Zimbabwe is on the cusp of a fourth industrial revolution boost following a global leading training institution's announcement that it is finalising setting up a local campus in Harare.
G-Tec Education will lead the campus set up and the announcement was made yesterday after an Indian business delegation paid a courtesy call on Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga.
Their visit follows huge interest shown by Indian captains of industry, fund managers and entrepreneurs in local opportunities after listening to a compelling pitch by VP Chiwenga at the Africa Conclave on India-Africa Partnership in New Delhi in August.
The visit of the Indian business delegation comes at a time when the Asian economic behemoth and the world's fifth-largest economy is angling to ramp up its investment foothold in the country and Africa as a whole.
India's willingness to invest in technology transfer is informed by the need to bridge the human resources gap identified by the Government-initiated skills gap audit of 2018.
Speaking after the meeting with Government officials, G-Tech Education chairman and managing director Mr Mehroof Manalody said they are planning to open their doors in December.
"I see huge potential for the African market for skills development. Today, most of the skilling programmes come out of technology," said Mr Manalody.
"We specialise in artificial intelligence, robotics, data science and data visualisation. We have over 400 skills development courses and we are going to set up a beautiful training centre in Harare very soon.
"We are planning to set up in one month, during the first week of December and you will be having all the latest technology programmes, especially on AI (Artificial Intelligence).
"We specialise in AI and robotics, we create our robots. These are the skilling programmes which all the youngsters are looking at, this is the future," said Mr Manalody.
Another Indian firm, Ecozen, which specialises in cold chain, said they are in the country seeking local partnerships.
Ecozen head of international business Mr Karthik Govindarajan said they manufacture solar-powered cold rooms for the post-harvest storage of crops, meat products and fisheries.
"I am here to find local partners so that we can work with Zimbabwe to ensure food security and to ensure technology transfer, job creation and skills development," said Mr Govindarajan. Head of the visiting Indian business delegation Rahul Mutha said their delegation representing 14 Indian entities is committed to do business in Zimbabwe.
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"We are very happy to be here and this is one of the warmest welcomes we have received as a delegation and we will go back as goodwill ambassadors of Zimbabwe.
"We commit that we are going to come forward with innovative solutions and investments in these areas and see to it that there are ample opportunities for people of Zimbabwe even in terms of better infrastructure, better healthcare among others," said Mr Mutha.
Indian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Bramha Kumar said they are looking forward to new opportunities and they are very upbeat about opportunities for growth in Africa as a whole.
"Before coming to Zimbabwe they were in Malawi. After Zimbabwe, they will be going to Rwanda, African people are very important from an Indian foreign policy perspective and in this case our attention and focus is on Zimbabwe," said Ambassador Kumar.
Minister of Industry and Commerce Mangaliso Ndlovu said most of the investment proposals by the Indians dovetail with Government priorities.
