Category: zimbabwe

Michael Tome and Kiyara Matambanadzo

Standard Chartered Bank Zimbabwe, last Friday unveiled the “Futuremakers” initiative in collaboration with Junior Achievement Zimbabwe (JAZ) as part of efforts to groom and empower the youths with life changing opportunities.

The programme is directed at empowering the disadvantaged young people from low-income households, particularly girls and people with visual impairments, to take part in programmes focused on education and entrepreneurship.

Futuremakers seeks to raise US$50 million between now and 2023 through fundraising in order to support disadvantaged young people and empower them to learn and establish their small businesses. 

The bank handed over a donation of $500 000 to JAZ to run the tailor designed Futuremakers programme for the next three years as part of the launch of the initiative.

Standard Chartered Zimbabwe chief executive officer, Ralph Watungwa, also shared the vision for the Futuremakers programme, saying it is focused on sustainable outcomes.

“…in 2018, we challenged ourselves to say that doing good enough was not going to change the world. Futuremakers has been developed with exactly this philosophy at its core — doing and investing where we can and will see tangible sustainable results in the lives of our youths.

“Futuremakers is therefore a journey not a moment or collection of moments,” alluded Mr Watungwa.

JAZ, which was established in 1998 was identified as a partner on the inaugural programme in Zimbabwe to drive the Financial Education piece as it has historically offered unique and experiential programmes centred on entrepreneurship and financial literacy.

Speaking at the launch Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Dr Jesimeni Chipika, implored the two organisations to drive the financial education agenda that has been described as  key to the development of the economy and of Zimbabwe as a whole. This is so given that the youths constitute the majority of Zimbabwe population.

“…this initiative will have a significant impact on the lives of young people of Zimbabwe…according to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency population projections based on the 2012 population census, there were about 5,6 million children of school going age (3 -18 years) in 2018,” she said.

Futuremakers by Standard Chartered, is a global initiative to solve the issue of inequality and seeks to promote greater economic inclusion for young people in communities across the globe.

Standard Chartered is an international banking group, with a presence in more than 70 countries around the world.

Tawanda Musarurwa Senior Business Reporter

Sakunda Holdings says it helped to facilitate Command Agriculture by structuring financing facilities to pay inputs suppliers.

The company’s chief operating officer Charles Chitambo, told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Accounts yesterday that they used the Treasury Bills (TBs) received from Government to structure financing facilities for the programme that started in 2016.

“There is time when the market or the rules allowed us to provide funding in an account here and wait in a queue for an allocation; there was a time when that was not allowed. At that point you needed to be structuring, you had to be persuading a bank to open a LC (Letter of Credit) on your behalf, promising someone in Belarus, Singapore or China to supply chemicals of fertiliser and you needed the wits around you to come up with the structure,” said Mr Chitambo.

“And when the structure fails you remain with the debt. I’m not accusing the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe on reneging on those structures, it’s my structures which would have failed. I’m not saying that I was sitting there waiting for an allocation all the time — there was a time when that was correct — but there is a lot of time when I was structuring using my standing in the market.

“Sakunda structured foreign debt, which would allow money to be paid slowly when inputs would have arrived earlier,” he said.

Sakunda yesterday confirmed to the Public Accounts Committee that it did not go to tender, but was “invited by Government along with other players” to play a leading role in facilitating agriculture financing. According to Mr Chitambo, some of the major inputs suppliers for the Command Agriculture included Seed-Co, K2, AgriSeeds, FSG, Zimbabwe Fertiliser Company, Omnia, ETG, Windmill, Monsanto, Mukushi Seeds, Arda Seeds, Zaka Seeds, Sable Chemicals, United Fertiliser Company, as well as two other “international fertiliser companies.”

“My understanding is very straightforward. Anyone who supplies a grain of seed, a drop of fuel, a particle of fertiliser expects to be paid. I think what attracted these suppliers to work with us is that we had a structure that could pay them,” he told the Committee.

