Zimbabwe are set to embark on a tour of Bangladesh later this month, in what will be a good test of where they stand at the moment across all three formats of world cricket.
The tour begins on the 22nd February with a one-off Test match. Three one-day internationals will follow between the two nations before the tour is wrapped up with two T20 matches. Zimbabwe will be hoping for a new beginning in 2020 following a tough couple of years on and off the field.
Zimbabwe were suspended by the ICC in 2019 due to government interference into the administration of cricket. Now that this ban is lifted Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) can concentrate on moving the team forward.
The last time Zimbabwe and Bangladesh met was back in September in the Obhai tri-nation T20 series which also involved Afghanistan. Bangladesh won both of their two matches against Zimbabwe, although the Chevrons did record victory over Afghanistan in that tournament.
The Chevrons looking to build upon Test performance against Sri Lanka
Zimbabwe were in action last month when they faced Sri Lanka in two Test matches in Asia. They were well beaten in the first Test, losing by 10 wickets In Harare.
The hosts won the toss in the second Test and opted to bat first; which was a wise move as they made 406 in the first innings. This put them in a great position to pick up their maiden Test success against Sri Lanka.

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After declaring on 247/7 in their second innings, Zimbabwe set Sri Lanka a target of 361. They were 204/3 when the match finished as a draw at the end of the fifth day.
Sikandar Raza proves to be a very valuable all-rounder
Sikandar Raza recorded 7-113 in the first innings of the second Test against Sri Lanka. That was the second-best figure ever by a Zimbabwean bowler in Test cricket. He will be hoping to take that form into Bangladesh where conditions should suit him again.
Brendan Taylor, Sean Williams, and Raza all looked in good form with the bat in that previous series. Their captain, Williams, picked up the second century of his Test career in the opening innings of the second Test.
It was a really impressive performance from Zimbabwe in the two Test series, as that was their first cricket over that format since November 2018. Not being part of the 10-team World Test Championship came as a big blow to the nation, but their aim now is to get themselves in a position to compete in the next tournament.
Bangladesh are ranked ninth of 12 in the World Test Rankings. Zimbabwe are a further two places down with just Ireland below them. Victory over the home side in this one-off Test will help them bridge the gap between the two nations.
The last time Zimbabwe faced Bangladesh abroad in a Test series was two years ago when they drew 1-1. They will be hoping they can go one better that this time around.
Bangladesh showed how dangerous they are in one-day cricket at World Cup

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Bangladesh were one of the surprise packages at the ICC World Cup last summer, as they had victories over South Africa, West Indies and Afghanistan. Unfortunately for the Tigers, they fell just short of qualification into the last four.
The hosts will be heavy favourites to win the one-day and T20 series against Zimbabwe. They are many people’s outside bets to win the rebranded ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia later this year where, as of 8th February, they are 66/1 with Betway in the outright market for that tournament.
Bangladesh recorded a victory over India in New Delhi in their first of three T20 fixtures back in November, which just shows how strong they are. They did go on to lose that series 2-1, however.
The Tigers will be looking to bounce back from their latest result as they lost 2-0 to Pakistan in a three-match T20 series last month. One of those games was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
In Tamim Iqbal, Bangladesh have one of the leading opening batsmen in world cricket. He scored 104 runs in his two innings against Pakistan, but it wasn’t enough for his team to record a success in either of those matches.
Bangladesh will have their own aspirations in 2020. This is, therefore, a big tour for both nations as they look to edge the gap towards some of the more established countries in world cricket.

“In a growth mind set, challenges are exciting rather than threatening. So rather than thinking, oh, I’m going to reveal my weaknesses, you say, wow, here’s a chance to grow.”Carol S. Dweck

By Shaun Jayaratnam

On December 31, 1991, the USSR ceased to exist. The Russian Federation, a new state, embarked on the road to democracy and a market economy with no clear plan of how to complete such a transformation.

I spent my twenties building a career during the turbulent decade following the collapse of the Soviet Union. For me a time of considerable development and growth.

