MELISSA CHATIKOBO
PARLIAMENT says the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency (Zida) should improve their marketing strategies to increase foreign investments into the country.
In a report tabled in Parliament on Thursday, parliamentary portfolio committee on Foreign Affairs chairperson Webster Shamu said the agency should create a platform that is tailor-made to attract and safeguard investments from diaspora investment groups.
“Zida should develop a comprehensive marketing programme earmarked to make its services and products visible, accessible and available to every potential investor by December 2022.
“There are multiple sources of information centres between the potential investors and the country which result in loss of potential investments as investors are taken through numerous non-essential meetings before finally being handed over to Zida
“There is no direct link between Zida and diaspora investment groups.
“As such, no products/programmes are tailor-made by Zida to tap into potential investments from these investment groups. Given that diaspora remittances exceeded US$1billion in 2021, these investment groups can be reliable sources of investment financing if tapped into,” he said.
Shamu added that there was a lot of appetite to invest in the Zimbabwean economy as exemplified by a considerable number of investors who have shown interest to invest in the country.
“A lot of interest was shown in the literature and information packs distributed by Zida.
“However, visibility and effectiveness of Zida in international settings is very low as most entities indicated that they hardly had an opportunity to interact directly or indirectly with the agency before,” Shamu added.
He further noted that the Dubai 2020 Expo in Abu Dhabi opened doors for Zimbabwe.
“The thrust of the Expo was well in sync with our nation’s vision of becoming an upper middle income society by 2030 and the mission of promoting brand Zimbabwe.
“Hence the exhibition helped the country to attract the much needed foreign investments which are a vital cog in the attainment of Vision 2030,” he said.