Zimbabweans in Diaspora
express interest in investing back home
A keen interest in
investing in Zimbabwe among Zimbabweans
living abroad became evident from the first
meeting the Reserve Bank team visiting Zimbabweans
in the Diaspora held in the United States.
“I want to invest in Zimbabwe. Is
there a way in which I can do this and have
profits remitted to me in the United States?”
the team was asked in Dallas.
“Yes,” Reserve Bank Exchange
Control Chief Moris Mpofu said. “If
you make it clear to the Reserve Bank that
you wish to invest as a non-resident Zimbabwean,
then the investment will be treated as a
foreign investment and you will be able
to remit your profits to the United States.
If you disinvest, you will be able to repatriate
your capital to the United States.”
At every subsequent meeting, whether it
was in the United States, Britain or South
Africa, interest was shown in investing
in Zimbabwe. Frequently the same question
as had been raised in Dallas was asked.
However, there were also questions about
the type of investments available and suggestions
by Zimbabweans living abroad for promoting
investment in Zimbabwe.
As a result the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
decided to establish a Foreign Investment
Unit to assist Zimbabweans living abroad
who wished to invest in Zimbabwe.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Advisory Board
Publicity Sub-Committee Chairman, Rainbow
Tourism Group Chief Executive Herbert Nkala,
announced the establishment of the unit
during his speech at the ZimExpo dinner
in Atlanta on May 30.
Albert Jakachira, a Zimbabwean living in
the United States, had the previous day,
in a speech at ZimExpo, urged people to
invest through his company, Savannah Global
Capital Investments, in shares in companies
in Zimbabwe and the United States.
He pointed out that leading Zimbabwean
companies were being sold cheaply in US
dollar terms. Shares in OK Bazaars were
going for the equivalent of three-tenths
of a US cent, while Astra shares cost the
equivalent of only 2,2 cents, he said.
Mr Nkala in his dinner speech said shares
in Old Mutual, one of the best counters
on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, cost less
than one US dollar.
He highlighted property, farming, mining,
tourism, information technology, transport,
the money market and the stock exchange
as areas in which Zimbabweans living in
the United States could easily invest.
In Manchester, in the United Kingdom, some
Zimbabweans asked for a way to be devised
of making Zimbabweans living abroad aware
of new investment opportunities.
They suggested that if a parastatal was
being privatised Zimbabweans living abroad
should be informed of this, so that they
could use their pounds to buy shares in
it. One person suggested that a block of
shares should be set aside specifically
for Zimbabweans in the Diaspora.
A number of people in different centres
asked how they could go about investing
on the money market or, from the countries
where they are based, open savings accounts
in Zimbabwe from which they could transfer
money from time to time to their families
or to investment projects.
Reserve Bank officials held a number of
meetings with business people and business
organisations in the United States, Britain
and South Africa in the course of the tour
of these three countries.
Major investments as well as the promotion
of smaller investments were discussed. Reserve
Bank Governor Gideon Gono held meetings
with some of the business people keen to
invest in Zimbabwe.
Among the meetings with business groups
that Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe officials
held in Atlanta was one with the Zimbabwe
Chamber, whose young members made presentations
and put forward ideas which one of the bank
officials described as breathtaking.
The chamber sees itself as becoming a channel
for linkages between Zimbabweans in the
United States and companies back home in
Zimbabwe.
A member of the Zimbabwe Chamber One revealed
to the Reserve Bank delegation at a meeting
in Atlanta details of an invention which
he has patented which turns coal ashes into
cement.
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