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Stanford Chiwanga
THE managing director of one of India’s leading plastic products manufacturing company, Kanku International, Mr Mukeshkumar Kothari, arrives in the country today to pursue his plans of setting up a water container manufacturing plant in Bulawayo.

Mr Kothari, who said he would land at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport today, revealed that he would return to Zimbabwe on a later date with other potential investors from India and Dubai to explore investment opportunities

“I was supposed to be in Zimbabwe on the 15th of January, but the shutdown disturbed my plans. I am happy that peace and order have been restored and we can now get down to business. I will land in Harare where I will have a few meetings before I travel to Bulawayo,” he said.

“Zimbabwe is a peaceful country and what happened does not change that and that’s what I have been telling business people who ask me why I have chosen to invest in Zimbabwe. I am coming to Zimbabwe with a bunch of proposals by different industrialists from India and Dubai. Hopefully, I will get a positive response and a good environment for the investors.”

Mr Kothari said his company would become a major player in Zimbabwe’s plastic products manufacturing sector, thereby contributing towards the rebuilding of the economy.

“Kanku International is here for business and we intend to set up shop permanently. We are aware that things are not rosy economically but these are temporary issues, Zimbabwe is an economic giant that is awakening. Kanku International wants to be part of the revival of Zimbabwe and we intend to be game changers in industry,” he said.

“Our initial investment in Zimbabwe will not only give birth to a company, it will create jobs for many.

We are not only looking at the local market but the foreign market. We want to export our products to the rest of Africa. We have done our homework, we are aware that Bulawayo is the industrial hub of Zimbabwe and that it has been designated as a Special Economic Zone for the manufacturing sector.

That on its own makes Zimbabwe very attractive to us.”

Mr Kothari, who also has a plant in Malawi, is on record as saying Zimbabwe is an international investor’s dream. Last year in November he told Chronicle Business that the country was attractive because of its infrastructure.