New ZimTrade board appointed

New ZimTrade board appointed | The Herald 16 October 2014

Industry and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha has appointed a new board for ZimTrade and immediately challenged its directors to work towards creating “Brand Zimbabwe” and implementing the trade promotion body’s turnaround strategy. Minister Bimha also requested the new board to start working on reviewing the constitution set up of ZimTrade to bring it up to date with the environment it now operates under.

The new board is headed by experienced marketing guru Mr Lance Jena, the president of the Southern Africa Institute of Marketing and a fellow member the same institute.
The board also comprises Mr Happias Kuzvinzwa, Mrs Olifina Mutizhe, Mrs Bridget Mafusire and Mrs Constance Zhanje.
Minister Bimha said ZimTrade management had been reporting directly to the ministry since the expiry of the old board in March.

“I am happy to announce that I have completed the process of appointing the new ZimTrade Government appointed board,” he said while announcing the board in Harare yesterday.
“I officially opened the 2014 ZimTrade exporters’ conference at the beginning of this month, which ran under the theme ‘Brand Zimbabwe’. My challenge to you now is working towards the creation of that brand, at the same time ensuring that ZimTrade’s turnaround strategy is on track,” he added.

Minister Bimha said the board was made up of a hybrid of experience from different disciplines including marketing, trade, customs and policy administration, accounting and legal field.

In his acceptance speech, Mr Jena said his board would hit the ground running in executing its mandate in pursuit of the objectives of the country’s national trade promotion body.
“We are also aware of the rapid deterioration of the economic and social environment, which occurred in the recent past as a result of the sanctions and hyper-inflationary environment, whose effect has reduced industrial capacity,” he said.

As such, he said in line with objectives of ZimTrade, his body would make sure that the trade body contributes to the overall socio-economic development of the country as espoused in the Zimbabwe Agenda for Socio-economic Transformation.

He said that Zim-Asset was a cluster-based policy with emphasis on beneficiation and value addition and that his board would work to ensure that the body fulfils its duty in that regard.