Advisory companies push for economic growth

Njabulo Bhebe, Business Reporter
FINANCIAL advisory companies in the country say they will continue working alongside the Government in attracting domestic, regional and foreign investment, a bid aimed at spurring economic growth.

Zimbabwe is among some of the countries which hold high investment opportunities in areas such as mining, agro processing, energy, real estate, pharmaceutical, retail and information and communication technology.

In an interview, Global Renaissance Investments chief executive officer Mr Ngonidzashe Zvirutwe said the company was working hand in hand with Government in ensuring that investors have a good insight into investment opportunities the country has to offer.

“Zimbabwe is a lucrative and young market that investors need to fully explore and the new dispensation has managed to attract new investors such as US$4.2 billion Great Dyke Investments platinum project under construction, Jinan 600 MW power plant, various solar projects estimated at 300 MW and many more.

“On our part as a financial advisory company we have hosted investments symposiums to connect investors to projects and spur investment and development in various spheres of the economy. Notably, energy, agriculture, mining, ICT, infrastructure, industry and commerce amongst others.

“Through these platforms a number of projects have materialised and some near completion. This has seen our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) going up and employment being created such as the Chirundu- Harare – Beitbridge Road estimated at US$1billion, Robert Mugabe International Airport estimated at US$400m, the Karo Resources US$4billion project, Arcadia Lithium and Gwayi-Shangani Dam,” he said.

He also applauded the Government on the introduction of new economic reforms which are proving effective in attracting investment at the same time boosting the confidence of investors.

“Investors are attracted by business environment, rate of return on investment, ease of doing business among others and Zimbabwe is scoring fairly in that aspect. In 2019, according to trading economics Zimbabwe was 15 notches lower on the easy of doing business globally.

On economic reforms as of today major changes has been done which stimulate investment such as the Dutch forex auction system, operationalisation of Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency (ZIDA) which spearheads investments,” he added.

In a bid to ensure investor confidence, the Government introduced pro-business reforms which saw the amendment of the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act now allowing 100 percent foreign ownership of assets and guarantees investor rights.

“The recently launched Land Redistribution Compensation Plan is a positive move as it will bring back confidence to our displaced commercial farmers and invest back in land once they are allocated some. So technically the US$3.4 bilion will at the end of the day benefit Zimbabwe if well managed. This will have a multiplier effect across all sectors since agriculture is the mainstay of the economy.

“More is desired in the mining sector to achieve the 2030 set targets of US$15 billion contribution. We advise the Government to issue more incentives and promote value addition and beneficiation in the sector as this could see the target being surpassed. In infrastructure development various untapped opportunities exist say in water provision, housing development, railway and road and many more.

“We advise the Government to take advantage of partnerships with private players to fruitfully execute these projects and Global Renaissance Investments with its partners has the capacity to construct dams, roads and rail infrastructure on Public Private Partnership model. We are sitting on many infrastructure project investment funds, we are ready to deploy once we do a lucrative due diligence report,” he said.

Global Renaissance Investments is a financial advisory company which has hosted investor driven summits and in March successfully hosted the South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe Infrastructure Summit in Victoria Falls which saw 160 delegates attending.