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Harare yesterday called on the Government and the private sector to grow the economy to reduce production costs and make local goods and services globally competitive.
The campaign aims at the creation of a US$100-billion economy by 2030. Its major thrust is to lobby and promote local and foreign consumers to buy local goods and utilise services in Zimbabwe.
The Buy Zimbabwe chairperson, Mrs Grace Muradzikwa, said the initiative was a broad-based sectoral campaign that seeks to grow local goods and services, advocating change in perception.
She said Buy Zimbabwe brings together policy makers, commerce, industry and marketers to share experiences and strategies to promote a sense of pride in the consumption of local goods and services.
“We want to identify and deliberate on challenges and proffer practical solutions that are critical to increasing the production and consumption of local goods,” she said.
“The campaign seeks to enhance awareness of value chains and synergies essential to increase competitiveness and to consider how local and regional legislative environment converge in a manner that increases market share.”
She said there would be an annual membership for all stakeholders to be involved in the campaign.
There would also be Buy Zimbabwe Week, focusing on giving prominence to Zimbabwean goods and services. The conference itself would become an annual event.
In partnership with the Marketers Association of Zimbabwe, Buy Zimbabwe would carry out national audits for regular tracking on local goods while econometric surveys would also be carried out to attain practical data.
The Standards Association of Zimbabwe would be involved in multiple certification to ensure quality standards.
Ms Yvonne Johnston of Marketer-at-large from South Africa said the world was increasingly becoming competitive “and Buy Zimbabwe is about awareness and it should be of national pride”.
She said Government must have a stake into Buy Zimbabwe and come up with policies, to encourage economic development.
“This campaign must not be a quick fix but a long-term strategy that requires serious commitment,” she said.
“Government should not go external when they want to source something, locals should be given that opportunity.”
TN Holdings group chief executive, Mr Tawanda Nyambirai said the country’s agricultural and the manufacturing sectors had strong brands. What was needed was to revive the brands.
“We should add value to our raw materials and balance our trade, so that we do not become net importers,” said Mr Nyambirai.
Kingdom Financial Holdings founder Mr Nigel Chanakira said the campaign should focus on marketing Zimbabwe, value addition and create jobs downstream.
Industrial Development Corporation of Zimbabwe chief, Mr Mike Ndudzo said Buy Zimbabwe should attract and develop high-income jobs, not to export them to other countries.
“We need to create a base market, increase volumes and achieve economies of scale,” said Mr Ndudzo.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president, Mr Joseph Kanyekanye agreed that working capital issues should be addressed, brand recognition revived and cost structures realigned to make local goods and services competitive.
The one-day conference was attended by representatives from Government, CZI, Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, Consumer Council of Zimbabwe, Standards Association of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, Zimra, Affirmative Action Group and the Marketers Association of Zimbabwe.