The Sunday News
Chrispen Gumunyu, Business Reporter
THE country’s national trade development and promotion organisation, ZimTrade awarded top exporters in the country at its annual ZimTrade Exporter of the Year Awards held last week in Bulawayo.
The ZimTrade Exporter of the Year Awards took place at a local hotel after the Exporter’s Conference which was held earlier at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) and addressed by President Mnangagwa.
The event ran under the theme “Rethink, Reform, Export.” Speaking at the awards ceremony, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Dr Sibusiso Moyo urged all business minded citizens to venture into exports markets and not be discouraged by the past.
“I believe every businessperson or entrepreneur must have a disruptive mentality which should tell them to export and that is what can take our country’s economy to greater heights. As exporters we must not be frightened or subjugated by certain scenarios and phenomenon which prevail sometimes in our country but we should take these as variables which will enable us to change and adopt by rethinking, reforming so that we can export,” said Dr Moyo.
He also said the youth should take up opportunities that have been presented by the Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the age of the fourth Industrial Revolution.
“Most of us were born before the age of computers and our business interests are in production but the service industry nowadays is an industry with platforms that can only be ventured into by the youth who should take up those opportunities so that we can have a total industrial park of companies which provide services for different aspects of export markets enabling the producers to worry only about production,” said Dr Moyo.
Earlier ZimTrade chief executive officer, Mr Allan Majuru urged the Government to adopt a business facilitation law which will improve the ease of doing business in the country.
“In 2006 Mauritius put in place a business facilitation law and within a year their rank in the ease of doing business went up from number 49 to 25. If we were to do the same in Zimbabwe, we would craft a law that would override all these other small laws that are hindering business so if there is a small law that is in contradiction with the business facilitation law then it will take precedence,” said Mr Majuru.
Padenga Holdings Limited won the biggest award Overall Exporter of the Year as well as first place in the Skins and Hides Sector. Tex Colour Private Limited came first place in the Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Exporter of the Year. Wattle Company Limited came first in the Building and Construction Sector and Treger’s Kango division came first in the Household and Electrical Sector.
