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BUY Zimbabwe hosted the 2nd Annual Buy Zimbabwe Awards on Wednesday December 10, 2014 at Cresta Lodge, Harare. The Buy Zimbabwe Awards seek to honour outstanding local companies and individuals that have demonstrated resilience and commitment in creating jobs, reducing the import bill and raising the Zimbabwean Flag.

Since its inception in 2011, Buy Zimbabwe has championed the cause of local businesses with the hope of elevating quality local products and services in an environment where foreign products, most of them sub standard, were suffocating the local industry. To reinforce this initiative, Buy Zimbabwe launched the awards to recognise and honour local businesses that not only bought into the vision of reducing

imports and creating jobs but worked towards it with diligence and excellence.

The inaugural event in 2013 attracted close to 250 business executives, policy makers and members of the media fraternity. This year, the awards attracted 400 executives from over 60 companies that competed in the various awards categories. This bears testimony to the increased appreciation of the Buy Zimbabwe Campaign and its invaluable benefits to local businesses and the nation as a whole.

Speaking at the awards, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Honourable Patrick Chinamasa made a truly poignant remark that summarised why the event was not just another night for business executives to meet and socialise but an important yardstick by which businesses ought to be measuring themselves.

In his keynote address the minister said: “By tirelessly advocating for consumption of local products, government and Buy Zimbabwe are in no way advocating for blind adherence to domestic products. In fact, we are all for the enhancement of our local competitiveness in terms of pricing, delivery, quality and packaging. We are cognisant that we are operating  in a global economy where we should be in a position to compete internationally. Gone are the days when mediocrity could be tolerated.”

Indeed, it is not just enough to advocate for the promotion of local brands. It is important for these brands to deserve such promotion not just locally but also in international markets. They have to demonstrate a commitment to quality, growth and employment creation.

Through these awards, Buy Zimbabwe is giving companies the opportunity to measure themselves against their industry peers, become more competitive and strive to remain relevant in the market place.

Minister Chinamasa went on to say, “Our economy’s growth hinges on our ability to meet global standards, and as government we feel it’s time we reclaim our pride of place as Africa’s fastest growing economy. It’s our national aspiration to remove all restrictive measures that might hinder our competitiveness. This will not be achieved unless there’s a resolve to practise good corporate governance, embrace the correct mindset and completely shun corruption.”

It is, therefore very clear that the need to buy local, is not just a matter of national pride or patriotism but it in fact is a crucial element in turning around the nation’s economy.

Addressing the same gathering,      Buy Zimbabwe chairperson Grace Muradzikwa said the Buy Zimbabwe journey has been long and eventful but they were grateful that the effort has not been in vain.

She said: “The reality is that we’ve remained resolute and are still shouting our message from inception: that we must buy Zimbabwe.

Fortunately, we seem to have found a listening ear from partners and government as evidenced by the fact that we’re  on the imports committee and are a feature of every budget. Our conferences are also fully subscribed, which is indeed gratifying.”

Speaking about the awards themselves, Muradzikwa said   their essence is “to demonstrate that competition is not alien to us even among each other, neither is it unhealthy. There’re champions in our midst and these will be crowned tonight”.

And so it was that in one of the corporate world’s most glamorous events for 2014, 17 champions were crowned and can proudly say they are Zimbabwe’s cream.