BY BUSINESS REPORTER ALPHA Media Holdings (AMH), in partnership with Piggybank Advisor, will host its inaugural annual investor forum in Harare on Thursday.
The Zimbabwe Investment Forum will be held under the theme, “Sustainable Long Term Investment Options” and is a brainchild of the Zimbabwe Independent.
Expected to attend are policy makers, parastatal executives, insurance firms, individuals, development finance institutions and financial service providers.
Key objectives of the forum include improving public utilities investment options, financial literacy levels and increasing the participation of individuals on local and global investment markets.
Other areas to be covered will be around economics, parastatal reforms and corporate governance in the public sector.
Stock market investing and personal finance issues will also be under discussion.
Senior government officials and business executives are expected to attend the forum.
AMH group chief executive officer Kenias Mafukidze said the investment forum aimed to spur foreign and domestic investment.
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“The intention is to mobilise not just international investors, but also tap into our own local investors so they think long term,” Mafukidze said.
“We have a vibrant insurance industry, which should be encouraged to put resources into long term investments.
“Let us not forget that we have close to US$1 billion in diaspora remittances that are coming into Zimbabwe in an unstructured way.
“That money should be harnessed for long-term infrastructural developments.”
Mafukidze pointed out that there was need to clean up governance structures in state entities to make them suitable for long-term investments.
“The opportunities are huge and exciting. These are the issues the stakeholders will be seized with at the investment forum,” he said.
With strategic investment and reform of state enterprises, he said, NDS1 could make meaningful contribution towards economic recovery.
Piggybank Advisor founder and chief executive Batanai Matsika said the investment forum would unlock ways of boosting Zimbabwe’s investment profile.
“The Zimbabwe Investment Forum is a key event that we have developed that brings together the public and private sector to not only discuss issues about investment products but also devise solutions to some of the key capital raising issues,” Matsika said.
He said the theme addressed the need to develop and support innovative financial products and exploit how the country could benefit from the capital markets in terms of restructuring and financing key operations.
Matsika added that the investment forum would be used as a platform to educate and showcase some of the investment products being developed such as the Exchange Traded Funds and the Real Estate Investment Trust.
The forum, Matsika pointed out, would also be used to increase participation in these investment products.
He said there would be awards for those who would have excelled in attracting the much-needed foreign and domestic investment.
AMH are the publishers of the leading business weekly, the Zimbabwe Independent, NewsDay and The Standard.
