AFRICANS should not sit on their laurels and wait for others to develop their continent which has a massive population, says property developer and real estate expert Tinashe Manzungu.
Manzungu made these remarks in a presentation titled Unlocking Africa's prosperity through Investment in real estate and construction at the fourth edition of the Jamie Pajoel International (JPI) Annual Leadership Conference in Rwanda recently.
JPI is an organisation under the governments of Nigeria and Canada that serves as a platform for human capital development.
The organisation provides competency-based leadership trainings to individuals and organizations across diverse fields of endeavours
The four-day conference was running under the theme Build to last.
Manzungu said Africa’s massive growing population of 2,5 billion makes it a strong market, hence the need for businesspeople to support its growth.
“There is a need for businesspeople to support their governments in infrastructure development, which is an economic development enabler so that Africans have a prosperous continent they want,” he said.
“One in five people in Africa has electricity, 66% have access to water, 4% of African land is under irrigation, so we have a gap in terms of infrastructure development into all these sectors like agriculture so that we have the food that we want.
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“More than 60% lack basic infrastructure and according to data, Africa has 25% road is tarred and we are not talking about Nigeria, Zimbabwe, but Africa.”
Manzungu said there was need to maintain the existing infrastructure.
“We need to run the infrastructure we have,” he said.
“Some closed shafts when they left the country, no spare parts for countries under embargos of sanctions, and million dollar plants just sitting there.
“Cost of doing business in Africa is plus 40% expensive of the poor road network, poor rail network and also it’s cheaper to trade with a country outside Africa in terms of logistics.”
Manzungu said Africa needed US$72 billion to achieve its 2030 infrastructural development obligation.
However, he said funding for projects was a barrier to African development, hence his call to the business community to intervene.
Speaking at the same forum, a representative from JPI urged participants to engage them.
“We provide knowledge-sharing and global experiences that help individuals develop leadership competencies, improve performance, and drive strategies to promote organizational growth and profitability,” he said.
“Our international leadership programmes provide a forum for C-Suite executives, directors, business owners, government officials, captains of industries, senior executives, HR professionals, management consultants, entrepreneurs, senior and middle level managers around the world to come together and explore universal leadership and business challenges and solutions, helping them lead their organisations in today’s complex and global marketplace.”
JPI has facilitated international leadership programmes in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa.
“We work with organizations in advance to establish what they need after carefully reviewing their organization’s vision, mission, core values, and then develop tailored training to meet the required learning objectives,” said the JPI representative.
“Attending our international leadership programme is a commitment to ensure that you not only learn from the best but, you bring the best in professional education back to your office and continue to grow and enhance your organisation.
“Our prestigious JPI Annual Leadership Conference focuses on sustaining organisational leadership, simplifying processes, understanding leadership buy-in, leading with emotional intelligence, identify underlying problems in business and addressing ineffective leadership practices, all of which can give rise to a dysfunctional system if ignored.”
Manzungu is a board member of the Africa Business Council and a director of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa Business Council.
He is the co-founder of Zimbuild, a real estate business that has diversified to TM Group, an investment portfolio with interest in insurance and financial services.
Manzungu is the senior vice-president of the Zimbabwe Building Contractors Association and an immediate past president of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce.
On the international stage, Manzungu has scooped the African Achievers Award under the Excellence in Leadership and Global Corporate Enterprise in the United Kingdom.
He has also been honoured with a Doctorate in Business Administration from California University.
