Pepsi billionaire unfazed by Zimbabwe's risk

RAVI Jaipuria, one of India's wealthiest individuals, said last week he fully understood the risks of the Zimbabwean landscape and would proceed with his US$30 million investment plan for a beverages business under the Pepsi brand.

After Zimbabwe finally released a certificate of compliance giving him the green light to construct the plant, Jaipuria said while he was not blind to the risks, his $2 billion empire would not be disturbed if something went bad in Zimbabwe.

An outlay of $30 million was too small, said the soft spoken tycoon, whose investments cut across sectors worldwide.

The certificate of compliance only came eight months after the Pepsi project was announced in November last year.

Jaipuria said he was weighing the "positives" of investing in Zimbabwe against the "negatives" which gave him confidence in the deal, even after bureaucracy in the City of Harare had thrown the project behind schedule.