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Business Reporter

A three-day conference aimed at empowering Zimbabwean firms and institutions keen on gaining knowledge to produce goods and services that meet international quality standards will kick off in Kariba next week.

The conference being organised by the Quality Management Institute of Zimbabwe (QMIZ), a professional body that promotes the implementation and improvement of product, project and service quality in Zimbabwe, would be a platform to promote adoption of quality standards that are in line with Vision 2030. Drawing its participants from local authorities, the business community and the Government as well as conformity assessment bodies, participants will have an opportunity to engage with experts on how best they can create powerful synergies and produce goods and services that meet international quality standards.

The annual conference, will run from November 30 to December 3, 2021 at Carribea Bay Resort. Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Sekai Nzenza, is expected to deliver the keynote address.

QMIZ chief executive officer, Mr Danisa Chinamasa, said the conference was inspired by the need to capacitate new and established companies with tools, knowledge and expertise to enable them to produce goods and service that met international standards.

“Currently, the country is battling with the effects of sanctions, and the only way to sustain local operations is to produce enough to satisfy the local market and export and generate foreign currency.

“But because most people who are now running companies and projects do not have hands on experience to manage such entities since some of them were not formally employed, they need to be equipped with tools and expertise to ensure that they remain viable and can even grow their brands beyond the borders,” said Mr Chinamasa  

Mr Chinamasa added that internationally recognised quality and business management systems have become a pre-requisite for successful market access across the globe, especially through the proliferation of market-driven international standards.

With the Government aggressively pushing the devolution agenda, through the allocation of resources and expertise, Mr Chinamasa said the private sector also need to complement such efforts.

“Interpretation and meeting of these standards requirements is a challenge for most organisations hence we want to complement Government’s efforts on devolution by implementing standards at provincial level in areas that they wish to develop competitive advantage on,” he said.