When I arrived in the autumn of 1989 on my 1st business trip outside of Singapore I did not speak Russian, I did not understand the history and culture of the country, nor was I prepared for the severe winter. Everything was alien to me, yet I was excited with the unknown, in awe with Russia and the endless possibilities I saw in front of me.

I first engaged a Professor of Linguistics from Moscow State University to teach me Russian 3 times a week 2 hours each day. With no CNN or BBC, nor any English channels, every street sign in Russian and barely anyone speaking English I had to pick up Russian fast. Having formally studied Mandarin since the age of four till eighteen my professor was confident Russian would be easy for me and true enough I was able to read, write and converse in basic Russian within 3 months.

Managing a small business in Russia required riding through domestic turbulence and a succession of shocks. In an era of corrupt officials, inefficiency, informal practices, violence, murders by bombing or gunfire involving the Russian mafia, I was in over my head, yet drawn to the thrill of it all.

Being thrown into the deep end, leaving your comfort zone, facing adversity, will tax your perseverance to the point where you are forced to grow and do things differently to achieve your goals.

I was determined to learn, driven to succeed, mentored by an entrepreneur who was my boss at the time. So begin my decade long journey in post-Soviet Russia which was struggling to overcome cataclysmic political, economic, and societal challenges.

I observed the Russian transition at first hand, from Gorbachev, to the fall of the Russian white house, to Yeltsin and now Putin. I was part of history in the making.

It was here that I learnt in chaos there’s opportunity, that there is an offsetting opportunity in every obstacle or adversity.

For a young man from Singapore with little knowledge about computers, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, oil & gas, building materials, I learnt fast, familiarising myself with different industries, brokered profitable deals. With the adrenalin rush I got from each successful deal I closed I challenged myself further, the sky was the limit I said.

Starting in Moscow I ventured inwards to Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, Rostov, Kazan, Perm, Novosibirsk, to every corner of Russia where there was a business opportunity. I began to be drawn towards frontier and emerging markets, I realised being relatively untapped, they offered a higher growth potential.

Not satisfied with just Russia, I travelled across the border to Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Armenia, all the countries in the CIS, covering thousands of miles on planes, road, and rail across multiple 1st, 2nd and 3rd tier cities and borders.

My life was threatened more than once, and I’ve been robbed, I paid a hefty tuition fee but it was well worth it. The learning curve was exponential as Russia taught me to face my fears, to learn to trust my gut feel, to be resilient, to improvise and to develop new perspective and ingenuity.

Russia was my University of Hard Knocks, my Harvard Business School.

The Soviet Union enjoyed extensive relationships across Africa for decades through its support for national liberation movements in Angola, Mozambique, or Guinea-Bissau. These relationships came to an abrupt halt with the collapse of the Soviet regime.

The Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow (renamed Peoples Friendship University of Russia), established in 1961, was named after the first prime minister of Congo. Its mandate was to provide education to students, especially from poor families across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Prominent African politicians, including few of the older generation studied there, these included Namibia Hifikepunye Pohamba, as well as some younger ones, like former prime minister of Chad Youssouf Saleh Abbas and the Central African Republic’s former president.

Back then the university had small cafes started by enterprising students offering delicacies from their home countries, in the early 1990’s this was the most authentic ethnic food you’ll find in Moscow at affordable student prices. It was here that I was first introduced to fufu and jollof rice, way before I stepped into Africa.

My first introduction to Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and DRC began 30 years ago when I made friends with students from these countries who were working part-time either bartending or waiters at establishments I use to patronise. I had no clue where these countries were, but my new friends were kind enough to give me a quick lesson in geography.

We were strangers in a strange land, eager to learn from each other, and slowly a bond was form. Via the same university I met students from Peru, Brazil, Nicaragua, Philippines, India, etc, many my friends today.

Never did I imagine that one day I’ll be doing business across multiple countries on the African continent nor how prepared I will be because of my experiences in Russia.

The Russian rouble crisis or the Russian Financial Crisis hit Russia in 17th Aug 1998. The government devalued the rouble, defaulted on domestic debts, the whole system just crashed, effecting the economies of the neighbouring countries as well. The crisis led to the fall of many companies, exodus of many expats.

