The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
THE Inaugural Zimbabwe Institutional Investors Forum is set to be held in Harare in July with key players in the investment community and policymakers coming together, to engage on various investment opportunities applicable in the country.
The forum is also expected to deliberate on what needs to be done to move beyond just investment discussions to deal signing. Running under the theme; “Rethinking Investment Returns in the New Normal, Investing for Impact”, the forum will run over a period of two days, from 25 to 26 July in the capital and is being organised by MN Capital Group an Africa-focused investment communication and support business group.
In an interview with Sunday Business, MN Capital chief executive officer, Mr Michael Ndinisa, said some of the key discussions during the forum will include; integrating Environmental, social, and governance into investment strategy and Climate Change, Macro-economic policies and development, the state of Zimbabwe investment funds, regional economic developments and their impact on Zimbabwe, best practices in fund governance and fiduciary responsibilities and understanding investment risk.
He said they will also take a deep dive into the Zimbabwe investment landscape, investment regulations within the framework of risk-based supervision and investment and pensions promise and investment policies.
“Zimbabwe is unique as an investment destination with unique challenges, opportunists and threats, and therefore it is important, especially for the benefit of institutional investors, both local and international, to have access to realistic data as far as the state of the economy is concerned. One of the best ways to gain access to updated country-specific data is through participation in stakeholder engagements that are carefully curated to allow maximum interaction and participation,” said Mr Ndinisa.
He said the forum is designed to zoom in on the state of the economy in order for the participants to learn of the issues impacting the economy and also get an opportunity to map the best way forward.
“In the post-pandemic world, local, provincial and national governments across the world are intensifying their economic recovery and development efforts in order to significantly reduce socio-economic challenges that may, or not have been caused by the recent global pandemic, but have been exacerbated as a result.
Capital Gains
“This presents new investment opportunities for institutional investors that will enable them to reach their financial returns targets whilst generating social impact.
“It has become evident that the work ahead will require collective efforts from both the public and private sectors, and this calls for policy amendments to ensure ease of doing business, in an effort to attract private sector involvement in the economic recovery strategies,” said Mr Ndinisa.
Some of the speakers that have so far been lined up to speak at the forum include Sanlam independent non-executive member who is also chairperson of Absa Asset Management, Mr Elias Masilela, Mr Rodney Ndamba Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Sustainability Africa, Mr Gerson Kamatuka chairperson, Funds@Work Umbrella Fund and Mr Cuma Dube a Senior ESG Specialist.
“In terms of those that are invited to attend will be senior policymakers as well as industry regulators, pension funds, endowment and foundations professionals, sovereign security funds, social security funds, insurance companies, securities firms, development finance institutions and asset and fund managers.
“Private equity and venture capital firms are also invited together with legal and management consultants, actuaries and asset consultants, fund administration and trust services, real estate infrastructure funds, technology and software service providers, investment and commercial banks, debt management and budget offices, treasury departments, auditors and accounting general officers, CEOs, principal officers, fund trustees, head of asset allocations and the academia,” said Mr Ndinisa.
