MUTAPA Investment Fund (MIF) is wasting no time in pursuing its mission of safeguarding national assets and bolstering the country’s economy.
During the Fund’s inaugural meeting, chief executive John Mangudya underscored the critical importance of prioritising national interests, making it clear that MIF is guided by core values of transparency, accountability, excellence, commitment, and integrity.
Outgoing Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, John Mangudya
“We are Zimbabwe’s sovereign wealth fund, focused on creating value and wealth for the greater good of the nation,” Mangudya emphasised.
MIF’s vision is bold: to establish itself as a sustainable, profitable entity that consistently prioritizes national interests while achieving outstanding results.
The Fund aims to serve as a key economic stabilisation tool for Zimbabwe, fostering growth in line with the nation’s “Vision 2030” goals.
Central to this strategy is a commitment to good governance within the companies under its management. By ensuring their profitability, MIF seeks to reinvest in these entities, stimulating a cycle of economic development and stability for all Zimbabweans.
Mangudya stressed, “We need to safeguard national assets and sweat them for the greater good of the Zimbabwean economy.”
The Fund is guided by a seasoned leadership team.
Its board, led by Chipo Mtasa, is bolstered by a team of experienced executives in areas such as investment, administration, legal, risk management, and communications.
Mangudya expressed confidence in the team’s abilities to guide MIF toward success and generate long-term value for Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, the fund is evaluating an investment in Tongaat Hulett (Tongaat) alongside Vision Consortium (Vision), a development that comes as the latter’s spokesperson Rob Bessinger has said a “working arrangement and co-existence with the sovereign wealth fund (SWF) was quite possible based on experiences in other countries”, and the state-controlled behemoth has just snapped up the wealthy Rudland family’s 34 percent stake in Zimre Holdings (Zimre).
“Mutapa is still assessing the transaction, not least because of the importance of the sugar industry in Zimbabwe,” Mangudya told The Financial Gazette recently.
“Mutapa is a strategic investment arm of the government (and) it is in this context that it was approached by Vision to consider (investing) in Tongaat,” he said in an exclusive interview Monday.
Analysts say the fund has potential to revive Zimbabwe’s moribund state-owned enterprises if it is managed well.
They say provisions for the establishment of the MIF mark a strategic shift in authorities’ restructuring of parastatals.
“There is real intent… to reform or restructure parastatals because they are not doing well (and) obviously affects the sustainability of the fund,” economist Prosper Chitambara said.
“…you would need the state-owned enterprises to be in the best financial state and that requires some reform. The idea is that whatever surplus the parastatals make goes into this fund and that can then be invested locally or even offshore.”
Another analyst, Lloyd Mlotshwa, believes the fund’s potential will be dependent on the level of government will.
“Conceptually, the cession of parastatals into the MIF is a sound strategy, however, it is too early to tell whether this will catalyse a revival without hearing exactly what the remit of the Fund is,” he said.
“For instance, will the Fund simply be a passive asset manager or will the board and senior management team be empowered to create value by enforcing greater accountability within the enterprises, actively influencing the re-organisation and recapitalisation of potentially high-performing assets towards profitability, building strategic partnerships? Without this level of intent, it is unlikely that we will see the meaningful revival of these enterprises except in already performing assets like POSB.
“Theoretically, if the MIF can turn around its higher potential underlying assets, make tough decisions in technically insolvent enterprises that are no longer viable, dispose of select assets to raise cash, restructure debt where necessary. Then you should over a period of time have a ‘cleaner’ Fund holding cash-positive, dividend-paying companies, which set the stage for expansion into future investments and the establishment of a meaningful SWF.
“However, these steps tend to be very difficult within government contexts where the agenda is not always commercial and especially where the management approach to the Fund is also passive,” Mlotshwa added.
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