MARTIN MAWAYA
RWANDA-Real estate developer and construction expert Dr Tinashe Manzungu has urged Africans to utilize the available natural resources and human capital to grow and develop the continent.
Manzungu said there was a need to maintain and manage the existing old and current infrastructure such as roads, dams and manufacturing plants as they are key enablers in economic development.
Dr Manzungu who is a board member of the Africa Business Council and a director of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa Business Council said this on a presentation dubbed “Unlocking Africa’s prosperity through Investment in real estate and construction” at the fourth edition of the Jamie Pajoel International (JPI) Annual Leadership Conference in Rwanda recently.
JPI is an Organisation under the Governments of Nigeria and Canada that serves as a platform for human capital development.
The four-day Annual Leadership Conference was running under the theme ‘Build to Last’ focused on sustainable organisational leadership, simplifying processes, understanding leadership buy-in, leading with emotional intelligence, identifying underlying problems in business and addressing ineffective leadership practices.
In his presentation at the conference, Dr Manzungu called on African business people to partner their governments on economic development initiatives.
“There is a need for businesspeople on this continent to support their Governments in infrastructure development, which is an economic development enabler so that Africans have a prosperous continent they want.
“We know that some countries on the continent were colonized and when our erstwhile colonizers left, some poured concrete in mining shafts, some left some form of vandalism on plants and equipment.
“We have seen companies failing to get spare parts for plants and equipment they were getting and now we find some million dollar plants just lying idle, they are white elephants but we need to change that perspective and start looking inside to solve our challenges and develop our continent,” he said.
He said current statistics show a big gap in terms of infrastructure development in some sectors of the economy in Africa, adding that the cost of doing business in Africa is expensive as compared to trading with outside African countries.
“Statistics show that one in five people in Africa has electricity, 66% have access to water, 4% of African land is under irrigation, and these statistics are a clear indication of a gap that exists in infrastructure development in all these sectors like agriculture so that we have the food that we want.
“More than 60% lack basic infrastructure and according to data, Africa has only 25 percent of roads that are tarred and the rest are dusty unserviced roads.
“Do your mathematics well, you will see it’s actually affordable to trade with a country outside Africa in terms of logistics compared to a fellow African country. Africa needs US$72 billion yearly consecutively to achieve its 2030 infrastructural development obligation.
“Funding for projects was a barrier to African development, hence the need for business community to intervene and compliment our governments,” added Dr Manzungu.
Dr Manzungu is the co-founder of Zimbuild, a real estate business that has diversified to TM Group, an investment portfolio with interest in insurance and financial services.
He is the senior vice-president of the Zimbabwe Building Contractors Association and past president of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce.
Recently, Dr Manzungu scooped the African Achievers Award under the Excellence in Leadership and Global Corporate Enterprise in the United Kingdom.
He has also been honored with a Doctorate in Business Administration from California University recently.
JPI provides knowledge-sharing and global experiences that help individuals develop leadership competencies, improve performance, and drive strategies to promote organizational growth and profitability.
Its international leadership programmes provide a forum for C-Suite executives, directors, business owners, government officials, captains of industries, senior executives, HR professionals, management consultants, entrepreneurs, senior and middle level managers around the world to come together and explore universal leadership and business challenges and solutions, helping them lead their organisations in today’s complex and global marketplace.
The organization had also facilitated international leadership programmes in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa.
