The Sunday Mail
Online Reporter
The Nyaradzo Funeral Services UK annual UK Trade and Investment Fair kicked off today at Nyaradzo House in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire.
The investment fair will run till September 18, 2022.
Over 700 people are participating at the fair, including companies from South Africa, the UK and Zimbabwe.
Amongst the companies from Zimbabwe that are taking part are Nyaradzo Group; Stanbic Bank; Pinnacle Properties; Kingfisher Prints; Mukuru; Beta Bricks and Avelyn Collections.
Led by entrepreneur Philip Mataranyika, Nyaradzo Group started off in 2001 as a funeral assurance company before they became an integrated financial services concern, incorporating a life business, insurance brokerage, bureau de change, asset manager, events and lifestyles, and a casket and furniture manufacturing unit.
Stanbic Bank is a unit of Standard Bank of South Africa, which has been operating in Zimbabwe since 1965, while Pinnacle Properties is a subsidiary of Phillip Chiyangwa’s Native Investment Africa, whose vast land bank in Zimbabwe offers opportunities for Diasporans to build or acquire property.
To complete the list, Kingfisher and Avelyn are into fashion, catering across all age groups, while Beta Bricks is into brick-moulding.
Having taken their investments into other territories, namely South Africa and the UK, Nyaradzo has gone a step further to invite other companies from Zimbabwe and the UK to explore trade and investment opportunities on either side.
This demonstrates how the private sector can complement Government’s efforts in scouting for opportunities that are beneficial to their economies and people, which is critical in drumming up FDI, new employment opportunities and the generation of the much-needed foreign currency.
It is thus not surprising that the fair has earned the support of Zimbabwe’s embassy in the UK, where retired Colonel Christian Katsande shall be welcoming exhibitors.
President Mnangagwa’s administration has been on a mission to accelerate engagement and re-engagement to reintegrate the country into the international community.
Vision 2030, which aims to transform the country into an upper middle-income economy by the year 2030, is premised on positioning the country’s products at the centre of all lucrative markets, new and old.
The UK is one such country seen as presenting lucrative opportunities for Zimbabwe.
