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Kiyapili Sibanda, Business Reporter
BUY Zimbabwe has implored Government to avail more incentives to companies that manufacture products using locally sourced raw materials.

A number of companies rely on imported raw materials, a development that drains scarce foreign currency and contributes to job losses, Buy Zimbabwe chief executive officer Mr Munyaradzi Hwengwere said.

“A lot of products we call locally produced commodities have high levels of foreign content. Sometimes it’s as high as 98 percent and we still call it a Zimbabwean product.

“We therefore need to push for a minimum threshold with the fairest minimum being 30 percent local content but let’s aspire for 50 percent and higher,” he said.

Mr Hwengwere said there was a need for incentives as part of measures to promote local content which he said created jobs.

“ We are now putting up a structure that would certify various products in order to identify products with high local content so that Government can reward companies producing such products,” he said.

Since 2011 Buy Zimbabwe has been spearheading a campaign to promote local procurement and consumption of locally produced goods.

“This is not the first Buy Zimbabwe Campaign we have had. It is actually the third one but it’s the first to succeed,” said Mr Hwengwere.

He said the growing number of companies with the Buy Zimbabwe sign on their products signifies the role being played by the manufacturers towards promoting the consumption of locally produced goods.

“Look at the number of products that have the insignia, Buy Zimbabwe, some of the big companies your Nestle, Cairns, Dairibord, Schweppes among others and these didn’t have this and for me it’s a legacy that will be passed from generation to generation,” he said.

Mr Hwengwere said the Buy Zimbabwe campaign should spread to awarding of tenders.

He said while Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016 had a very huge impact on promoting consumption of locally manufactured products, it had not addressed the issue of importation of raw materials.

Last month, Buy Zimbabwe Company and Beautiful Bulawayo Trust signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) paving way for a working partnership to promote consumption of locally produced goods and marketing the city’s industries.

@Kiyaz_Cool