‘Zim firms not ready for UN procurement system’

THE Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) says local companies are not ready for the United Nations (UN) sustainable practice procurement system because they have not made much progress towards meeting set standards.

Speaking at the CZI 2023 annual congress last week, CZI chief executive officer Sekai Kuvarika said the companies were at different stages of meeting the standards.

“When it comes to preparedness, our companies are at different levels, some are at advanced levels and some may not have advanced, but are working towards it. This is work in progress and as CZI we are working with our members to try and advance towards the goals,” Kuvarika said.

“My hope is that we do not use a single measure to apply it to the world because it may (result in) the unintended impact of excluding local companies from participating in UN procurement because they have not made so much progress towards sustainable procurement.

“We are always going to have unequal and uneven development within a country in terms of how companies are moving to address the issues of economic, environmental, and social impact of their businesses. There is also going to be an unequal development across the world.”

She urged the UN to use some of the funds it spends on various aid and development initiatives to procure locally to stimulate economic activities in the economy.

“I was thinking that the funds that are spent by the UN in the country on various aid and development initiatives could also have an economic impact on the companies if some of it is procured locally because it stimulates economic activities in various sectors of the economy.

“That is my long-short answer that some companies are ready and some companies are not and we need to find a framework that works for them to advance,” he said.

Kuvarika added that instead of totally excluding companies from participating in the UN procurement system, there is a need to create a process that recognises companies’ efforts towards meeting the procurement standards.

“What I will advocate for is to create a process whereby we have a roadmap (of) stages and stops and be able to recognise every step and stage that is made by the companies towards sustainable business.

“We could also set targets for entities to begin to move towards the direction of UN procurement standards rather than totally excluding them because they do not meet the standards,” he said.

“We need to customise the approach by looking at where we are as a country and where the businesses are in terms of addressing sustainable business issues.”

Speaking on CZI’s resolutions on addressing the issues raised throughout the three-day congress, CZI chief economist Cornelius Dube said the industry lobby group was ready to assist companies to obtain the necessary technical capacity to meet the UN procurement system.

“So as CZI, we are also committed to connecting industry or business to opportunities being offered by the multilateral and development institutions operating in Zimbabwe. We also need to optimise the presence of the diplomatic community to stay abreast of international opportunities,” Dube said.

“As a result, we remain committed to seeing how members can be assisted in meeting the procurement obligations, including getting the necessary technical capacity to tap into the UN sustainable practice procurement system.”

CZI is currently exploring ways to localise the certification to lower the cost for local companies to have access to international markets and also facilitate green financing opportunities from the European Union and the United Nations.-newsday