Astro Mobile pines for govt support

ASTRO Mobile (Astro) says it has shelved plans to set up a mobile phone manufacturing plant in the country due to lack of government support.
The company, which was established in 2011, has been relying on toll manufacturing arrangements with Chinese firms.
Munyaradzi Gwatidzo, Astro’s chief executive, said the company has been sitting on plans and equipment to set up a local manufacturing plant for over two years now.
“We have been facing challenges in terms of lack of support from the government, they promised to give us land which never came,” he told The Financial Gazette on the sidelines of a Manicaland Smartcities Summit in Mutare last week.
“Government seems to not have a priority for manufacturing plants, especially for local businesses. Their attention is focused on people that promise to come and invest but never do so, but the people that have already invested, it is hard for them to get support from the government,” he said.
Gwatidzo said after failing to secure land, Astro is now “trying to set up smart partnerships” with like-minded firms in the country.
“We have engaged TelOne because they have got factory space which they are not using. We would like to lease, rent and or eventually develop a private partnership,” he said, adding that discussions with the fixed telecommunications services operator have been going on for more than three months now.
The company, along with the rest of the economy, has been experiencing challenges on account of the current foreign currency shortages.
This comes as the country has persistently run trade deficits since its dollarisation in 2009. This has plunged the economy into an intensifying foreign currency shortage that is threatening the viability of businesses.
Gwatidzo noted that Astro, which imports most of “wares into the country as finished products” has been severely affected by the foreign currency shortages and rising parallel market rates.
“It means the prices are exorbitant, but obviously as a business we have to look at how we can change strategically and start bringing in low cost products so that we remain competitive,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Southern and Eastern African Trade and Information Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) has urged government to implement supportive policies to local and small scale businesses.
SEATINI says the focus of President Emerson Mnangagwa’s administration seems to exclude local businesses.
“According to the Davos announcement, ‘Zimbabwe is open for business’, but there is an unwritten caveat, that the business referred to here is largely formal and external business,” Masimba Manyanya, a senior policy analyst at SEATINI said while making a presentation at a workshop organised by the research trust recently.
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