SA-based Zim nationals keen to invest back home

Exactly 15 days after President Emmerson Mnangagwa addressed a highly subscribed business indaba in Pretoria, South Africa, with a view to luring Zimbabwean businesspeople based in that country and others, a firm with a net worth of R100 million (US$8,1 million), is already working towards investing here.

ALW Investments, a multi-disciplinary small to medium enterprise, has interests in construction, engineering and facilities management solutions.

The firm, which was established in 2006 as Teem Teems Trading – is led by Mr Timothy Mncube.

Mr Mncube has lived in South Africa for the past 27 years and has previously tried to come and set up a mining business, but claims to have been denied the opportunity.

However, after attending the business conference addressed by President Mnangagwa during which he implored Zimbabwean businesspeople in South Africa to consider investing back home, Mr Mncube now wants to open shop in his motherland.

“The main reason why we seek to return to Zimbabwe is that we wish to be part of the groups that will induce the country’s economic and infrastructural development under President Mnangagwa.

“It’s not that we have not tried to return before, we tried with the aim of venturing into mining, and we had acquired all the machinery but we were denied the privilege under the previous administra-                                                                                    tion.

“The machinery is still lying dormant in my home area (Kezi),” said Mr Mncube last week.

He said if allowed to invest in Zimbabwe, ALW Investments will focus on road construction and development of other infrastructure linked to the transport network for public efficiency.

Apart from making new roads, Mr Mncube said his company can repair old, ravaged roads in urban areas and highways.

“Our company has the funds and access to funds to initiate the construction of  roads and other infrastructure linked to road transport network.

“We wish to see Zimbabwe becoming great again.

Through our works, we are hoping to help rebuild Zimbabwe so that it becomes a centre for economic development and a tourist attraction centre.

“We are willing to work with the new Government for the better of the country,” said Mr Mncube.

Currently, Zimbabwe requires huge sums of money to repair major highways, most of which have outlived their lifespans.

Work has already started on the Harare-Beitbridge-Chirundu Highway, whose tender was won by Austrian firm, Geiger International.

In terms of properties, ALW Investments has constructed houses in Johannesburg in suburbs such as Malvern; blocks of flats in Yeoville, and several houses under the South African government’s Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) in Eastern Cape.

It was also sub-contracted during the construction of a dam in Eastern Cape and the imposing Moses Mabida Stadium in Durban for the 2010 World Cup.

ALW Investments also owns over 200 properties in South Africa, which it rents out.

The firm also hopes to play a key role in the provision of medical drugs, medical apparatus and ambulances.

Mr Mncube said given that Zimbabwe is agro-based, ALW Investments is also keen to participate in the agriculture sector if it can obtain land.

“President Mnangagwa emphasised (during the Pretoria conference) on agricultural development, focusing on maize growing.

“That we have put into consideration and if we are given land, we will be able to make it count for the benefit of the country and contribute to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” he said.

ALW Investments is also active in other fields such as Gold and Diamond Exchange.