Richard Branson urges world to invest Zimbabwe
September 21 2010 , 6:48:00
Billionaire Richard Branson urged people yesterday to invest in Zimbabwe,
saying the world was wrong to wait instead of helping the politically
volatile, impoverished southern African nation revive itself.
Virgin Unite, the philanthropic arm of Branson’s Virgin Group, has helped
create Enterprise Zimbabwe, a nonprofit group connecting philanthropists and
commercial investors with business and social development opportunities.
Zimbabwe has struggled to attract foreign aid and investment because of
President Robert Mugabe’s policies, which include a plan for local blacks to
acquire 51% shares in foreign-owned firms, including mines and banks.
Talks to improve Zimbabwe’s ties with the European Union have stalled over
slow political reforms in Harare while US President Barack Obama said last
month he was ‘heartbroken’ by Zimbabwe’s decline.
“Zimbabwe is a magnificent country that has had a really rough few years and
either the world can continue to wait and see and not invest … or the
world can help Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and the coalition government
get Zimbabwe back on its feet,” Branson told reporters in an interview.
Zimbabwe struggles
“The idea of Enterprise Zimbabwe is to have a sort of safe haven for people
to invest through,” said Branson, whom Forbes magazine estimates is worth $4
billion.
Zimbabwe’s once-vibrant economy has been shattered by Mugabe’s policies,
particularly the seizure of white-owned farms for the resettlement of
landless blacks. Mugagbe has been in power since the country’s independence
from Britain in 1980.
A unity government by Mugabe and his political rival Tsvangirai appears to
have halted the economy’s decade-long free-fall, but the country is
struggling to restore productivity, feed its people and repair its ruined
infrastructure. Unemployment is estimated at over 90%.
About 85% of Zimbabwe’s 12.5 million people live on less than a $1 a day and
annual per capita income is less than $400. – Reuters
ZANU PF lashes out at British billionaire over investment
By Alex Bell
21 September
ZANU PF has lashed out at attempts by a British billionaire to encourage
foreign investment in Zimbabwe, saying they will not tolerate “backdoor
entry by ‘vultures’ disguised as angels.”
Billionaire Richard Branson, who heads the Virgin business group, has urged
international investment in Zimbabwe, saying on Monday that the world was
wrong to wait, instead of helping the country revive itself.
Virgin Unite, the philanthropic arm of Branson’s Virgin Group, has helped
create Enterprise Zimbabwe, a non-profit group aimed at connecting
philanthropists and commercial investors with different opportunities in
Zimbabwe. Branson said ,that the idea is to provide a ‘safe haven’ for
people to invest through.
“In life, people have got to take risks. If everybody waits on the sidelines
it will be the people who suffer,” said Branson. “The present state of
politics in Zimbabwe is by no means perfect, but it’s a great deal better.”
“Zimbabwe, of all the African countries, it’s got the best chance of getting
back … it just needs a bit of help being kick-started,” he said.
ZANU PF however sees Branson’s intentions as a late attempt to take
advantage of Zimbabwe’s resources. Tendai Midzi, the son of a ZANU PF
chairman, wrote on Tuesday that Branson is attempting to counter “the power
of China. Zimbabwe does not need investments disguised as ‘philanthropic
work’ now,” Midzi wrote “The international community has now realised that
this jewel we call Zimbabwe, having discovered the largest deposit of
diamonds, in now able to lift itself out of the poverty that the West helped
create in the first place.”
Details about how Branson’s investment ‘safe-haven’ will be created have not
been clarified and there are doubts that it can be achieved. Robert Mugabe
has insisted that the controversial business indigenisation programme will
go ahead, which will see foreign companies in the country forced to hand
over 51% of their shares to pre-selected Zimbabweans.
At the same time, the illegal seizures of commercial land have continued,
despite most properties being protected by court orders. Many farms are also
meant to be protected by Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion
Agreements (BIPPA’s) signed between Zimbabwe and other countries. But these
are also being completely ignored, allowing Mugabe’s loyalists to seize as
much land as possible.