It was time to leave, regroup, reassess, unlearn and relearn.

“Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage”
Niccolo Machiavelli

Back home in Singapore I realised how much I’ve missed out on the growth opportunities across Asia.

My Russian and East European expertise brought me back to developing business across the CIS and East Europe but at the same time I prospected for business across South East Asia.

Not wanting to be labelled as a Russian or East European market specialist I was constantly looking out for my next challenge. This challenge was given to me by a Chilean company who were expanding into Africa, seeking someone to lead the charge.

Having no knowledge about Africa I networked every event, forum, seminar, etc involving the continent. It was at one of these forums that I met a diplomat from the Angolan embassy in Singapore whose ambassador at the time studied in Russia during the late 1980’s. He found my own experiences intriguing enough to render me an audience with his boss. Divine intervention perhaps.

I spoke no Portuguese and although the Ambassador and I spoke English we just could not help speaking Russian for an hour or so, sharing our love for Russian music, history, art, literature and politics.

Interestingly my Russian language skills opened my 1st door into Africa, taking me a week later to Angola, subsequently on a journey of discovery across the vast continent.

In Luanda, my first client only spoke Portuguese but fortunately his sister studied in Russia, at Patrice Lumumba University no less, so we conducted our business entirely with me speaking Russian to his sister whilst she translated in Portuguese.

I spent the first one and half years in Africa traveling on trade missions led by the Singapore Business Federation, starting in the East covering Djibouti, to Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, then to West Africa covering Congo Kinshasa, Congo Brazzaville, Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Togo and Benin.

Africa is a continent, not a country. It’s made up of 54 countries, there are cultural, economic, and linguistic differences across the continent, more so between Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa. The number of languages spoken is between 1,250 and 2,100, some even estimate it to be 3,000. Nigeria alone has over 500 languages. It’s crucial to spend time understanding the cultures, language, and the people. Do not make assumptions.

Armed with my limited French language skills I boldly ventured on my own to Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Gambia, Liberia, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic etc, networking with locals and foreign businessmen along the way, learning to navigate the markets. Friends eager to explore Africa but fearing the unknown soon joined me.

I’ve driven from Ouagadougou to Bobo Dioulasso in Burkina Faso starting at 5am for 5 hours just to meet couple of clients and back that same day after 10pm. I’ve travelled on bus from Maradi to Tahoua in Niger just to meet one client, drove from Bamako to Timbuktu in Mali, crossed the border from Benin into Nigeria, from Nzassi into Cabinda, I’ve been robbed in Uganda, etc, exhilarating experiences.

In Nouakchott, Mauritania while driving around the city looking for a Chinese restaurant, I stumbled upon a brand-new Chinese trade association building (6 stories high) who welcomed me with open arms simply because I spoke Mandarin and was family. I was given an open invitation to stay with them (the association had a restaurant and a hotel within the building) any time I’m in Nouakchott. With an increasing number of Chinese businesses venturing into Africa my Mandarin language skills has come in handy. I was blending in.

I slowly understood the operating environment of the many markets across the continent, the colonial history, the Francophone, Anglophone and Lusophone countries mind set, tribal differences, the CFA zones, the ethnic business communities that hold monopolies on some trade, trade blocs, distribution of goods, the porous borders, etc.

Several countries on the continent are plagued by political instability, spiralling corruption and poor governance. It’s no secret that things often get done here by cutting corners, greasing palms or looking the other way. These are common, harsh realities, and taken for granted.

Corruption remains a major issue in many African countries, affecting the lives of citizens at multiple levels. Illicit trade has had devastating impact on legal markets and on state revenues.

The porous borders across Africa today has led to the rise of trans-border crimes. Poor landlocked nations, such as the Chad and Mali are subject to significant amounts of goods transits along roads and have largely uncontrolled land borders. Poor road infrastructure make transporting goods from ports to inland countries costly and time consuming.

Differences in taxation policies and subsidies contribute to smuggling across borders. One example is fuel, which is highly subsidised in one or two countries creates an incentive for the product to be smuggled into neighbouring countries that border them.

