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Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
MORE than 2,000 individual businesses have used the Zimbabwe-European Union Business Information Centre (Zim-EBIC) since the launch of the first facility in Harare and Bulawayo, an official said yesterday.

The facility was first launched in Harare in August 2014 and the second launch was in Bulawayo at the ZimTrade office in April last year.
Zim-EBIC is an online platform that allows businesses to access market information in the comfort of their homes.

“The Zim-EBIC has so far recorded more than 2,000 hits from people who’re using the platform to access business information,” said ZimTrade chief executive officer, Sithembile Pilime.

The Zim-EBIC facility is instrumental in strengthening trade capacity to deliver effective, real time trade information or market intelligence that assist importers and exporters to conduct business with the European Union (EU).

The EU remains the second or third most important trading partner for Zimbabwe and is active in all major sectors of the economy.

At present, Zimbabwe continues to face limited disposable income for domestic consumption and financial liquidity challenges, which could be reversed through increased access to regional and international markets.

Against this background, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has called for the revision of business models towards production of higher quality value added products with an export orientation.

Six small to medium enterprises were also exhibiting their products under the ZimTrade banner during the just ended 57th edition of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in Bulawayo.

The move was aimed at allowing the SMEs a platform to reach out to local and foreign markets.

“During this trade fair, we’ve hosted six companies in sectors such foundry and engineering to showcase their products under our banner. We were also happy by the quality of products that these companies showcased. There has also been a huge turnout of people coming to our stand,” said Pilime.

Economic experts have stressed the need for local firms to increase exports as a strategy to boost earnings and facilitate increased capacity utilisation.

A majority of companies across productive sectors of the economy are not producing at full capacity due to numerous constraints.