Study on the cards to spearhead Bulawayo's industrial revival

The Government is set to commission a study aimed at supporting evidence-based policymaking for the resuscitation of Bulawayo's industrial base and the operationalisation of special economic zones (SEZs), Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has announced.

The planned study comes as momentum builds around the proposed Bulawayo Industrial Park, a flagship initiative expected to reposition the city as a springboard for industrialisation, attract significant investment inflows, create employment across multiple sectors and stimulate wider regional economic transformation. The project aligns with the broader industrialisation agenda of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and is intended to contribute meaningfully to socio-economic growth, particularly in Bulawayo and surrounding areas.

Industrial parks are purpose-built zones designed specifically for industrial activity, typically featuring subdivided industrial plots supported by essential infrastructure such as road networks, transport links and public utilities. In some cases, they also offer shared facilities that encourage collaboration, efficiency and innovation among manufacturers. By concentrating industrial activity in one location, such parks help lower logistical costs, improve the ease of doing business and create an enabling environment for enterprises to grow.

In Bulawayo, the Umvumila Zone has been identified as a starting point for the industrial park initiative. The city's industrial sector has experienced a prolonged decline over the years, marked by company closures and relocations to Harare, resulting in widespread job losses. However, under the Second Republic, the introduction of ease-of-doing-business reforms has helped some firms recover from distress and improve capacity utilisation.

The rebuilding of a strong domestic industrial base was a central pillar of the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), which laid the groundwork for achieving Zimbabwe's Vision 2030 of becoming an upper middle-income economy.

Speaking to journalists after the 2026 Post-Budget engagement in Bulawayo on Monday, Prof Ncube said industrial revival remains a pressing concern in the city. He noted that the issue of resuscitating closed industries continues to dominate discussions in Bulawayo, unlike in other major urban centres such as Harare.

"What I found interesting is that in Bulawayo, the topical issue is still the resuscitation of the closed industries. That is an issue for Bulawayo; we are not hearing as much of that from Harare or other cities," said Prof Ncube.

He said he had directed the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) and Treasury officials to jointly produce a research paper on strategies to revive closed industries and idle factories, as well as on how to establish an export processing zone or special economic zone in Bulawayo. Prof Ncube added that similar strategies could later be extended to other cities facing comparable challenges, such as Gweru and Mutare.

During the engagement, the minister also proposed repurposing some of Bulawayo's vacant factories into hubs for global call centres and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) operations, supported by attractive tax incentives. He said the Government has formally extended SEZ incentives to the sector, placing it on par with traditional export-oriented industries.

"There is a paragraph in the main Budget document which talks about business process outsourcing organisations. These are call centres and knowledge-based processing organisations, which mainly focus on the ICT sector," Prof Ncube said.

He explained that the sector has been granted SEZ status incentives, meaning companies servicing offshore clients would qualify for the same benefits as those operating in export processing zones.

"We really want to drive this sector. I am looking forward to some of these factories in Bulawayo being occupied by BPOs and KPOs going forward," he said.

Bulawayo-based economist and academic Mr Stevenson Dlamini welcomed the proposed study, saying it was essential to ensure policies are grounded in evidence. He said the research would help identify the key cost barriers and structural constraints hindering the growth of the manufacturing sector, which is largely concentrated in Bulawayo.

"The study aims to determine all the cost barriers and any obstacles that are impeding the growth or the reindustrialisation of Bulawayo," said Mr Dlamini. "Its successful completion will help shape reforms that are tailored to the needs of industry and unlock value that is currently trapped in former industrial giants."

Industrialist Mr Busisa Moyo, managing director of United Refineries Limited and chairperson of the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency and the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair Company, said Bulawayo has vast, largely vacant industrial spaces that could be easily converted into call centres.

"We have well-situated factories in Bulawayo and there is an opportunity to rekindle industrialisation in the city," said Mr Moyo. "About 80 percent of factory spaces in Bulawayo have a rail siding, and this is a significant endowment. Some of those spaces could be effectively utilised for call centres."