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Business Reporter

A local internet based firm has set up an investment portal that will provide available opportunities to people in the diaspora. Kupfumisana Investment Portal seeks to pave way for possible joint ventures and partnerships for Zimbabweans to enrich each other while also creating structured inflow of foreign currency for the economy.Kupfumisana chairperson Vengai Madzima told the Herald Business yesterday that the company’s website allows for direct contact between the diaspora and local people, eliminating go between like relatives, who were previously known to abuse remitted funds.

He acknowledged that Diaspora communities have a key role to play in the development of their countries of origin in areas as diverse as business development, financial investments, philanthropy, volunteerism and advocacy

“It is commonly accepted that our brothers and sisters in the diaspora wish to invest back home, but they don’t know what and where to invest. This investment information portal is the answer to that dilemma. “The partnerships may be created in all sectors from agriculture, mining, ICT, services, manufacturing and even charitable or religious work,” said Mr Madzima.

In most instances, the amount of money diasporans send to their home countries as remittance far exceed that of official development aid and as such Government has developed a National Diaspora Policy to see how the community can contribute to economic growth.

Mr Madzima said the portal will assist Government efforts in overcoming the major challenges of lack of accurate and updated information about development policies and programmes and link diaspora investors to appropriate partners.

“Kupfumisana believes that there is a value proposition that is to be derived from the alignment of the interest of the diaspora and investment opportunities that abound in Zimbabwe which can easily transform the economy. At the moment, we will help Government in setting up accurate databases through this portal.