By Evans Mushawevato

OUR greatness, as a nation, is imminent.
Our bounty is around the corner and plenty is within our grasp.
We are a country on the brink of all things wonderful.
Some of us have been blessed with the gift of faith.
Our faith does not stem from wishful thinking and neither are we foolhardy.
It is a faith stemmed in what we have seen and in what we have experienced.
Zimbabwe to us is not defined by a moment, by a day, by a month or by a year.
We are the people that raised a spear against the bearers of the Maxim gun.
We clutched the AK47 and fought against bearers of Hawker Hunter FGA9 fighter-bombers, Canberra B2s and T4 light bombers.
And we prevailed because we had faith.
That faith we still possess and everyday it is strengthened.
The mega deals boost it.
And the recent visit by a billionaire of our origin, a son of the soil further strengthens our faith.
The visit by Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote is heartening for many reasons.
He is not just bringing investment, but is a source of inspiration.
Everyone saw, in Dangote, what President Robert Mugabe’s empowerment policy can lead to.
Dangote is no different from Khumalo, Moyo, Museyamwa, Soko who is operating his or her small business.
That is exactly how he started on a small-scale supported by his government.
And today he has grown to become a huge investor investing across the world.
I look at Dangote and I say so can I and so can you.
We have always been given the illusion and impression that business gurus, those with the capacity to invest, the supper rich are from elsewhere and never from the African continent.
And Dangote is reshaping that discourse; he is showing us, his brothers and sisters the way.
He is showing us where hard work can achieve, where it can take us, what it can do for us.
The soft-spoken son of the motherland has just told the world in the clearest of terms that we will not waiting for some alien to shape our own narratives as if we are infirm.
He came not to look, but to make it clear that he was ready to work with his fellow brothers and sisters.
People like Dangote, our own; vindicate our stance, the position taken by President Mugabe to remain steadfast and wait for those that care and are not only interested in making a profit.
Zimbabwe as we have said in the past, will not compromise or mortgage its vast natural resources.
These resources are the bastion of the nation.
And their exploitation must benefit the masses.
I pray and hope that our young through this Nigerian billionaire can see and learn and understand that London, Washington and Paris are not the centre of business.
Zimbabwe has resources that can make the country one of the countries with a lot of millionaires and billionaires per capita.
There is wealth to be made in tourism, mining, agriculture and ICTs.
It can be made, ranked 67 on the list of the richest in the world, Dangote is proof of the possibility.
We are a nation blessed with a leadership that not only brought us political independence, but one that has also protected our resources from plunderers and given us an opportunity to fully benefit from them.
After all, it is a fallacy to talk about freedom that is not backed by economic emancipation.
Just take a look at our neighbours across the Limpopo.