Community members from Tinde village in Binga are seeking assistance from local and international investors to enable them to carry out various projects they have undertaken to develop their community.
The projects range from building primary schools, clinics, and dip tanks to starting up small businesses such as salons and welding initiatives.
These include Kayongoto Primary School, Vukuzenzele, Siambola Dip Tank, Twasumpuka Welders, Cross Sikomena Clinic, Kay Hair Salon, and Manziansiya Primary School.
The USAID-funded Amalima Loko program hosted a Diaspora Investment Event on Thursday to help community members build networks and pitch their ideas to potential investors at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair.
Some of the investors present were Mr. Sinkwa, Treger Products, Consulting Publishing Services, Kamativi Mining Company, Utande, and Steward Bank.
Amalima Loko Chief of Party, Dominic Graham, commended the support the pitches received from the various investors and individuals who attended the event.
Graham said they were overwhelmed by the positive response to the pitches. As this was the first event of its kind, they would review it and see how they can improve on networking community members with potential investors in the future.
“Today, we helped a community from Tinde, Binga District, organize a diaspora investor event. It is the first diaspora investor event we have supported in Zimbabwe,” Graham said. “We found through conversations with people here in Bulawayo and the rest of Zimbabwe that there is a lot of interest from the business community in Zimbabwe and from those outside the country who may have friends or family connections back in the rural areas to want to have connections with initiatives that are happening at the community level.”
“It was a pleasure to provide that link between the community and people who are based in different countries. We had people from South Africa, the UK, Australia, and other countries around the world. This initiative was the first of its kind, hence we will have to learn from it and see what we can take away. The hope we have here is that it’s a couple of different streams,” Graham added.
Graham said they would work on building stronger relationships with potential investors and ensure there is continuity for such partnerships.
“Firstly, we can build tighter trust relationships between communities and more remote supporters. Distance is always a difficult thing to overcome, but these days, we have the benefit of the internet and online media, and there are many ways of staying in touch,” he said. “It’s all about building that initial relationship, and with events like this, people can always have the confidence to step into a relationship with the local community, and that may then endure into the future.”
“Another thing we are looking at is the model itself, to see if the communities can come together and articulate their priority issues, ambitions, and aspirations. We are exploring ways to bring that directly to potential supporters, whether those supporters are local government, NGOs, investors, donors, local-based or abroad—what matters is are there different ways that the communities can bring their ideas and share them?” Graham continued.
“From what we have seen here today, there was a huge range of supporters—private individuals, local and international companies. We had people committing to support with a couple of hair dryers for the salon to some committing to contributing building materials for classroom buildings. It is a fabulous experience to be part of an event where you can get such a wide range of supporters coming together. I’m really hoping this is something we can continue into the future,” he said.
Graham explained that to ensure the money and resources are accounted for, they will provide business management consultancy for the individual businesses. For the community projects, they have partnered with Steward Bank so that they can open group accounts that will require more than one signature to access the money.
