Minister proposes SMEs industrial parks Minister Sithembiso Nyoni
Minister Sithembiso Nyoni

Minister Sithembiso Nyoni

Lovemore Zigara, Midlands Correspondent
SMALL and Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development Minister, Sithembiso Nyoni has announced plans to set up industrial parks for SMEs in a move aimed at boosting production in the sector.

The minister said discussions were underway with investors for the setting up of industrial parks.

“As government we don’t want cities of vending. Why don’t the local authorities make land available for production centres such as SME industrial parks? As a minister I’m discussing with some funders and investors to develop SME industrial parks,” said Minister Nyoni.

“Very soon we’ll be knocking on councils to avail to us land and once we set up industrial parks, vending would be less because people have no alternatives.”

The minister said this in an interview on the sidelines of the Midlands provincial SMEs 2015 awards in Gweru last week.

She urged local authorities to allocate space in areas where there is business so that vendors do not find themselves back in undesignated vending sites.

The remarks by the minister come at a time when the government is in the process of formulating a policy that allows the private sector to establish Special Economic Zones (SEZs).

The approach is meant to promote export oriented manufacturing and delivery of services at competitive costs.

Last week Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa announced the gazetting of the Special Economic Zones Bill, whose implementation framework is set for approval by Parliament.

Meanwhile, Gweru based property developer, Tinashe Manzungu, has been crowned the provincial SMEs Businessperson of the Year.

The young entrepreneur, who graduated with a Bachelor of Environmental Science Degree at the Midlands State University, says he is driven by a vision to give a roof to the majority low-income Zimbabweans.

Through his company, Zimbuild Property Investments (Pvt) Ltd, a subsidiary of Tinshel Properties and Construction, Manzungu has, in the past few years, invested more than $23 million for a housing project targeting civil servants and some corporates, with the residential stands purchased at zero deposit.

“Zimbuild is a subsidiary of Tinshel Properties and Construction and is an arm that seeks to afford civil servants and other corporates a chance to own homes or stands at zero deposit,” Manzungu said.

“People were failing to build houses because of the high and enormous deposits that were charged by land developers, some as high as a minimum deposit of $2,000.”

Under Zimbuild, more than 700 stands have been developed in Gweru, more than 150 low-density residential stands in Kwekwe and in Kadoma, more than 750 stands in a high-density suburb called Cherrybank.

Other notable winners were Chirumhanzu-Zibagwe MP, Cde Auxillia Mnangagwa who won the Innovator of the Year award for launching a women’s bank called Saving and Credit Organisation in her constituency.

Businessman and hotelier, Antony Clever Pote of Pote Hill Hotel in Zvishavane won three awards namely corporate social responsibility, SME supporter of the year and first runner up in the innovator of the year award.

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