Diaspora investment key to Mat’land’s growth

THE private sector must play a crucial role if Zimbabwe is to achieve its goal of upper-middle-income status by 2030. That’s the call from Mr Ntando Ndlovu, leader of the Invest in Matabeleland (Mat’land) campaign, a private sector initiative designed to attract investment from Zimbabweans living abroad by showcasing opportunities in the region and across the country.

Mr Ndlovu said the Government’s push to attract investment from Zimbabweans abroad is paying off. In 2022, both Government ministers and President Mnangagwa emphasised the importance of engaging the diaspora, recognising their skills and financial contributions. Diaspora communities have expressed interest in investing in key sectors like agriculture, real estate, tourism, education, and health. The Invest in Mat’land campaign supports this drive, focusing on attracting diaspora investment to the Matabeleland region.

Mr Ndlovu said that while the Government promotes nationwide investment, the Invest in Mat’land campaign focuses on regional potential, showcasing regional opportunities and engaging the diaspora to invest back home.

The idea arose from the recognition that each province has its gross domestic product (GDP), contributing to the national GDP.

“As a country, we have the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency (Zida), which looks at the country as a whole, but because the Ministry of Finance is now focusing on provincial GDPs, we realised that as a region we need to come up with initiatives to complement Government efforts,” Mr Ndlovu said.

Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency

He said the concept will serve as a pilot project for regionally targeted initiatives, with plans to include other regions if the pilot is successful.

Ndlovu highlighted the substantial investment opportunities in Matabeleland, citing the Government’s drive for rural industrialisation, where the diaspora can invest in manufacturing across various sectors. These sectors include renewable energy, healthcare, tourism and hospitality, technology and media, agro-processing, and mineral value-addition.

“We want to help develop new rural industries in different sectors, be it agriculture, mining, and mineral value-addition. We also want to look into healthcare services. The burden placed on central Government in trying to capacitate our healthcare is too much, so the private sector needs to step up.

That is why we have healthcare services as a key component of our campaign, to the point where, as far as Mat’land is concerned, we need Bulawayo to be a specialist healthcare services hub, where you can get a lot of specialised care. On tourism, we want to capacitate many new tourism opportunities. We don’t want to focus on the old opportunities,” Mr Ndlovu said.

He said he met Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Barbara Rwodzi, who said the Ministry is promoting heritage and culture-based tourism, which Mr Ndlovu identified as a strength of the Matabeleland region.

Mr Ndlovu said engagement has already begun, and they will be working with the Ministers of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for the three provinces in the region: Matabeleland North and South, and Bulawayo.

The campaign will begin with awareness campaigns via social media to showcase regional opportunities. They will then leverage initiatives by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and ZimTrade to conduct trade missions, where they will meet diaspora communities regionally and internationally.

“We are going to conduct many trade missions to these areas with Zimbabwean diaspora communities. This year, we have trade missions planned in SADC, trying to capitalise on Zimbabwe’s current SADC Chairmanship.

“We will expand further to Europe because we have a strong diaspora network in the UK, and the next element of our campaign is the Mat’land investment summit, the first of which will be held in 2026, but all the groundwork will be done this year.”

Mr Ndlovu said the diaspora has welcomed the initiative, and part of the campaign will be to assist investors wanting to invest back home by providing information on every step, including engaging Zida and other relevant offices. — @SikhulekelaniM1.

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