Multi-million company to launch nine companies in Zimbabwe

SOUTH Africa-based company, Big Time Strategic Group will launch nine companies in the country as part of efforts to heed calls by President Emmerson Mnangagwa for Zimbabweans in the diaspora to invest back home.

Group chief executive and proprietor Mr Justice Maphosa, a Zimbabwean, announced last week that the companies have already been registered.

"We are launching very soon, we will communicate our launch date, we have nine companies already registered in Zimbabwe, we have a lot of technology, we have a lot of investment in Zimbabwe. I think I am one of those businesspeople who are forever in Zimbabwe mostly on a weekly basis to look at our businesses, have meetings and look at what can work and what should be done; look at our product incubation processes and how far are we are looking at our deadlines and focuses as we gear ourselves towards the launch. We are forever here to make sure those things are attained on time," he said.

This comes at a time when investors are flocking into the country after the President's meeting with Zimbabwean business people based in South Africa recently.

A South Africa-based construction firm, ALW Team Investments (Private) Limited owned by a local has also expressed interest at channelling most of its investment into the country especially in the Matabeleland region. ALW Team Investment chief executive officer, Mr Timothy Ncube, said the company's priority would be to apply for a tender to see off the construction of the Bulawayo-Nkayi Road which is probably one of the most deplorable highways in the country.

Another South African tycoon, Mr Robert Matana Gumede, was in the country last month to cement a $1,2 billion investment deal in key sectors of the economy which include infrastructure development, energy, health services, tourism and financial services.

Mr Maphosa said the call for business people to invest in the country was long overdue and thanked the President for inviting business people to invest in the country.

"It's long overdue, we very appreciate a man, a comrade, a father, grandfather, a Zimbabwean like the President that we have right now. It's something that we have been crying for especially us in the diaspora, this is why we are in the diaspora. We have been crying for a President like him, a President who can appeal to us the youth."

Bigtime Strategic Group comprises South African companies with business interests in the ICT sector; they include Computer Ink and Media solutions, Big time Strategic Consultants, Flame IT Strategy, and Flame IT Consulting.

Since President Mnangagwa rose to power in November last year, he has been on a crusade to attract Foreign Direct Investment and has relaxed some of the laws that were hindering investment flows.