Cutting red tape and
creating an environment
that attracts investors
is a top priority
for Zimbabwe which has
implemented at least five pieces
of legislation in the past year
to do just that, according to
Nigel Chanakira, non-executive
chairman of the Zimbabwe
Investment Authority (ZIA).
According to Chanakira,
at least seven more pieces of
legislation are expected to be
passed in the coming months –
all currently before the southern
African country’s parliament.
“All of this legislation is
aimed at attracting foreign
direct investment into the
country by creating an operating
environment that is easy to do
business in,” he said.
According to Chanakira,
changing perceptions about
Zimbabwe is necessary if the
country wants to attract more
investors and see trade thrive.
Growing investments into the
country was at the top of the
agenda, he said.
Chanakira, a Zimbabwean
businessman, has been
actively pushing this agenda
in his role as chairman of the
ZIA, a position he held until
last year. The organisation
promotes, facilitates,
regulates and co-ordinates all
investment activities in line
with government policy. Its
major objective is to encourage
investments by domestic and
foreign investors.
“The legislation implemented
last year is all aimed at
removing bureaucracy and red
tape for foreign investors,” he
said. “This legislation came
about because of concrete
efforts by the investment
authority. We actively engaged
with government and were vocal
about the policies we felt were
required.”
He said having worked in the
private sector for many years
he had often been involved in
talks between business and
government, but it was only after
joining the ZIA in 2013 that he
realised that more often than
not much of what the private
sector would lobby for had no
follow-through in government.
“We aimed to change that at
ZIA,” he said. And while the
industry has often complained
about the long and drawn-out
process to register a business in
Zimbabwe, Chanakira said this
could be made possible within a
few days.
“That is what we are trying to
achieve with this legislation. We
want to hold investors’ hands to
make their experience as easy as
possible.”
Chanakira said the success of
Zimbabwe was important not
just from an individual country
perspective but for the whole
region.
“We need to have policies in
place that make people want
to invest in a country. We are
moving that way in Zimbabwe.”