“This Is Africa” or TIA as it’s commonly used by African’s and non-Africans basically means “take a chill pill, go with the flow, relax, this is how it is in Africa”, often as a sigh of resignation. Over time you start to learn to accept and use this term on a regular basis. C’est la vie!

Across the continent there are a range of inconveniences, from power cuts, general inefficiency, infuriating bureaucracy and questionable ethics. But there is also rapid economic growth and the business environment is improving.

Africa isn’t just about oil, gas, commodities or minerals, consumer demand for new products and services is creating opportunities across a wide spectrum of industries. While US, British, French conglomerates are focused on minerals, oil and gas, the Asians are developing infrastructure (road rail, power) and manufacturing industries on the continent.

Indian confectionary manufacturers are setting up production in Cameroon, Ghana and several other countries. China has launched mega Free Trade Zones from Djibouti to Ghana.

With the European economy is disarray more investors are finding their way to Africa.

Think African first

To do business here you need to have a complete change of mind set, think African first, adapt, compromise, keep your eyes and ears open, build relationships with local partners and government officials.

There are a lot of misconceptions on what it takes to succeed in Africa. Surely it is challenging, a struggle to navigate. The struggle is real, but so are the rewards to those who come with an open mind, to adapt and to learn, exercise patience and build trust with local partners.

You may not succeed on your first visit, or second, or third even, but you’ll definitely succeed with patience. To succeed work the market hard.

It’s frustrating initially to understand what works, what not. The first rule to operating in this continent is to learn to take things easy, because how business is done here is far different from the West or the East, the pace at which it’s done is so slow and do not expect punctuality. Expect “I’ll be there in 10 or 15 mins” to be a 1 or 2 hour or more delay if you’re lucky. This is a sharp contrast from the Russians who worked at a fast pace or anywhere in the West or the East. In Africa you work on African time, not Swiss precision time.

Frustrations are part of the experience, over time you learn to accept it, laugh at it. You learn to treat it as a challenge and not a problem, whilst constantly finding solutions.

It is one continent that will always keep you on your toes as border closures are common, import duties can suddenly spike overnight, policies can change etc. It is thus important to have a representative on the ground in priority markets to keep you abreast with the local issues as it unfolds daily, not weekly, not monthly.

Investors must have a long term perspective when doing business in Africa, keeping in mind that top line growth will be strong, but bottom line returns may take years to materialize.

I often hear people say Africa is dangerous, but I say it depends on your definition of danger. Russia in the early 1990’s was dangerous but everything is easy when you learn to adapt, Don’t believe everything you see or hear on CNN. See Africa through my eyes, hear my words, it’s a different Africa from what CNN portrays.

My experiences in Russia armed me with the tools to succeed in Africa. The markets may be different, yet navigating them has been a familiar experience.

Shaun Jayaratnam has a wide-ranging experience of successful sales and business development management specialising in the strengthening of industry and the establishment of operations throughout Africa, Russia, CIS, East Europe, Middle East, and Asia. He can be contacted on shaun_777@yahoo.com

Develop me :Tapiwa Gomo

To escape poverty and to become a developed society are not natural occurences. They are about learning better ways of thinking and behaving and then committing all energy towards achieving them. Having the right-sounding ideas and policies is the beginning and getting them effectively implemented is the major part of the strategy. The ultimate goal of all these is to make home a comfortable place.

Bad as it was, there are two critical lessons that can be drawn from colonialism. The first lesson is that when you trigger an effective economic growth strategy, you need a good supply of resources to sustain it. In doing so, you must never abuse your own brother or sister, but instead ensure that they are the first people to benefit from economic growth.

This is why European countries sent their deployees in their various professions to establish supply chains of raw materials and human resources in their African colonies to keep their economies growing.

Imagine a government that recognises that its people need to benefit from the best of its economic growth without doing hard labour and the same government acquires slave labour from elsewhere.

The second lesson is the importance of establishing wealth creation institutions and systems in their colonies, which were designed to generate income and profits which were sent back to their home countries. In most African countries, these were in the form of banks, farms and sometimes industries that continued to provide both cash and resources to European countries.

