million have reached advanced stages.

This comes as the organisation intensifies efforts to convert growing business interest between Zimbabwe and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) into tangible trade and investment transactions.

Licensed by Dubai Chambers, ZIBCO-UAE has organised four business delegations and investment missions, creating platforms for Zimbabwean companies to establish supply, distribution and investment partnerships in the UAE market.

Responding to inquiries from this publication, ZIBCO-UAE Chairman, Mr Simba Makahamadze said they were sharpening their focus on converting business introductions into concluded deals and actual exports.

“The Zimbabwean Business Council, licensed by Dubai Chambers, has organised four business delegations and investment missions to date with several commercial conversations within a range of US$10 million and US$200 million in advanced stages.

“To be candid, the metric that matters most is the hardest one, turning interest into closed transactions in a corridor still weighted toward raw commodities. So, we track pipeline, meaning members onboarded, introductions converted into supply or distribution agreements and actual exports into the UAE,” he said.

He said discussions from their last ZIBCO-UAE Exporters’ Indaba are in commercial follow-up now, while their research team was also building credible data on this corridor, because it has lacked good private-sector data for too long.

Mr Simba Makahamadze said ZIBCO-UAE has also partnered with ZB Financial Holdings for another edition of the Exporters’ Indaba, set to take place this month in the country’s two major commercial hubs, Harare and Bulawayo.

Targeting aspiring and established exporters, emerging producers, industry leaders and trade stakeholders, the indaba is designed to provide businesses with practical knowledge and linkages needed to penetrate export markets, particularly the UAE and the wider Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.

“The Indaba exists to widen that corridor. It is the Zimbabwean Business Council’s flagship platform in Zimbabwe for businesses exporting into and through the UAE. It connects exporters and export-ready firms with the institutions, logistics partners and networks they need to trade internationally.

“This year’s editions run in Harare on 28 September and Bulawayo on 30 September. They come at a key moment for two reasons. Etihad Airways has announced direct Abu Dhabi–Harare flights from March 2027 and Zimbabwe and the UAE are close to finishing a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement,” he said.

“Trade agreements and new routes do not create trade on their own; prepared businesses do. The ZIBCO-UAE Exporters’ Indaba is about preparing them. We will judge the results by pipeline, not attendance.”

He said they gave Bulawayo a full edition of its own because diversifying the corridor cannot be a Harare-only project.

Mr Simba Makahamadze said businesses in Bulawayo and Matabeleland get the same programme, the same logistics and trade partners, as well as the same access to the ZIBCO-UAE network.

“On linkages, our approach is pre-qualified matchmaking rather than ceremony. The ZIBCO-UAE Exporters’ Indaba includes structured time for exporters to talk directly with logistics and trade partners,” he said.

“Firms that come out of it qualified then go into ZIBCO-UAE’s wider pipeline, sector roundtables, our opportunities dashboard of live trade and investment mandates, introductions to vetted UAE buyers and distributors, and places on future delegations to the UAE.”

He said their previous indaba produced structured business-to-business (B2B) meetings and those discussions were now in commercial follow-up.

Mr Makahamadze said this time the outcomes they want are a qualified list of export-ready businesses, structured meetings that turn into supply, distribution or logistics arrangements and exporters who understand UAE standards, certification and compliance before the CEPA and the direct route arrive.

He added: “Today’s corridor is dominated by minerals and that is exactly why the opportunity lies beyond them.

The next phase should be measured by value addition, processed and packaged agricultural products rather than bulk commodities, agricultural produce, beneficiated minerals rather than raw ore, and a growing share of services, technology and tourism.”