The Sunday News
Simba Jemwa, Business Correspondent
A new business association has been created to support productive sectors in Bulawayo with the aim of advancing the Second Republic’s objective of a middle-income society by 2030.
Bulawayo Entrepreneurs Foundation (BEF) has been founded “to be the prime driver of entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe and be the centre of entrepreneurship thinking” while its mission is “to offer excellent entrepreneurial soft and technical skills needed by our members”.
BEF’s scope of operations encompasses the manufacturing, electrical hardware, engineering, mining, mining equipment supplies, automotive industry and embedded productive sectors.
These sectors support work in the health, energy supply, security, mining, construction, engineering, mobility and sustainability industries with the capacity to become major contributors to the Zimbabwean economy.
The new association aims to take advantage of this, harnessing the region’s existing resources, skills, infrastructure and supply chain to make it a centre of excellence where together they can connect, innovate, compete and thrive together to maximise potential.
Speaking to Sunday News Business last week, the new trade association’s president, Dr Nicholas Masuku said the organisation was business development oriented with key results areas set to include financing, capital equipment acquisition and business management training.
“We are proud to launch the Bulawayo Entrepreneurs Foundation which will focus on investing in the future of the region’s top-quality productive and industrial skills base and cutting-edge technology for the mining, construction and manufacturing sectors.
“We are uniquely placed to bridge the gap between industry, Government, education and research and development.
Our aim is to overcome barriers such as the under-representation of local SMEs in the productive sector and the challenges of changing markets. We offer our members financing, opportunity, collective resilience, partnership building and a supportive environment to scale up their businesses.”
He said it was great to see local industry coming together to provide an empowering collective voice for SMEs in the productive sectors.
“BEF will bring a wealth of opportunities and benefits to existing local businesses and organisations through financing, innovation, representation and support. This will really put our region on the map in terms of supporting the Second Republic’s Vision 2030 and National Development Strategy-1 as the country transitions towards a middle-income economy and attracting investment,” he said.
Dr Masuku added that BEF was created to assist the Second Republic and the Government at large to mitigate the economic challenges faced by the local business community largely due to the illegal sanctions imposed on the country.
He said the official launch has been set to a later date. – @RealSimbaJemwa