In French colonies, these included taxing the post-independent governments guised as protecting their economies while remitting billions of dollars into the French economy. It is all about home.

If those in government do not invest home, they should not expect development. It is as simple as that.

What is most critical in these two lessons is the importance of home. Everything European countries did during and after colonialisation in Africa and elsewhere was about ensuring that their home countries have stronger economies, a good supply of financial and material resources and maintained a strong hold on weaker countries to maintain the supply lines.

They also understood the very basic principles such as that home is only a better place when you invest in making it so; that home is not only a source of pride, but political power and opportunities; and everything they do is about home and making it better. No one can blame them for that because it is what sustains power, dominance and economic opportunities.

Why is this discussion important now? There has been several reports and discussions in the media recently. One is about the resurgence of the ‘Queen Bee’ stories and his relationship with an external investor, who together have allegedly been controlling and siphoning national resources for their own external benefits. Since the Queen Bee story broke in 2018, it has been littered with greedy, theft, impunity, misplaced interests and a deplorable level of stupidity where local hands are used to giveaway national resources to an external hand depriving the latter’s country of the needed resources for growth.

The second story is about the ruling party’s national youth league leadership coming out to challenge their national leadership over how corruption has destroyed their country.

And again, in their list of allegations, they also point out how corruption is bleeding the country, a scenario which suggests that those who control the political power have a serious lack of love for their country. It is not just that. It also means that they have been contributing to the economic growth of those countries where they are keeping their plundered resources.

When will our politicians love their country? This is what differentiates corruption in Zimbabwe and in other African countries. While corruption is bad in whatever form, in some African countries, politicians steal and invest in their countries, while in Zimbabwe they steal to save the money abroad.

Their justification for that behaviour is plain simple and stupid. Those in the ruling party argue that they know that they are no longer wanted by the people so they loot and make savings before their time is up. Those outside the ruling party claim that they cannot trust the system because of its historical tendencies to pounce of people’s savings.

It reminds me of a strange neighbour in the village who, together with his family, worked hard to acquire his first cow. He used all his annual savings to buy a cow, but because he did not trust his environment, he opted to leave the cow under the care of the seller.

In addition to receiving the money from the sale of the cow, the seller continued to enjoy the benefits of the cow such as draught power and the milk, while the villager was happy that he owned a cow and that his cattle were multiplying without realising that, beyond the numbers there was a lot more the seller was continuously benefiting from a cow he sold.

Or put differently, the villager did not realise how much economic value he was losing by not bringing his cow home and making the environment conducive for his multiplying cattle.

Tapiwa Gomo is a development consultant based in Pretoria, South Africa. He writes here in his personal capacity.

guest column:guest column

Since climate change is not only the problem of today but the future as well, judging by its long term impacts and continuous nature, sufficient knowledge and skills are required to keep abreast with its complex nature. The role of equality in education should not be undermined, especially considering inherent knowledge and information gaps existing between the global North and South.

The skills and widening resource disparities between the two global axis have a strong bearing on the future generations of the global South.

While in terms of knowledge and skills, the global South is catching up, it is still lagging behind in terms of the resource and capacity base. Lack of sufficient resources, both material and financial, common in the global South, place the young people in difficult enabling environment to confront and interrogate the effects of the fast changing climate.

The inequalities between the industrialised and technologically resourced North and the under resourced South determine how climate change impacts can be tackled in the great divide.

While in the global South, there is renewed keen interest and enthusiasm to tackle climate change head-on, the quality of funding and general lack of resources and motivation, continue to sideline will-focused and research savvy young people.

Climate research, which is supposed to bring innovations and the new impetus in dealing with the fast changing nature of the environment is incapacitated. While the knowledge and strong will is there among the budding and upcoming bright minds in research in the South, they lack enough support compared to their well-resourced counterparts in the North.

Due to the inherent inequalities between technologically sound North and the under resourced South, it appears as if the South cannot do anything without the approval of the North. As a result, the research initiatives and even climate change action strategies become prescriptive rather than home grown, heritage-based and diagnostic.

