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Cletus Mushanawani
News Editor
THE country’s national trade promotion body, ZimTrade, is intensifying the development of export-orientated female entrepreneurs through the NextSheExporter programme.
In Manicaland, 18 women have undergone the intensive training that is equipping them with market awareness skills, increasing market linkages and stimulating community based growth through entrepreneurship.
In a recent interview during the training programme in Manicaland, ZimTrade’s Eastern Region’s development officer, Mr Admire Jongwe said the programme seeks to capacitate female entrepreneurs and nurture them into the next big exporters.
The programme ran for a year and the women were drawn from various sectors of the economy.
“We are indentifying women with a potential to be big players in the export market. In Manicaland, 18 women underwent an intensive training programme since last year and they are ready to shine.
“The beneficiaries were equipped with skills to deal with regulations and procedures, how to access financial resources, how to process and package their produce and how to produce the organic products that have a ready global market.
“Government is saying we are leaving no place and no one behind and therefore we are implementing various programmes to deliver equitable economic development to all Zimbabweans.
Implementation of these programmes is expected to unlock meaningful economic opportunities that will spur the attainment of Vision 2030.
“Manicaland as one of the country’s leading players in the horticulture sector should capitalise on this low hanging fruit to boost its exports. Maximum benefit can only be achieved through capacitating players in this field.
“The sector has the potential to gain a strong global competitive position, thereby providing substantial social and economic benefits to the province and the country at large,” said Mr Jongwe.
He added: “Global markets for horticultural products remain attractive and Manicaland has the potential to supply these markets since the production of fruits and vegetables keep moving away from highly industrialised nations, as exports continue to outpace production type.
“The dynamic region produces fresh produce, which is also exported to various international destinations. There is also scope for the production of herbs, baobab products and capsicum products like paprika and chillies.
“Currently, products that are exported with meaningful value include avocados, bananas, flowers, tea, coffee, macadamia, citrus fruits, mangoes, cotton, pineapples, sweet potatoes, honey and sugar beans.”
One of the training beneficiaries, Ms Beauty Juzi of Dollar Deals Manufacturers which recycles used tyres and scrap metal to make usable products said the training has been an eye-opener since its inception in July last year.
“I thank ZimTrade for coming up with the NextSheExporter programme. We managed to cover areas like marketing analysis, strategies and intelligence as well as market segmentation.
“ZimTrade has given us the opportunity to understand the trade map and now we know how to navigate in this export market. We were also equipped with digital marketing skills and we now need to have our own websites. We were also trained in financial intelligence by facilitators from universities.
“Although Dollar Deals Manufacturers is a registered business entity, through this training we realised the importance of being International Standard Organisation (ISO) and Standard Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) certified.
“We were also trained in produce packaging and pricing. We are now able to compete with the outside world. I am now ready to be the next SheExporter,” said Ms Juzi.
Another beneficiary, Ms Angeline Karonda who is running a horticultural enterprise, Zenda Estate, which focuses on asparagus production, said they want to use the plant to penetrate the export market.
Garden asparagus, the most economically important species of the genus, is cultivated in most temperate and subtropical parts of the world.
It is most commonly served cooked, either hot or in salad.
“We are targetting the export market to participate in the achievement of Vision 2030 as expounded by President Mnangagwa. In our small way, we feel that we can contribute towards the achievement of Vision 2030.
“With ZimTrade leading us for the past 12 months, we have been empowered with key skills to be active players in the export market. We are dealing with the horticulture sector and when going into the export market, you should know and understand that it is a cut-throat industry. There are international standards that have to be met, there are no compromises and short-cuts.
“We now have skills to develop strategic and business plans as well as making our farms complaint because the international market will not just look at the product, but has moved further to look at the farm itself — how we are growing our products, what fertilisers we are applying to our produce, how are we handling our employees.
“We not using child labour in our farms and are we are not using ladies with children on their backs to do our farming enterprises. It has been a gruelling exercise, but it was worth every minute. The training was helpful and empowering,” said Ms Karonda.
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