Zimbabwe Explores New Business Options

Government promoting win-win investment partnerships across all sectors of the Zimbabwean economy...

The Zimbabwean economy is essentially agriculture-based, but a strong manufacturing, mining, tourism, and services sector also exist. The economy has, therefore, a highly diversified industrial base that provides investors with a plethora of investment opportunities. The main sectors of the economy are manufacturing, which contributes 19% to GDP, agriculture (16%), mining (4%), tourism and distribution (16%), transport and communication (8%) and finance and insurance (7.2%).

Zimbabwe has emerged from a protracted land reform exercise, which was motivated and inspired by Government’s desire to create equity and justice in the distribution of land as a natural heritage and a basic means of production for the majority of the indigenous people. With the land reform now accomplished, Government policy is now focused on cultivating and promoting win-win investment partnerships across all sectors of the Zimbabwean economy, on the back of the vast opportunities that remain untapped in the mining, manufacturing, agriculture, tourism and the financial services sector. With a fully developed, stable and fully functional financial services sector, Zimbabwe is a highly competitive investment destination, supported by an accommodating, flexible and world-class investment regulatory environment.

The country also has a high rate of literacy, averaging around 90%, meaning that Zimbabwe is one of the best-endowed countries in the world with respect to human capacities and expertise.

Zimbabwe’s “Look East Policy” is yielding exceptional results as friendly forces are in a rush to find and grab investment opportunities in the country.

Zimbabwe’s Look East Policy is not merely an external economic policy, it is also a strategic shift in Zimbabwe’s vision of the world and Zimbabwe’s place in the evolving global economy. Most of all, it is about reaching out to our civilisational partners in South East Asia and the rest of the Eastern regions.

After independence, Zimbabwe’s foreign policy was mainly inclined to the West, but unfortunately, it received a thorough battering before the country reverted to its traditional and faithful partners whose favour with this country date back to the days of the liberation struggle. In spite its economic crisis in the past decade, the East remained determined to rescue Zimbabwe out of its predicament.

Increased economic integration with Asia has helped Zimbabwe because the core competencies of these Asian economies, particularly that of China, are absolutely different to Zimbabwe’s. So Zimbabwe can import the goods from other countries, which can be produced by other countries at a lower cost. Zimbabwe can also export those goods for which it has a competitive advantage.

In face of this positive scenario, a business lecturer at a local university recently said that “in spite the illegal sanctions unjustly imposed on us, Zimbabwe is battling successfully to meet its basic needs and shame our detractors who find pleasure out of the suffering of ordinary Zimbabweans.”