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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke Manicaland Bureau

Zimbabwean businesses must be more creative in coming up with new ideas that can empower locals and enhance the successful implementation of indigenisation and economic empowerment policies to attract new investments.

This came up during a breakfast meeting hosted by Zanu-PF for the business community here to consult on how the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act should be aligned with Vision 2030 and other policies.

Speaking at the meeting, Lessafre Zimbabwe director Mr Mike Nyabadza said business ownership was important to economically empower the nation.

“With ownership, you have the power to deal with issues of the corporate, issues to do with your people and you decide where to take your value in terms of uplifting your community,” he said.

“When ownership resides in Zimbabweans who are patriotic, we build a vibrant economy because we know that our value is not only derived in terms of profits, it is also derived in terms of communities that we uplift and the transformation in the lives of our people who will be able to transform their own households and impart real knowledge to their children, and then it becomes a systemic development thrust.”

Mr Trevor Gifford, who was representing Katiyo Estate, said Zimbabwe needed to anchor its economic development on agriculture and focus on productivity.

“We are nearly 20 years down the road from land reform. Let us close this chapter and allow those who want to participate in economic recovery to do so,” he said.

“If we really want to create employment, we need to focus on agriculture.  We need to create good business policies that will give local people good opportunities to invest. If we get agriculture working, we get industry and commerce working, we get Zimbabwe working.”

Mr Gifford said agriculture and tourism were the two sectors which could turnaround the economy.

Speaking after the consultations, Zanu-PF secretary for Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Dr Mike Bimha said the consensus was that economic empowerment was a must.

“What we have gathered from these consultations is that our locals should participate, they should grow the economy to empower themselves,” he said.

“It is not (the duty) of Government alone, but the private sector should also take part.

“The land reform was a very important empowerment drive, but the issue now is how we move towards productivity.

“How do we now look at issues of value addition? Agriculture is the key to this economy.”

Dr Bimha said the Indigenisation and Empowerment Act should speak to Vision 2030, as well as the party manifesto.

He said the term indigenisation had scared away investors because of its thrust on 51-49 percent share ownership, hence the need to engage stakeholders for their                                                                                     input.

The 51-49 percent share ownership in favour of locals has since been removed for most sectors.

Dr Bimha said the country needed to address the problem of universities that were churning out graduates who had no opportunities for employment.