“I don’t want to speak down on the ability of Government to readily pay, but what I do know is that we were able to work with them because we were able to pay them. There is no single supplier of inputs that I paid with Treasury Bills, I paid them with money from a bank account into their bank accounts.”

The Public Accounts Committee is now looking to reconcile evidences provided by Sakunda, the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) as well as the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, with indications that some of it is “conflicting”.

Sakunda told the Committee that between 2016 and 2018 — for various agriculture programs — the group spent around US$580 million.

Meanwhile, Government has since moved to restructure the financing model of Command Agriculture, taking on board local private financiers.

Last year, Treasury said going forward, it was setting up a public-private-partnership model in financing the Command Agriculture programme.

“In line with the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP) and the Budget Statements for 2019, the financing model for Special Grain and Oil Seed (maize, wheat and soya beans) production (Command Agriculture) has been transformed and now involves Commercial banks and private sector out-growers schemes, working jointly with the Government on a public private partnership (PPP) basis,”

“So far banks that have entered into a partnership with the Government include, Agribank, CBZ Bank and Stanbic Bank. More banks are expected to join the programme, therefore bolstering efforts for domestic resource mobilisation,” it said in a statement at the time.

Ishemunyoro Chingwere Business Reporter

The mining sector stimulus credit facility to be administered by the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ), which Government agreed to avail for small scale miners at last week’s cabinet meeting, will be released next month as production up scaling efforts gather pace.

Government is working towards the attainment of a US$12 billion export milestone by 2023, up from US$2, 7 billion which Zimbabwe achieved in 2017.

If the milestone is achieved, it will completely change the complexion of the country’s economy and will be a solid anchor towards the attainment of an upper middle income economy by 2030 as set by President Mnangagwa.

Of the targeted US$12 billion, the larger chunk of US$8 billion is envisaged to come from minerals whose marketing falls under the ambit of the MMCZ.

The other US$4 billion is expected to come from gold through the marketing of 100 tonnes of the yellow metal.

In an interview with The Herald Finance and Business, Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando, said the stimulus package will be ready for release by end of April.

Describing the impending injection as “interesting”, Minister Chitando said Government is currently working on the structure the facility will take and also advised that it will be different from other packages which Government has previously unveiled. 

“That (stimulus package) will be announced by the end of April, it will be some interesting announcement,” said Minister Chitando.

“At the moment we are really looking at the concept, the money can always be increased depending on miners’ needs, but we are looking at a structure that we are sure is going to really facilitate the growth of the small scale sector.

“It’s going to be a completely new structure from the ones we have previously had,” he said.

While mining sector growth prospects is largely premised on foreign direct investment and investment from large corporates, the need to support the small scale sector comes from the realisation that some deposits are more amenable to small scale operations than conglomerate mining.

It is against this background that Government is moving in to cover one of the biggest challenges affecting miners in this sector.

Most of them are still relying on rudimentary mining methods due to lack of capital to invest in the requisite machinery which will in turn see an increase in production.

Tendai Rupapa Senior Reporter
Police have completed investigations into the charges faced by Marry Mubaiwa for attempted murder, fraud and money laundering and are waiting for relevant documents from South Africa to complete the prosecution docket.

Mubaiwa, who is the estranged wife of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, yesterday appeared before magistrate Mr Chrispen Mberewere for her routine remand.

She was remanded to May 8 after the State led by Mrs Tinashe Makiya told the court that although local investigations were complete, there were outstanding documents to be obtained from South Africa.

Mrs Makiya said there had been remarkable progress in the cases.

“Your Worship, I am in possession of the dockets for the fraud and money laundering charges,” she said.

“Local investigations are complete and what is outstanding is obtaining documents from South Africa, which are being obtained through mutual legal assistance.

“The position is the same with the attempted murder docket.”

Mubaiwa, through her lawyer, agreed to the proposed remand date, but said she was still giving notice to make an application for refusal of further remand.

She gave the notice on 14 February, but has yet to give the date when she may file the application.

Mubaiwa did not give a specific date as to when she would file the application which she gave notice on February 14.

Mr Mberewere routinely remanded Mubaiwa to May 8.