C J Matembo, Senior Information Officer, SIRDC

The setting was the Harare Exhibition Park and the event was the inaugural Import Substitution and Value Addition (IS-VA) Expo held from 9 to 16 November 2006. The National Economic Development Priority Programme’s task force on IS-VA organized and coordinated this expo under the aegis of the Ministry of Industry and International Trade.

The expo, which was officially launched by Vice President Joseph Msika, was designed for Zimbabwean companies to showcase their locally produced value added products that have the potential to substitute their imported equivalent products. The expo was part of the efforts by the taskforce to re-orient industry and consumption patterns by ensuring local production of goods and services currently being imported, thereby saving the much needed foreign currency. Vice President Joice Mujuru also toured the exhibition.

SIRDC and its subsidiary, SIRTECH Investments, grabbed this marketing opportunity and exhibited their impressive range of products at the expo. Import substitution and value addition are areas of major focus for SIRDC.

The Reserve bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor, Dr Gideon Gono, who was part of Vice President Mujuru’s entourage that toured the expo, was so pleased by the quality and level of displays that he pledged to disburse part of the Z$19 billion budgeted for boosting productivity in small to medium scale enterprises.

Ministry of Industry and International Trade and RBZ officials returned on the last day of the expo to complete the necessary formalities so that companies participating at the expo could start accessing the funds pledged by the RBZ Governor.

It is envisaged that the awareness of locally produced value added products created by this expo will go a long way in the country’s efforts to re-orient consumers’ demand for imported finished goods in preference for similar locally produced products. The promotion of local products and the subsequent shift in consumer preferences will definitely result in downstream benefits to the economy in terms of employment creation, foreign currency savings and generation as well as improved capacity utilization of manufacturing plants.