The Sunday Mail
The Zimbabwe International Trade Fair is primarily the showcase for Zimbabwean products and services and what the 60th fair has shown is that Zimbabwe can make it and that the economy is a lot stronger, broader and functional than many might have believed.
International exhibitors are largely icing on the cake, and while this year’s layer of icing was a good deal thicker than usual, what this shows is that there are a growing number of foreign companies that think Zimbabwe is a good place to do business, again a positive sign that we are getting things right.
The fact that there were over 750 exhibitors, a record, and that numbers were so high that some had to be allocated space in marquees rather than permanent halls shows not only that the economy is growing in breadth but that many of those involved in manufacturing and services think it well worth their while to exhibit and show who they are and what they do.
This is one major function of a trade fair, and of course the accumulation of top managers and business people in one area of a city for a few days makes contact easy. Many of those in Bulawayo at the fair on business might well have been surprised just what their compatriots were now able to do.
The fair also, regrettably, shows some critical gaps. For example Zimbabwe grows a lot of cotton but does not make much cloth. We mine a lot of minerals, but make no steels and are surprisingly weak in primary heavy industry. There is a particular irony that the fair is hosted by Bulawayo, largely because our heavy industry and our primary industries are largely concentrated in that city and the Midlands. Now far more exhibitors come from secondary and light industries.
So we should use this snapshot of our economy to not just pat ourselves on the back over recovery and expansion across a range of sectors, but note where there are gaps and start working to fill those holes. This is not impossible. We have done it two or three times already after all.
But the strength of our economy on show should also make us redouble efforts to fix things that still need to be fixed, particularly the mess we are facing at the moment with fear, speculation, manipulation and greed fuelling price rises, seeing some businesses still accounting in foreign currencies, and seeing a downright refusal by too many to use the new open markets and transparent systems put in place by the authorities on the advice of the very people now determined to circumvent these.
It seems daft that the sort of flourishing economy we see at the fair should be backed by the rather primitive currency and costing deal making that goes on in the dark behind the scenes.
The guest of honour at the fair, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, also reminded Zimbabweans that bad times do pass. He came to power in Uganda after the destructive dictatorship of Idi Amin and Milton Obete’s revenge-filled and inept second stab at leadership. But Uganda then put in place the sort of modern policies that many have emulated and Zimbabwe is now rushing to implement and as a result a lot has been fixed and the country is growing into the sort of modern economy everyone wants.
Zimbabweans need to realise that we have fallen behind in Africa as so many others over the past 30 years have put in place the sort of policies and pro-business cultures that we have started introducing under the Second Republic. Proper budgeting, clean administration, a desire to help business rather than hinder it all pushed a lot of countries ahead of us.
President Museveni also spoke out clearly against sanctions. The United States and European Union claim their sanctions are tightly targeted. But they do not seem to care that there is immense collateral damage, a military term that describes what happens when you have to bomb an entire city into ruin to destroy a single headquarters. Besides the problem with global financial institutions, we are also faced with the fact that many others are scared to deal with Zimbabwe in case they cannot prove beyond all reasonable doubt that they have had no dealings, direct or indirect, with the targets.
But we should also perhaps remember that the UDI rebel regime of Ian Smith, faced with far tougher sanctions, kept the economy growing and had to be defeated by an armed struggle.
A lifting of sanctions will help us accelerate growth and move more swiftly forward, but only if we have already started moving in the right direction with the right policies. If we do not have the right approach and implement the right policies then even after sanctions are lifted we will still be in the swamp.
The 60th ZITF suggests that we are now getting things right. There are more exhibitors and more stuff on show because we have more businesses and are making more things. So we need to keep pressing forward solving each problem properly as it arises. We can do this so long as we continue to act sensibly and so long as we can stop going round in circles.
60th ZITF suggests we’re getting there
The Sunday Mail
The Zimbabwe International Trade Fair is primarily the showcase for Zimbabwean products and services and what the 60th fair has shown is that Zimbabwe can make it and that the economy is a lot stronger, broader and functional than many might have believed.
International exhibitors are largely icing on the cake, and while this year’s layer of icing was a good deal thicker than usual, what this shows is that there are a growing number of foreign companies that think Zimbabwe is a good place to do business, again a positive sign that we are getting things right.
The fact that there were over 750 exhibitors, a record, and that numbers were so high that some had to be allocated space in marquees rather than permanent halls shows not only that the economy is growing in breadth but that many of those involved in manufacturing and services think it well worth their while to exhibit and show who they are and what they do.
This is one major function of a trade fair, and of course the accumulation of top managers and business people in one area of a city for a few days makes contact easy. Many of those in Bulawayo at the fair on business might well have been surprised just what their compatriots were now able to do.
The fair also, regrettably, shows some critical gaps. For example Zimbabwe grows a lot of cotton but does not make much cloth. We mine a lot of minerals, but make no steels and are surprisingly weak in primary heavy industry. There is a particular irony that the fair is hosted by Bulawayo, largely because our heavy industry and our primary industries are largely concentrated in that city and the Midlands. Now far more exhibitors come from secondary and light industries.
So we should use this snapshot of our economy to not just pat ourselves on the back over recovery and expansion across a range of sectors, but note where there are gaps and start working to fill those holes. This is not impossible. We have done it two or three times already after all.
But the strength of our economy on show should also make us redouble efforts to fix things that still need to be fixed, particularly the mess we are facing at the moment with fear, speculation, manipulation and greed fuelling price rises, seeing some businesses still accounting in foreign currencies, and seeing a downright refusal by too many to use the new open markets and transparent systems put in place by the authorities on the advice of the very people now determined to circumvent these.
It seems daft that the sort of flourishing economy we see at the fair should be backed by the rather primitive currency and costing deal making that goes on in the dark behind the scenes.
The guest of honour at the fair, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, also reminded Zimbabweans that bad times do pass. He came to power in Uganda after the destructive dictatorship of Idi Amin and Milton Obete’s revenge-filled and inept second stab at leadership. But Uganda then put in place the sort of modern policies that many have emulated and Zimbabwe is now rushing to implement and as a result a lot has been fixed and the country is growing into the sort of modern economy everyone wants.
Zimbabweans need to realise that we have fallen behind in Africa as so many others over the past 30 years have put in place the sort of policies and pro-business cultures that we have started introducing under the Second Republic. Proper budgeting, clean administration, a desire to help business rather than hinder it all pushed a lot of countries ahead of us.
President Museveni also spoke out clearly against sanctions. The United States and European Union claim their sanctions are tightly targeted. But they do not seem to care that there is immense collateral damage, a military term that describes what happens when you have to bomb an entire city into ruin to destroy a single headquarters. Besides the problem with global financial institutions, we are also faced with the fact that many others are scared to deal with Zimbabwe in case they cannot prove beyond all reasonable doubt that they have had no dealings, direct or indirect, with the targets.
But we should also perhaps remember that the UDI rebel regime of Ian Smith, faced with far tougher sanctions, kept the economy growing and had to be defeated by an armed struggle.
A lifting of sanctions will help us accelerate growth and move more swiftly forward, but only if we have already started moving in the right direction with the right policies. If we do not have the right approach and implement the right policies then even after sanctions are lifted we will still be in the swamp.
The 60th ZITF suggests that we are now getting things right. There are more exhibitors and more stuff on show because we have more businesses and are making more things. So we need to keep pressing forward solving each problem properly as it arises. We can do this so long as we continue to act sensibly and so long as we can stop going round in circles.
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