ALIKO Dangote, that famous and great Nigerian’s visit to Zimbabwe on Monday was significant in many ways, but principal among them, was that it was confirmation that Harare is ready to do business and take its economy to grander heights.
That endorsement resonated with President Robert Mugabe’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) in which he prepped the people to brace themselves for a huge economic take-off.
That hugely anticipated take-off is upon us if events in the past month are anything to go by.
There was something extraordinary about that visit, a silky touch that brought everything to a standstill with the whole nation’s gaze firmly fixated on Dangote because he is no ordinary businessman or investor.
Dangote is, as they call it these days, a purveyor of and a new definition of capital.
He is Africa’s richest man and his coming to one of the richest countries in the world by way of mineral resources was exactly the stimulant needed to get things going again in Zimbabwe.
Crucially, the visit provided a litmus test for Government’s much maligned ailment of taking long to expedite procedures and processes necessary to make an investment reach its full cycle.
With his vision tallying with that of Zimbabwe, it was not easy to see why his companionship with Harare is a match made in Heaven.
Zimbabwe, as President Mugabe highlighted in his SONA, is on a path of redemption economically and his 10-Point Plan which anchored his address lays bare what needs to be done, which is opening up, especially on the ease of doing business.
There have been concerns in the past that Zimbabwe takes too long to process investment proposals through unnecessary bottlenecks, incompetence and outright corruption.
The historic visit was also a flinchingly and morale-sapping timed reminder to all those who clumsily dismissed President Mugabe’s SONA as ‘mere talk’ that the said take –off is now within touching distance.
It was also swift and sweet dilution to befuddling murmurs of disparagement that accompanied the Zimbabwean leader’s SONA.
If there was any doubt on the capacity of President Mugabe’s Government to turn around this economy, then critics need to look no further than events of the past month. The Chinese were here last month.
And their economic strategic unit, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) gave Harare thumbs up to kick start its economic revival programme.
The Asian economic powerhouse has placed an unlimited cap for Zimbabwe’s development projects with one senior Government official telling The Patriot recently that the package ‘runs into several billion dollars’ worth of capital’.
Less than a week after his well-received SONA, the toddler steps of the huge economic take-off that President Mugabe promised were already visible with Dangote setting foot in Harare with the message that he planned mining and power generation projects in investment-starved Zimbabwe as well as to set up a large cement factory.
In a clear sign that investments have the support and endorsement from the very top, Dangote met with President Robert Mugabe.
“We had a very, very good meeting with the President and I told him that we have already decided to invest in three areas, one is power, second one is cement and third one is coal,” Dangote told journalists after his meeting with President Mugabe at the State House.
Before that, the great man from Nigeria had held a series of meetings with high-ranking government officials Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Mines Minister Walter Chidhakwa, Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Dr Obert Mpofu and Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi.
The Nigerian billionaire said he would spend close to US$400 million on the cement plant, which will produce 1,5 million tonnes of cement a year, making it the biggest in the country and in Africa.
“We are sending our team next week and hopefully if things go well, we would be ready to put the biggest cement plant which is a million and half tones, so we will look into this,” said Dangote.
“We’ve already decided to invest into Zimbabwe.
“That’s why we are here.
“Any country where you see us visiting, it means, yes, we’ve decided to invest.”
While Dangote anticipates the construction of the cement plant could start in the first quarter of 2016, it is now in the hands of Government to process licensing procedures as soon as possible.
“Depending on getting all the documentation, if we get all this, we will start construction by first quarter, we will move very fast, but it all depends on the government,” he said.Dangote said the investment package would create jobs and ‘to help Zimbabwe to develop their own economy’, a thrust that forms the formidable backline of President Mugabe’s 10-Point Plan.
There is more to come for Zimbabweans.
Investors from the Middle-East are ready to bring their billions to oil the Zimbabwe economy.
They will be here in the coming few days not only to explore investment opportunities, but to invest in energy, mining and power generation projects.
The Indians too are waiting in the wings with their billions and technology.Last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi, invited President Mugabe to attend the five-day-long third ‘India-Africa Summit’. 
On Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also invited President Mugabe for a State visit in October.
Well placed sources in Government have told The Patriot that just like the Chinese, the Japanese are ready to unveil a massive investment package covering all sectors of the economy.
And somewhere in some corner, the British and the Americans, themselves authors of the current economic problems bedevilling Zimbabwe are said to be ‘looking’ at ways of ‘normalising’ relations with Harare because if the information we have is anything to go by, ‘they can’t afford to lose ground to these Chinese’.
The British Ambassador to Zimbabwe Catriona Laing met Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko on Wednesday and requested for a meeting with President Mugabe.
As the morning after Dangote’s visit brought the beautiful Zimbabwe summer sun, it was not lost on us unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy must never derail this opportunity.