Bulawayo  firms drive towards exports Allan Majuru
Allan Majuru

Allan Majuru

Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
TRADE development and promotion agency, ZimTrade says Bulawayo companies have exhibited strength towards driving the country’s manufacturing exports with renewed optimism under the new political dispensation.

ZimTrade acting chief executive officer, Mr Allan Majuru, who was in the city on a two-day working visit last week, conducted a tour of several industries to appreciate their export needs.

“From the companies that we visited, it looks quite promising. There is a lot of energy and renewed hope with regard to business because most of them are saying there is now much more focus on economics of the country,” he said in an interview.

“The tour has been quite informative for us; nonetheless, a lot still needs to be done to make sure that the potential that they (companies) want to realise truly comes to be.”

The companies he visited are mainly in the engineering and clothing sectors such as Nimr & Chapman, Monarch Steel, Treger Plastics, Pump and Steel and Carousel. On Friday, the agency also toured industries in Gweru.

Mr Majuru said during their tour of Bulawayo industries, they learnt that there were a lot of impediments especially on issues to do with permits that businesses in the city were facing. He said some companies’ export competitiveness was being derailed by the time taken to process export licences, adding that this was something that really needs to be looked at by the responsible authorities.

“As ZimTrade, we have been continuously advocating for streamlining of export procedures and even the processing of permits,” he said.

While it is imperative for the Government to ensure export procedures are streamlined, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Enterprise Development had managed to make significant headway in that regard, said Mr Majuru.

“For example, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Enterprise Development has managed to streamline the products that require export permits to only about four strategic products, the rest have been removed, which is quite good. So, we are also simply advocating for the same in other Government ministries,” he said. — @okazunga

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