‘Zim brand hard to sell’

ZIMBABWE is a difficult brand to sell to potential investors due to a number of challenges, chief among them policy inconsistencies, a South Africa-Zimbabwe Business Connection top official has said.

Source: ‘Zim brand hard to sell’ – NewsDay Zimbabwe November 21, 2016

BY MTHANDAZO NYONI

Speaking at the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) Matabeleland chapter’s trade and investment opportunities conference held in Bulawayo on Friday, SA-Zim Business Connection president, Justice Maphosa said they were finding it hard to sell Brand Zimbabwe to potential investors due to policy inconsistencies.

“We are here because Zimbabwe needs her children, especially her children from the Diaspora … As we are trying to sell Zimbabwe, it is a brand that is damaged and which is painful to sell. But, as children of this country, we don’t give up easily,” he said.

Maphosa said in their efforts to sell Brand Zimbabwe to investors, they were being asked a number of questions by investors, which they were failing to answer.

“We are being asked questions around bond notes, like when are they going to see the light. We are also asked questions around land and property rights. They are asking how their investments would be guaranteed in Zimbabwe,” he said.

Maphosa said some investors even asked what the government was doing to curb corruption involving politicians.

“These are difficult questions that we are being asked as we are trying to sell brand Zimbabwe and we have no answers to them,” he said, adding that there was need for government to invest a lot on rebranding the country to enable it to attract foreign direct investment.

During the discussion, participants raised concerns about the Indigenisation Act, saying the policy was chasing away potential investors.

They blamed government for policy inconsistencies.

Maphosa said Zimbabwe and South Africa needed to work together and promote trade.

He said there should be free trade between the two countries.

As an association, Maphosa said, they were open to investing in Zimbabwe because it is their country.

Meanwhile, ZNCC Matabeleland Chapter and SA-Zim Business Connection signed a memorandum of understanding that will see the two organisations working together.

The deal will encourage mergers and acquisitions as a means of recapitalising and reviving local companies.

The conference, which is in its fourth edition, focused on synergies with Zimbabweans in South Africa, who seek to invest in Zimbabwe through the SA-Zim Business Connection.