This document discusses investment opportunities and strategies in Zimbabwe. It focuses on brownfield investments in infrastructure, real estate, agriculture, mining, energy and manufacturing. Capital will come from various structured financing options. However, the author notes challenges including the Zimbabwe government's debt issues, efforts to create an enabling investment environment being undermined by a lack of trust and transparency, and economic difficulties like currency issues and shortages hindering growth. Overall investors are waiting for more pro-business reforms and improved governance to catalyze private investment needed to achieve development goals.

1. Investment strategy
By Godfrey Mtunzi

2. Region: Sub-Saharan Countries
Geography: Zimbabwe
• As a Business Development Consultant, my duties include identifying investment
opportunities, securing clients (buy side) for the company and (sell side/
investors), Deal origination, Risk analysis and management among other roles. I
am responsible for Sub- Saharan countries but for the sake of this project I would
like to focus on Zimbabwe. I have modelled and I am working on investments in
Infrastructure development (existing buildings, bridges, roads and other strategic
structures), Real Estate, Agri-business (processing and value addition), Mining,
Energy and Manufacturing (profit making manufacturers). They are all brownfield
investments. I prefer brownfields to Greenfields because they are educative in
regards to ESG & responsible investing. Brownfields can easily influence, engage
and collaborate with others and bring asset owners , managers and investees
together for shared vision of happy life and leaving the mother earth better than
what we inherited from our fore generators. Capital will be made available
through different structured forms such as working capital, trade finance, invoice
discounting, existing debt refinancing, subordinated debt (tier ii), mezzanine and

3. The current role of MDBs in Zimbabwe
• Currently World Bank has suspended all its direct and Official
Financial Aid to Zimbabwe due to the breach of obligations and non-
payments of its Arrears to many Multi-Lateral Development Banks
including World Bank Group by the government of Zimbabwe.

4. Government of Zimbabwe’s effort in the quest of creating an
enabling investment climate
• And with this background I want to acknowledge and applaud the effort which is being
made by the government of Zimbabwe in creating an enabling environment for
investment through its mantra “Zimbabwe is open for business”. In this regard, we have
seen the government opening up its finance and investment space, improving its
openness, transparency, domestic resource mobilisation through tax increases,
demonstrating, leveraging and catalysing private investors in the transport sector by
introducing public transport. This is likely to leave carbon footprints through reduced
carbon emissions in the future. The move itself is likely to change the mind sets of many
local and private investors towards capital shifting to public transport infrastructures
such as buses and rail. The government of Zimbabwe has also banned the use of multi-
currencies in all local payments and this move is like to catalyse local and private
investors to invest locally as there will be no foreign exchange risks. This is possible only if
the local currency policy is transparent, managed and implemented properly.

5. The other side of the coin (policy efforts)
• However, in the mean time I have advised my clients (investors) both
holders and prospective to either hold onto invested assets and watch out
for prepayment risks due to devaluation of foreign currencies in Zimbabwe.
They are planned market distortions which are meant to reduce the value
of foreign currency against the unsupported local currency. (Prepayment
risks and inconvertibility of local returns). Also through my research, the
general populace is not happy about the recent trends. There is no shared
vision, social contract and trust between the central government, local
government, civil societies and the economical active people. All these
important stakeholders will counter any progressive or retrogressive efforts
by the central government and of which economic development is
underpinned by the trust between the government and its economically
active populace. It is the role for the central government to engage them
for shared prosperity.

6. The voice of the investors and the public on Governance issues
• The general public has many conspiracy theories for all the policies by the government
and the theories are around Social and Governance issues. They are arguing that the
banning of multi-foreign currency regime was meant to revive the underground and
illegal parallel foreign currency markets which are purportedly run by government
ministers they were losing businesses to retail shops. And us as investors we take
Governance issues seriously. We might have adopted passive investment strategy but we
are not blind. It is known that at some point in the long run all the investors will be
active. We will engage the responsible authorities, we will integrate, we will vote, we will
do proxy voting in boards, we will second or vote out Board members, agendas and
resolutions among other strategies such as buying out and considering approaching
Investment guarantors for risk management and mitigation.
•

7. The long-term effects of mega-trends- risks and investment
opportunities
• The other concern to the recent megatrends of drought due to
climate change, government policies, technology among others,
poverty rate is increasing and it’s likely to affect future market
prospects of the country. The public feel that in the near future there
will be shortages and long ques in the economy because of foreign
currency shortages. The retailers will need to go to parallel and
distorted markets for forex so that they can restock. It’s likely to be
impossible for them to get the forex due to the inconvertibility of the
Zimdollar and thereby they will not be able to restock.

8. Financial Inclusion- government as an obstacle thereby
hindering opportunities and the abilities for the underbanked to
escape poverty (missing the SDGs)
• Also the public is feeling that the government is standing in the way
of financial inclusion especially for the rural unbanked population.
They suggested that the resettled populace can only be bankable only
if they have tittle deeds for the given land. The bank and micro
financial institutions will be able to have their collateral registries and
advance loans to them thereby improving their living standards. So in
the regard of financial inclusion the government is also encouraged to
incentivise the registration of all informal businesses and this will also
help with domestic resource mobilisation.

9. . Conclusion: The capital is readily available, private investors are sitting
on trillions of money that can be invested to meet the SDGs by 2030, just
waiting for the government to catalyse, demonstrate and open up
opportunities.
• To conclude this, investors are hoping to see more from the
government for shares prosperity, increase of tax base, efficient
administration of public finances, reduction of Illicit Financial Flows,
return of stolen public resources, prosecution of looters, opening up
of public policy space, public policy institutes and public policy
debates by professionals and academia before implantation. At this
point us as investors we are only interested in brownfield investments
and possible ventures due to the state of the economy. We are really
dependant on government actions, government must catalyse and
leverage us. Everything is possible, we can meet the SDGs by 2030
because we are sitting on enough capital.