The Sunday News
Judith Phiri, Sunday News Reporter
THE Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Professor Mthuli Ncube, has commended the industrialisation and expansion drive at Bulawayo’s manufacturing giants, Arenel Foods and Baker’s Inn saying they are positively contributing to the targets of the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1).
In an interview after touring Arenel Foods, the Minister said he was impressed with the expansion and diversification that was carried out.
He said the tour was important in that it was going to inform the Government on the kind of economic policy measures needed to unlock value in local industries.
“As you know, this is an old company that goes back to the 1940s and 1950s, I wanted to see for myself how they have expanded in the last five years, but also to check with them which policies seem to have assisted them in expanding,” he said.
“I have been impressed with the growth I have seen here. We also wanted to understand their challenges so that we can keep changing our policies, fine-tuning them and unblocking blockages.”
Prof Ncube said when he last visited the company about five years ago, it was a small entity and now it had expanded and doubled in size from the number of buildings as well as workers from about 350 to over 600.
He said their growth was almost averaging 20 percent per year.
“I’m even asking whether our figures are correct when we say the manufacturing sector is growing at two-and-a-half percent per annum. I think that’s an underestimate. I did not see two and a half percent here, I saw a 20 percent solid growth per annum in the last five years. I am really impressed,” he said.
The minister commended the company for exporting their products to other countries, stating that the industry in Bulawayo was being resuscitated.
He said as the Government they would continue to support them.
“We put in place policies that seek to grow the economy at an average rate of five and a half percent per year. As I said in this factory alone, I saw 20 percent growth per annum. So already they are exceeding the NDS1 targets.”
Prof Ncube said the Government would ensure that all challenges raised by the company such as electricity billing system, sourcing of carbon dioxide a food grade to produce beverages and foreign currency auction system backlog among others were addressed.
Arenel compliance officer, Mr Stephen Ncube said the company had expanded in the past five years in terms of the manufacturing plants that they have acquired.
“This is all thanks to the Government in terms of support through the auction system. We bought most of our equipment through proceeds from the auction system. We urge the Government to relook into it and obviously maybe refine it so that it becomes a market-driven auction system,” he said.
“We have acquired state-of-the-art plants. We are in the process of installing and commissioning a new biscuit oven and also a new bread oven. We also installed a new carbonated soft drinks plant that was commissioned two years ago. We are actually expanding and in the process of commissioning a pasta plant, that is the expansion drive that we embarked on. We are seeing opportunities in this country and that is why we are investing in more plants.”
He said in the last five years they have invested about US$8 million and in total the investment they have put in their business was about US$26 million.
Arenel which is now manufacturing sweets, biscuits, mahewu, soft drinks, salad creams, macaroni, mealie meal and bottled water among other products is exporting to other Sadc countries such as South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia.
After touring the Baker’s Inn plant, Prof Ncube said the technology used showcased industrialisation that was taking place in Zimbabwe.
“I am seeing robot-controlled technology. They acquired their equipment from South Africa and Europe, also as far as Holland and so forth. To see bread being made in this way and also the volumes that are being done here is really impressive,” he said.
“The plant supplies the entire southern region, which is Bulawayo, Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, Midlands and Masvingo provinces. So there is very good coverage and we are very pleased that this investment has taken place here in Bulawayo.”
He said the Government will continue to support through its policies such as duty-free importation of equipment and rebate system for importation of equipment among others.
The massive expansion projects by the two firms have been largely attributed to the conducive macro-economic environment spearheaded by the Second Republic and all speak to NDS1.
NDS1 (2021-2025) is the first phase of the development blueprint that sign-posts the nation towards the attainment of Vision 2030, of an empowered upper-middle-income economy envisioned by President Mnangagwa.
Under the first five-year development agenda, the targeted areas included economic growth and stability, food and nutrition security, governance, human capital development, environmental protection, housing delivery, digital economy, health, infrastructure development, international engagement and re-engagement, social protection and devolution.
