Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) President, Sifelani Jabangwe has said that the re-industrialisation process which is currently taking place in the country is opening up new opportunities for input providers, especially in agriculture.
Jabangwe, who spoke during the Women Alliance of Business Associations in Zimbabwe (WABAZ) round-table meeting in Harare today, attested that a number of notable foreign companies have already started investing in the country.
“We have heard new entrances now into industry, some of the private companies that used to do audible oils out of South Africa as we are talking are now here (in Zimbabwe),” Jabangwe said.
The president said that CZI’s focus over the last few years has been how to reindustrialise the economy considering that some of the industries were closing and some on the brink of closure.
Jabangwe went on to say that there are also companies that were going down which are now recovering.
“What we have also noticed now, as these companies have recovered they need inputs and at the moment you find that… we are importing more than 50 % of the ground that we are processing in different processes. There is an opportunity in such inputs,” said Jabangwe.
“We are currently importing powdered milk, about 50% of the milk than we are consuming, is being imported and this creates several opportunities,” said Jabangwe.
Jabangwe also revealed that some of the companies’ processing plants are underutilised as they are not getting enough inputs.
Zimbabwe has in the past years experienced an economic downfall which led to the closure of industries in different sectors of the economy.
The Mnangagwa government has been calling upon investors around the world for the country’s resuscitation of industries, with the ‘Zimbabwe is open for business’ mantra. The call has been responded with investors getting into the country the beginning of this year.
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