Life-styles which have a strong bearing on dealing with a climate change issues promote those in the North with wide range of choices. These choices are in the form of simple and complex multimedia technologies, up to date equipment to study weather patterns, monitor the environment, efficient and supportive private sector, wide consumer bases, as well as skilled human capital base sourced from different corners of the globe.

In this regard, it becomes difficult for the upcoming researchers in the developing countries to transform their lived experiences into meaningful or patent research due to lack of needs and necessities, designed to place them at the heart of sustainable development.

When educating young people about climate change impacts, the differences between the global North and South should not be ignored, they are there and they are real, not imagined. Knowledge platforms for dealing with information skills, internet and technological literacies are different and not equal. Although these disparities do not make those in the global North wiser and intelligent, they situate them at an advantage compared to their counterparts in the global South.

While those in developing countries will continue to keep their milestone ideas to themselves, without publishing them until they are overtaken by events, those in developed countries will make their ideas published and known or even steal ideas from their counterparts in the developing countries.

While issues of human influence on climate change acceleration can be understood in both contexts (North and South), they can be measured accurately in the North, due to the availability of sufficient technological bases and complex research hubs, necessary to uncover lifestyles and literacy skills relating to climate change.

Issues of population growth and their influence on climate change have also not been handled sufficiently well in the South. Population density contributes to stiff competition to fast dwindling natural resources including the sharing of the scarce financial and material resources which may be available, further widening inequality gaps.

The overall participation in climate change debates are accelerating in the North while in the South they need to be funded in order to talk about and educate people about what is happening in their own environments.

These trends will obviously favour the North, promote their interests and pursue their own hidden agendas including environmental colonialism which further widens global inequalities.

The issues of sustainability and equality in lifestyles are well handled in the well-resourced North, with unlimited choices for their citizens, while it is difficult to deal with sustainability issues in the under-resourced South. Lifestyles should be taken seriously when addressing issues to do with inequalities and even when designing information on climate change education materials. Life styles help nations, planners and policy makers to put problems in context so that they are solved strategically.

The availability of goods and services which have a strong bearing in shaping lifestyles and human behaviour should be seriously taken into consideration by the South as it is detrimental to climate change growth due to having many wants rather than needs. While there is individual awareness of climate change issues in developing countries, these may not lead to wholesale change in behaviour if the efforts are not aimed at eradicating inequalities.

Above all, young people in the South still need to have sufficient trust in their information sources and providers, institutional support, knowledge and beliefs in the overall pro-environmental educational campaigns in order to translate climate awareness into climate action.

While adults’ lifestyles are sometimes difficult to change, it is only the young who can be flexible enough to change their lifestyles.

OLD Mutual Zimbabwe group chief executive, Jonas Mushosho has retired from the conglomerate after reaching the retirement age.
Mushosho served as CEO for over seven years.

NewsDay Business reporter Tatira Zwinoira (ND) talked to Mushosho (JM) at his farewell reception last week on his reflections as well as what comes next for him.

ND: You have now retired from Old Mutual, I guess the question would then be what’s next for you?

JM: Before I answer what is next for me, I first of all want to express my gratitude to Old Mutual for 30 years of an unbelievably good career, an enjoyable career. Old Mutual has been very good to me. Old Mutual is an important institution in the fabric of Zimbabwe as one of those icons and one of those torch bearers that will build and shape the future of the nation. And therefore, being associated with Old Mutual I will continue to carry the Old Mutual values and its ambitions that it carries in the country.

But I am leaving Old Mutual on retirement a happy and satisfied member of the family.

Obviously, when reaching retirement, one has to take some time to rest a bit and spend time doing some of things that I have not been able to do, particularly, in the past three years because of extensive travel. As you are aware, I was the Group CEO for Old Mutual Zimbabwe which is in itself a very large financial services group, a very complex business. And I was also MD for the rest of Africa, that is, all Old Mutual businesses in Africa, outside South Africa, 12 countries, so there was a lot of travel.

In fact, I travelled every single week, but that job has been very enjoyable; my most enjoyable job in my working career. Waking every morning having to think of 12 different challenges coming from 12 different countries, five different lines of businesses.

So, I need now time to rest and have time to do some of the things I have not been able to do, but within a short time.

