Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on March 8, 2022

The Herald

Prosper Ndlovu in Dubai, UAE

ZIMBABWEANS based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have expressed readiness to invest back home through tapping into various business opportunities in the local economy.

A proposal has already been put in motion to establish the Zimbabwe Dubai Business Council, which will provide a platform for continuous engagement over business opportunities between the diaspora and their partners, as well as the Government.

The proposed entity is expected to be formally introduced to President Mnangagwa who is scheduled to lead the National Day events here on March 14, which will mark the pinnacle of Zimbabwes participation at the expo.

The Asian country has come under increased focus for Zimbabwe as the second largest trading partner with export earnings of about US$1,4 billion by 2020 and being a haven for scores of skilled expatriates.

Its thriving province of Dubai is home to many Zimbabweans who have established businesses and is host to the on-going world-acclaimed business exhibition Expo 2020 Dubai, which began last October.

Among the key take-aways from the countrys participation at the expo has been the warming up of the diaspora community here towards participating in the mainstream economy, not only as remittance contributors, but as investors and agents for driving the Zimbabwe economic interest.

Mr Rungano Innocent Nyaude, a financial expert based in Dubai and lead member of the business council initiative said they were working closely with the Zimbabwean Embassy here and that preparations for the launch of the new business council were at a higher level.

He said post-Expo 2020 Dubai, follow-up engagements would be very important in bringing to fruition the positive business leads.

This is one of the reasons why operationalising the business council will be crucial in facilitating continuous dialogue and connecting the business minds to ensure maximum gains.

We plan to introduce the business council when we meet His Excellency on March 14 and our preparations are almost at 90 percent, he said.

Mr Nyaude commended the Government for establishing the Zimbabwe Investment Development Authority (ZIDA) as the lead agency in investing into Zimbabwe and unlocking its vast opportunities.

He said as diaspora they were eager to work closely with the investment agency to attract more business for the economy.

In 2021 diaspora remittances were US$1.4 billion in Zimbabwe and they are our cash cow.

Yes, foreign direct investment is desirable but how do we make sure that institutions like ZIDA works with those diasporans to boost their opportunities back home, said Mr Nyaude.

Given the success stories registered at the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, which has been ranked among the top performers in sub-Saharan Africa in US-dollar gains, he said the diaspora were also eager to participate in capital markets opportunities.

In view of vast export opportunities to the UAE, Mr Nyaude said the country trade agency, ZimTrade, should partner the diasporans who are doing business here to promote the movement of goods in these markets.

UAE is very much open for business and the reason why we want to set up this business council is actually to showcase some of the Zimbabweans who are already owning and running businesses here across various sectors, he said.

We look at areas to do with the digital space because what Covid-19 has shown is growth of digital platforms. From a Zimbabwean perspective we first need to identify areas that we are good at, be it agriculture or mining.

The UAE is a good hub in terms of those areas. For example the UAE imports over 80 percent of their food that is consumed in this country.

For Zimbabweans in the food space who are able to value add, this is a good market to target to channel your products.

Mr Nyaude said Expo 2020 Dubai has highlighted the desperate need for business partnerships for economies to make the mark.

He said Zimbabwe needs such partnerships and that roping in the diaspora was a winning strategy.

The key take-away is who are your partners in the businesses that you do? Your partnerships are going to enable the growth of your business, he said.

In this environment you will not be able to really grown when you operate on your own, the value chain is important. Who is your supplier and consumer and can you connect the dots within that line?

Despite the adverse impact on all economies, Mr Nyaude said the UAE has shown greater agility in its ability to adjust to the new normal as well as driving robust growth when others were seeing challenges.

As such he said Zimbabwe has adequate potential to turnaround quickly through leveraging on its strengths and working towards more diversification to wean itself from relying on primary commodity exports.

So if they (UAE) are able to pivot on the strength, which is oil and utilise those gains to boost the other areas, which is non-trade, pivoting is very important, said Mr Nyaude.

Zimbabwe is strong in agriculture and mining and how do we pivot on these to boost our manufacturing? We do that by value addition.

We dont need to export our products in rawest forms that they are, we need to be able to value add and package.

We should at least process part of the product we have and when we export we would have boosted our industry.

More:

UAE diaspora ready to invest back home - The Herald

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