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Zimbabwe 2016: rebuilding and rebooting: was the well-phrased theme of the historic London investment conference held on Wednesday in the British capital.

This could well be the climax of a series of conferences, talk shows and meetings held inside and outside the country over the past few months in its re-engagement drive.

Indeed rebuilding and rebooting is what the economy needs.

Reports are that the conference was well attended with investors from the global mining sector, manufacturing, tourism, finance companies, law firms and many others lining up to get a better appreciation of what the country has to offer. We hear Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr John Mangudya did not disappoint.

The two have been busy men, travelling up and down in search of an attentive ear to tell the Zimbabwean story and to elicit material and moral support where possible.

Theirs has obviously not been an easy itinerary given the general global perception about Zimbabwe and the attendant lack of interest or seriousness accorded to Zimbabwe, particularly by its detractors. International financiers have also not been forthcoming given the country’s huge debt that often sees such institutions as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank seething with anger each time Zimbabwe relaunches a bid to get funding.

But the two gentlemen and their teams have been persistent, choosing to ignore the usual rebuffs in the hope that something will give. We hope their efforts will pay off one day soon.

Of course they cannot afford to rest because back home, civil servants are impatiently waiting for their June Salaries, and the July pay dates are fast-approaching while the cash shortages reflected by the long queues that have become a permanent feature at banks reflect the desperate situation that depositors find themselves in.

The violent backlash over the banning of imports of most basic and luxury goods has also added petrol to an already fiercely burning furnace as many feel their source of livelihood has been trampled upon, refusing to listen to the benefits of protection a sickly local industry.

These are issues that should naturally bring a headache – a migraine for that matter to treasury and the central bank hence it cannot be holiday time for Minister Chinamasa and Dr Mangudya. They should not just think outside the box but should move away from the box completely if the challenges back home are to be addressed in a more holistic and sustainable manner. They are not expected to come with empty hands as this would spell disaster for the highly expectant populace. They are not interested in the economic jargon or even the logic of it. All they want is something that brings food to the table and money into their pockets.

It has not been an easy first half of the year but the year does not necessarily have to end the same way. Time to make amends and redress challenges is still there.

Good news yesterday from French Ambassador Laurent Delahouse that Minister Chinamasa’s recent visit to Paris is already yielding fruits. He confirmed yesterday that French business delegations will visit soon to explore opportunities and sign deals. Zimbabwe has the wherewithal to combine this with domestic initiatives for the revitalization of the economy.

“We are just back from the Paris where I went with Minister Chinamasa. We met with the French Finance Minister and this was the first high level bilateral visit by Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister to the EU in the last 30 years. Minister Chinamasa met with the French business associations and 20 companies represented by different people and some are currently in Zimbabwe and some are expected in the country to look for areas of investment,” he said.

This, and reports from London that imply that the mission has not been in vain should augur well for the economy.

I have received quite some feedback as readers proffer strategies and solutions for this economy. Below is one submission. Will publish more when space permits.

A young economics graduate and entrepreneur from Marondera, Tendai Makore sent his 10-point plan:

“1.We Must take full advantage of the appreciating investor confidence in our economy and secure foreign direct investment that will address many of our prevailing challenges, i.e liquidity problems a very high and ever rising rate of unemployment due to company closures, retrenchments.

“2.Value Addition to the products we export so as to realise maximum returns.

3. Create a conducive environment for the highly skilled labour currently resident outside the country to return home and help work towards alleviating our economic challenges. Strategies need to be put in place to reverse the brain drain suffered at the height of economic meltdown.

4. We have made huge strides in information and technology but still lag some way behind when compared to other countries that have created multi billion dollar industries and are deriving maximum benefits.

5. Without producing goods and services for trade and exports there can be no economic development to talk about. As the country will be importing more than they are exporting. The manufacturing sector remains in a critical position mostly as a result of structural and infrastructural challenges, coupled with the exorbitant cost of investment capital ,failing to create employment and poor GDP, making it impossible to attract investments from outside the country.

6. Further and massive investments in our education and health delivery systems are critical. These are two of the most affected sectors with embarrassingly low pass rates and a high number of school dropouts in the education sector. In the health sector in recent years, a lot of people have succumbed to Cholera and other epidemic diseases plunging the country into further economic malaise.

7. The transport sector remains a huge challenge and needs to be revitalised as it is of paramount importance in any economic development endeavour. this sector has been grossly affected by a lack of adequate funding, obsolete machinery and corrupt activities.

8. Vital infrastructural sectors such as energy development and telecommunication require a robust policy formulation framework and investments as they are the sectors that anchor economic resuscitation and development.

9. The informal sector needs to take a leading role in the drive towards employment creation, overcoming liquidity challenges, exporting of goods and services and overall development of the country. Improved performance of this sector will go a long way towards raising our Growth Domestic Product.

10. Appreciation and maximum implementation of Zim-Asset by all stakeholders will result in the country achieving the target of getting our economy back to the top in Africa where it belongs and addressing the current socio economic challenges we are currently facing.

In God I trust!

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