This is not retirement, but it is retirement from Old Mutual…so one just merely changes career. I think the knowledge, experience and work I have done in Zimbabwe and outside will count a lot in the next phase of my career and I will let friends, colleagues, and those who have an interest know exactly the next stages not far from now.

ND: Very diplomatic
JM: Yes. I also need to spend time on things that are very dear to me. I am very much involved in church work which sadly I have not done a lot of in the past three years. So, I think I have a lot more to contribute to the church particularly in my work, preaching and teaching at the bible school.

ND: You mentioned the networks you built, not just in Zimbabwe, but outside as well. Do you feel your next path might take you outside the country or will you remain in Zimbabwe?

JM: I would like to remain based in Zimbabwe, but working across the continent. I believe that Zimbabwe is my home base and I have what I must contribute to this country, but certainly I just think that the next stage of my career is pan-African

ND: Now, when one retires they think of the ups and downs of your career. Do you think you left any areas that you could have done more during your tenure at Old Mutual?

JM: Ah, there are lots. There are lots of things we have not been able to achieve. I spoke in my farewell speech about unfinished works… every leader will have unfinished works. Some things that they did not get to finish and some things they were not able to accomplish so I do have lots of things.

ND: Which one immediately comes to mind? Or should I say which one would you say gets you to think ‘I wish I had finished that one?’

JM: I think the one that bothers me most is the agenda around young people.

We started the youth fund with the hope of making a significant contribution to create employment and business opportunities for young people. And I have often said many times, 70% of our people are young under the age of 35. We are producing these by the droves out of universities and colleges, but they are not finding employment, and this cannot be right.

Some of us when we left university, we were walking straight into jobs, but we have bright kids who have a right to play a part in the economic activity of their country and there are no opportunities. And we can’t fool ourselves to think that the young people are going to be content to stand on the side lines and be excluded from the economic activity of this country. So, we have not been able to make progress, but we have started doing work to support young people.

We have an innovation hub that Lillian (Lillian Mbayiwa, Head of Group Marketing and Innovation) is leading that will support young people.

I would have been happier if we had done a lot more than we did.

ND: You are retiring at a time the economy is at a crossroads. As a company that has so much vested interests all over the economy, what is your take?

JM: Every economic crisis, no matter how long or deep, will eventually come to an end. At Old Mutual and in my own life we believe that this economic crisis will come to an end.

What is more important are the kind of things we are doing now to prepare for the future and I think this is where Old Mutual plays a significant role because of Old Mutual’s strong base and proud history of being resilient.

Our company has been here since 1896, officially opening an office in 1902. And this company has survived two world wars, several droughts, famines, Unilateral Declaration of Independence by Ian Smith followed by United Nations sanctions, a protracted liberation struggle, then we had hyperinflation and many other difficulties. But Old Mutual has remained committed to contributing to economic activity.

More than ever before, you need strong institutions to remain strong all the times and to be ploughing and sowing into the future, so this is the role Old Mutual should be playing during these difficult times. To be a leading institution that shows strength and commitment to this country.

ND: What advice would you give your successor?

JM: These is not much that I would give to him… The bulk of his agenda is not going to be a thing that he inherits. We bring in new people so that they can bring fresh ideas and run their own race. Sam (Matsekete, the new Old Mutual Zimbabwe group chief executive officer) has been appointed because he is a capable leader and we expect him to run his race the best way he knows how and it can’t be for me to start telling him what he should start doing.

We just want him to be himself and to have the space to run Old Mutual during his time and tenure in a way that at the end of his tenure he leaves it in a better space than he found it.
ND: How would you describe your tenure as CEO?

JM: An enjoyable journey. I think what I have enjoyed most is working with people both inside and outside Old Mutual to try to do very good things that have supported economic activity and the communities. I think I inherited a lot of projects from my predecessor and I am happy we were able to execute and finish those projects.

We started other things, with the exco (executive) team, that we were able to finish and complete.

There is also some unfinished business that goes into the future. Old Mutual is not a one man place; it is an institution that builds and thrives on teamwork, so I don’t want to focus on what I have accomplished, but on what Old Mutual has accomplished.

