Moti Group to double Zim investment
SOUTH Africa’s Moti Group, is preparing to double its investments in Zimbabwe to $500 million after the removal of Mr Robert Mugabe as President last November saw Government adopt a more open approach to foreign companies.
President Mnangagwa (75) who replaced Mr Mugabe, has declared that “Zimbabwe is open for business” and has said he will ease the country’s local ownership rules and re-engage lenders such as the International Monetary Fund.
He is faced with an economy that has halved in size since 2000, a cash crisis that limits withdrawals from banks and an inability to pay Government workers on time.
In partnership with Sakunda Holdings, a Zimbabwean company whose head is Mr Kudakwashe Tagwirei, Johannesburg-based Moti plans to spend $250 million over the next four years in projects ranging from chrome-ore mining to fertiliser, diamond polishing and pharmaceuticals.
The company wants to invest before elections scheduled for later this year after which more investors may come into the country and cause asset prices to rise, Zunaid Moti, the company’s 43-year-old chairman said in an interview. The plans would make Moti one of the biggest investors in the country.
“This is yesterday, that’s tomorrow,” Moti said, as he smoked a cigar in his Johannesburg office and compared mining potential in his home base of South Africa to that of Zimbabwe. “It’s virgin.”
Moti Group has also been approached by private-equity firm Carlyle Group to look at investment opportunities in the southern African country, he said. Carlyle declined to comment. Moti Group has recently taken on British politician Peter Hain as an advisor to connect the company to “the right people in Europe, and more specifically in the UK when needed,” said Moti, who is considering selling as much as 25 percent of his business to selected investors at a later stage.
“We invest our own money in our projects, and once we have proven these project we could consider monetising some of it,” the chairman said.
Moti said he met President Mnangagwa some years ago and is partnering with the country’s Government and local businesses to roll out projects in agriculture, mining, diamond-polishing and pharmaceuticals.
“Luckily Emmerson came in,” Moti said, adding that there is now more comfort around the safety of assets in Zimbabwe, with insurance companies reducing their fees as fears over expropriation ease. It also helped smooth things for the Moti Group, which had run into trouble with Mugabe’s administration over the ownership of a chrome project, after it had already spent $200 million on the operation, he said.
The company is now planning to boost production at its African Chrome Fields Ltd unit through the use of small-scale artisanal miners.
“We will provide them with some additional equipment and safety gear, and pick up the is situated along the Bul awayo- Pl umt r e e Road, just after Bellevue shopping centre.
Major construction works for the double story facility have been completed including a perimeter wall, signage, conference centre, restaurant, parking and garden facilities.
The facility has already been licensed by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA).
Water, sewer and electricity infrastructure has also been installed while some rooms have been fitted with new furniture.
Derby Hotel finance director, Mr Obert Masara, said the new facility opened up some of its finished rooms to business while construction works are being finalised on remaining portions. He said the hotel will be a game changer in the tourism sector as it will create employment for locals. product with our trucks, where we will pay them cash,” Moti said. His company has been involved for three years in the mine.
African Chrome Fields currently mines about 30 000 metric tonnes of chrome ore a month, which it sends to its smelter in South Africa. It plans to increase that to 65 000 tonnes by October, and, if its artisanal miner programme works, could boost that to 140 000 tonnes, said Moti, dressed in black in his office near South Africa’s financial centre of Sandton.
The company has also partnered the Government in the “Command Agriculture” programme championed by President Mnangagwa in his former role as Vice President. Together with Sakunda, it plans to ramp up fertiliser production and may even export to South Africa.
Other plans include a diamond-polishing facility in the capital Harare and a plant to start manufacturing generic drugs to supply the country with cheaper medication, he said. — Bloomberg
“We are looking to employ about 40 people directly and even more downstream. We are focusing on buying local in terms of our requirements and hope we can be able to grow other businesses besides ourselves,” said Mr Masara.
He could not immediately disclose how much was invested into the project, which started in 2015. The opening of the new hotel comes a few weeks before the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) next month.
“The hotel is already open for business as all licensing has been completed. Right now we are doing finishing touches.
“More than 50 percent of the rooms are in operation so we are working on finishing up what’s left. In a week’s time we will be done, we are left with painting and furnishing,” he said. Mr Masara would not disclose the ownership of the new facility.
The hotel offers outdoor and double conference facilities with capacity to hold over 500 people, bar and restaurant.
The country’s hospitality is poised for growth with higher expectations of increased tourist arrivals. Zimbabwe has set a target of at least 2.8 million foreign tourist arrivals by December compared to about 2.4 million in 2017.
The ZTA is on record as saying the new political dispensation under President Emmerson Mnangagwa has brought renewed vigour through enhanced ease of doing business, which will benefit the tourism sector especially. — @PrinceNkosy102