President Emmerson Mnangagwa has warned foreign investors that they will only be allowed into the country if they conform to the country’s developmental agenda.
He made the remarks at the Concord Young Women in Business Global ICT graduation ceremony held at the Zimbabwe International Exhibition Centre in Bulawayo last week.
“…Under the Second Republic, those who come to invest in this country should do so in a manner that supports our vision. We will not accept anybody coming to implement their vision in our country. We have our own vision,” Mnangagwa said.
“The resources in this country are for this country. And this country belongs to us.”
The call by Mnangagwa comes, as his administration is on a drive to lure investors under the Zimbabwe is open for business mantra.
Foreign investors have given Zimbabwe a wide berth citing an unfavourable environment.
Concord Young Women in Business Global ICT is a group that seeks to empower the girl child from the country’s provinces with ICT skills.
The programme, which started in January, is aimed at empowering young women with skills on how to utilise ICT to enhance their businesses.
Mnangagwa said government was implementing policies and programmes to include young women in the ICT sector as a way of developing the country’s economy.
“My government is currently implementing policies and programmes to enable more women access to, use of and ability to influence, as well as contribute to, create and benefit from ICTs.
“Going forward, my Government stands ready to welcome more proposals to strengthen our national gender-responsive strategies and approaches innovation, technology and digital education.
“This will no doubt go a long way towards enhancing the participation of women and girls in the mainstream economy. As this is the event honouring the capacitation of women in ICTs, it is my hope that there are many women who are following these proceedings virtually,” he said.
He also urged small-scale businesses to adopt ICTs.
“ I challenge those engaging in small-scale businesses to adopt ICT driven business models, as well as spruce up their web sites to make them more interactive, responsive and reflective of our current development trajectory,” he said.
The event was attended by 7 840 young women from across the country’s 10 provinces.
Concord Young Women in Business president Nyasha Musavengana said:“We are grateful that we received an overwhelming response from women across the country. Although it was not easy and took us two months to convince apostolic sect members to enroll for the course, we are happy that we were allowed to train them at their shrines.“
Empowering women in the economy and closing gender gaps in the world of work is key to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly Goal 5.