ND: Old Mutual worked closely with government over the years in some of the projects you did. Do you think government could have done more, would you like to see that in the future?

JM: Old Mutual, as the largest financial services group, believes that its role in the economy is to support economic revival. And the second point is in doing activities that support economic activity we need several partners, with government being one of them, but there are others.

We go out of our way to work with government and other like-minded people who support the communities. We focus less on “government should have us”. What we expect from government is government must focus on providing an enabling environment so that the private sector can do what we do.

In an environment like this, there are things we would wish government to do, but others that
we feel government could have done faster.

BY MTHANDAZO NYONI

TREGER Plastics, a division of Treger Products (Pvt) Ltd, is currently operating at 30% of capacity due to subdued demand, general manager Craig Lowe, has said.

Lowe told government officials led by Industry and Commerce deputy minister Raj Modi during a company tour last week that Treger Plastics had started feeling the pinch due to the prevailing harsh economic conditions.

“When I came here in 2013, Zimbabwe was going through a boom stage . . . but, unfortunately, the packaging industry was dominated by imports, mainly from South Africa and from the east.

We quickly realised that there is no way you could just offer a substantive product, you had to compete with what they (consumers) were used to getting from mainly South Africa…,” Lowe said.

“So we embarked on a R100 million recapitalisation programme and that really hasn’t stopped. When I first got here we were doing about 120 tonnes a month with old equipment and we then recapitalised and quickly ramped up in 2014 to about 400 tonnes in poly and 200 tonnes on the packaging.”

At the turn of the millennium, Lowe said they could produce about 500 tonnes a month with other problems, but now due to economic volatility, they were operating at 30% of capacity.

“That continued happily until about 2017 when we started to feel the dissipation in the market. As a result, volumes started to drop. We could probably be doing 150 tonnes in poly and 100 tonnes on packaging as opposed to 400 and 200 tonnes. So again, that’s speaks to your 30% (capacity) and that has been holding firmly to that level for about six months,” he said.

“When we go around and talk to customers, it’s just that the demand is not there as it used to be. It’s not that we are suffering from imports. Customers want to buy local,” Lowe said.

Treger Plastics in 2016 invested in a plastic recycling plant at a cost of
US$1 million, a first of its kind in Bulawayo.

The recycling plant, which is located in Thorngrove, recycles plastic which the company then uses as raw material in the plastic modelling department.

Lowe said they, however, remain bullish about continuing investing in Zimbabwe.

“We continue to invest, but more in local content where we can use local material, local monies …,” he said.

The company currently employs about 280 people.

Treger Products is part of the privately-owned Treger Group of companies and has been operating in Zimbabwe since 1911.

It has five manufacturing divisions — Monarch Steel, Kango Products, Treger Plastics, Zimbabwe Grain Bag and Treger Harare.

BY MTHANDAZO NYONI

Listed wines and spirits maker, African Distillers (Afdis), aims to remain profitable and deliver value to all shareholders in the short, medium and long term, despite the harsh economic environment obtaining in the country.

Afdis managing director Cecil Gombera told NewsDay Business that even though things were tough in the country, they will continue to make profit.

“We remain optimistic that we will be able to continue to supply the market with most of our brands. There will always be a market for quality alcoholic beverages such as ours and, therefore, we will endeavour to maintain presence in all our product categories,” Gombera said.

“We aim to remain profitable and deliver value to all shareholders in the short, medium and long term. Our new product development efforts will always remain active as we respond to market needs. Product innovation will play a key role as we seek to enhance our market share,” he said.

On 2019, Gombera added: “Volumes have declined as consumer real disposable incomes remained under immense pressure. Access to foreign currency remains a major constraint.”

Afdis recorded a volume drop of 10% for the third quarter and nine months to December 31, 2019.

The demand for ciders and white spirits, however, remained strong.

Zimbabwe’s trading environment is characterised by high inflation and an unstable exchange rate with limited availability of foreign currency on the formal market. Consumer spending is constrained by low disposable incomes as salary and wage adjustments continue to lag the increases in prices of goods and services.