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Ambassador Mubi

Blessings Chidakwa Mash West Correspondent
Government has commended Mashonaland West province for making significant strides in coming up with a recognisable provincial brand in line with the Rapid Results Initiative (RRI), despite not having budgetary support.

Other provinces are expected to emulate Mashonaland West’s example and this will feed into the national branding initiative. The Rapid Results Initiative branding exercise is being spearheaded by the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) to promote ease of doing business in the country and help improve visibility of the country’s unique cultural and tourism heritage.

The Senior Principal Director (Public Affairs and Knowledge) in the Office of the President and Cabinet Ambassador Mary Mubi applauded the province for making noteworthy progress in a short space of time.

“The Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry had moved with its brand, but that cannot constitute our national brand. That required multi-stakeholder participation and the OPC mobilised various players to make it a truly national brand. Mash West has been used as an example and it managed to achieve a lot without an allocated budget. We applaud notable progress made by this province in coming up with a provincial brand.”

The province’s website and video highlighting the province’s attraction and areas of interest is expected to be online by end of January. Ambassador Mubi said Government had also sent a team to Rwanda and South Africa to study their national branding process.

“Branding is about putting your best foot forward. For Mashonaland West, this is not an end in itself, but they should keep contributing more towards coming up with a perfect provincial brand,” she said.

Minister Shamu

Provincial Affairs Minister Cde Webster Shamu welcomed the national branding exercise as key in spurring economic growth.

“Nation branding is the key that will unlock investment and opportunities for Zimbabwe and is critical at this historic time when the nation has been catapulted for growth with the coming in of the new leadership of President Emmerson Mnangagwa,” he said.

“In this province we are proud to be exhibiting our germinating seeds, we are proud that we were selected to take the lead in this branding programme.”