Investors and individuals should desist from blaming government for poor infrastructure and service delivery, but sweat for capital returns, Africa’s youngest billionaire Ashish J Thakkar has said. By Taurai Mangudhla Staff reporter Thakkar also said Zimbabwe was a great investment destination and investors needed to adapt to its policy environment as in the case with other countries.
“Of course, there is bureaucracy, but it is a matter of not succumbing to that pressure,” he said.
“Similar to Nigeria, Zimbabwe is a great example of perception versus reality.”
But, government, Thakkar said, should focus on growing small to medium enterprises as a means of creating employment while giving them tax incentives in order stimulate growth.
Thakkar was speaking at a packed inaugural Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) Game Changer debate series in Harare yesterday.
He said there was need for value addition across all sectors to create jobs and maximise return on natural resources.
AMH, the publishers of the flagship NewsDay, Southern Eye, The Zimbabwe Independent and The Standard launched its Game Changer series in March 2013 in The Zimbabwe Independent. A Game Changer, featured weekly in The Zimbabwe Independent, is an African visionary, a leader, a risk taker, who has climbed to the top of their field and are making a positive impact on the continent. AMH brought the billionaire investor for the inaugural event, which was sold out and attended by captains of industry, business, politicians and individual across the social strata.
Thakkar, who partnered former Barclays plc chief executive Bob Diamond, yesterday also said Atlas Mara’s acquisition of 50, 1% stake in ABC Holdings in a $265 million deal would benefit millions of Zimbabwean youths as the investor plans to start a mentorship programme in Zimbabwe through ABCH.
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The new majority shareholders plan to launch Mara Foundation’s mentorship programme that will benefit over 8 million youths aged under the age of 25 across the country.
It is understood the multi-million-dollar mentorship programme is part of the company’s contribution to the local community in line with indigenisation requirements and was at an advanced stage with proposals having been done by government officials.
Mara Foundation was established in 2009 and focuses on fostering entrepreneurialism in Africa through a myriad of programmes designed to address the life-cycle of an entrepreneur’s business idea. The foundation works to create sustainable economic and business development opportunities for young entrepreneurs via Mara Women and Mara Mentor, an online platform with over 100 000 members.
In January, Mara Foundation partnered the United Nations Women to empower and promote women entrepreneurship globally.
Just a few days after announcing Atlas Mara’s investment in one of Zimbabwe’s top banks, Thakkar hinted ABCH would soon introduce mobile banking innovations in the financial institution.
“We have seen mobile platforms led by mobile companies, which is mobile money, and it should be led by financial institutions to be mobile banking. We are going to see a lot of initiatives in this space,” Thakkar said.
“Doug (BancABC founder Douglas Munatsi) and team have created something great and we are going to see how we can take it to the next level,” he said.
Information deputy minister Supa Mandiwanzira also said local companies should stop complaining about what they called an unfavourable political environment in Zimbabwe and find strategic partners.
“Stop saying the political situation is so bad that you can’t even attract investors. How did BancABC manage to attract one of the best guys in banking across the globe?” he queried.
Bankers’ Association of Zimbabwe president George Guvamatanga added there was still a huge opportunity in Zimbabwe’s banking sector which makes a combined profit of $700 million per year.
“We are still growing depending on how we capture the unbanked,” Guvamatanga said.
Tourism minister Walter Mzembi urged more investors to invest in the country, saying government was working towards opening its borders to Zambia as part of an initiative expected to boost tourism and earnings.
He said a pilot project would start by August ahead of the Sadc summit and was expected to inspire similar moves across the region.
Mzembi said an open skies policy and a liberalised visa system would see Zimbabwe net $4, 5 billion in tourism earnings by 2018. This was equivalent to the country’s 2014 annual budget.
