The Ministry of Industry and Commerce, in partnership with local economic think-tank, Africa Economic Development Strategies, is set to host the Zimbabwe Industrialisation Conference and Expo 2026, as part of efforts to mobilise domestic and global capital.
The Indaba is scheduled to take place from July 23 to 24 at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) grounds in Bulawayo.
It serves as the Government’s primary market-driven vehicle to accelerate Zimbabwe’s transition into a competitive regional manufacturing economy.
The conference will be held under the theme “Accelerating Industrialisation: Investment, Value Chains and Global Competitiveness”.
Organisers have emphasised that the platform will “reject” traditional policy talk-shops in favour of concrete deal-making, project financing and structured public-private partnerships.
By staging the expo in Bulawayo, the Government aims to direct investments towards restoring the city’s historical status as the country’s industrial hub while integrating local production lines into SADC, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) networks.
The initiative is strategically aligned to enforce the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2) and the Zimbabwe National Industrial Development Policy 2 (ZNIDP 2) running from 2026 to 2030, alongside the Local Content Strategy running until 2035.
To drive this industrial upgrading, eight critical economic sectors have been targeted for immediate value addition and mineral beneficiation.
The Government is prioritising local processing for lithium, platinum, chrome and gold, alongside downstream initiatives to transform the massive Manhize steel project into a regional heavy industry hub.
Parallel development pipelines have been established for agro-processing, energy solutions, textiles, chemicals and construction materials, among others.
To secure measurable market outcomes, a mandatory, data-driven matchmaking framework designed to link Government agencies, provincial authorities and large-scale industrial firms directly with commercial banks, private equity and development finance institutions will be introduced.
Participants will navigate a highly structured, step-by-step engagement process that utilises an intelligent B2B platform to match asset scale and strategic objectives before moving into rapid, 15-to-30-minute transactional meetings within designated onsite Deal Rooms.
“ZICE 2026 is designed as a multi-stakeholder, high-impact platform, bringing together decision-makers across the entire industrial ecosystem: Government ministries, agencies, state-owned enterprises and provincial authorities, large manufacturers, mining companies, industrial park developers and export-oriented firms, commercial banks, DFIs, pension funds, private equity and infrastructure financiers, technology partners, engineering suppliers, universities, innovation hubs, training institutions, regional and international partners, including SADC, COMESA, AfCFTA agencies, embassies and development partners,” the joint official event circular reads.
To guide the high-level deliberations, the event will deploy a rigorous policy and financing framework built around 10 core thematic areas.
These sessions will focus heavily on industrial policy implementation — specifically translating the ZNIDP 2 into actionable programs — while addressing local content enforcement, public procurement reforms, and the ease of doing business.
To unlock the capital necessary for these reforms, a dedicated session on industrial financing and investment mobilisation will address the operationalisation of the national Industrial Development Fund, the structuring of bankable industrial projects and the deployment of blended finance and public-private partnerships (PPPs).
Resource-based industrialisation emerged as a dominant priority, with delegates set to deliberate on mineral beneficiation strategies aimed at shifting the country away from raw mineral exports toward processed goods. This will be supported by policy frameworks covering export restrictions and the active development of competitive downstream processing industries.
In tandem with mineral processing, special focus will be placed on building a robust iron and steel industrial ecosystem. This track is specifically designed to leverage the massive, newly established Manhize steel project for broader industrial expansion, to position Zimbabwe as a dominant regional steel hub and develop downstream heavy manufacturing.
Broader value chain development and localisation will also be mapped out during the two-day event, with experts focusing on strengthening backward and forward linkages, designing aggressive import substitution strategies, and accelerating industrial cluster development across the country.
To support these production targets, the conference will tackle critical energy and infrastructure bottlenecks, focusing directly on securing reliable and affordable power for factories, resolving logistics and transport constraints and optimising special economic zones (SEZs) and industrial parks.
The manufacturing sector’s technical capacity will be addressed under a technology, innovation and industrial upgrading theme, which mandates discussions on the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies — such as Artificial Intelligence and automation — alongside commercialising research and development and retooling factories to boost nationwide productivity.
Delegates will also review infrastructural supply lines through a dedicated session on construction materials, evaluating production capabilities for cement, bricks, glass, ceramics, and steel-based housing and infrastructure inputs.
Economic inclusivity remains central to the Government’s agenda, with a theme dedicated to Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) integration and inclusive industrialisation.
This session will focus on formalising smaller businesses, opening up access to corporate finance, developing rural industrialisation strategies, and linking local SMEs directly into large-scale industrial supply chains.
The final thematic block will confront global climate mandates through a focus on sustainability and green industrialisation. Industry leaders will be required to align operations with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) compliance, resource efficiency, circular economy models, and climate-smart manufacturing practices to ensure long-term global competitiveness.-herald
