THE Indigenous Business Development Centre says it has unearthed a shocking scam by foreigners who are using stolen business proposals from Zimbabweans to start ventures in other countries by creating the impression that the investment proposals are their ideas. In an interview with The Patriot on the sidelines of the Second Comesa-EAC-SADC Tripartite Summit in Johannesburg last week, IBDC president Joshua Marufu said they had carried out studies into the matter which produced the shocking results. He said they had forwarded their findings to Government for action. He, however, said his organisation was currently taking its own interventions which it hoped would result in the country getting rid of such scams in future. Marufu said Zimbabwe may have been prejudiced of potential investment inflows because of the scam that is now benefiting other countries. “It is true that we have unearthed a scam in which some people who are coming to this country masquerading as investors are on the contrary criminals who are stealing ideas from our people and using them in other countries as their ideas and we have submitted our recommendations to Government for action but we are also coming up with our own programmes to deal with the scandal,” said Marufu. “What these people do is that they come and ask our people to present to them detailed business and they take with them the proposals asking for more time to go through them, but they take them elsewhere and establish ventures there. “This practice must stop and we have held talks with Government where we raised the issue and Government promised us that they will be doing thorough background investigation of the so-called investors.” He revealed that his organisation was now working with smallscale entrepreneurs to help them start their own businesses. “The indigenisation programme is a broad-based initiative as Minister Kasukuwere has consistently said and we are currently working with people from all backgrounds to take the drive right to their doorsteps so that they benefit as well,” he said. “You will realise that most countries that have developed their economies have done so through small-scale entrepreneurs and this is exactly what we intend to do in Zimbabwe.”