by Bruce Zvandasara

Government’s efforts to turn around the economy into a middle income economy by 2030 is starting to bear fruits as Masters Diapers Zimbabwe has set up a $2 million factory in Bulawayo which will produce 150 000 diapers per day.

Bulawayo, which used to be the hub of industry in Zimbabwe, was hit hard by de-industrialisation in the past two decades.  However, a ray of hope has shined the city following the coming in of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s new dispensation whose thrust is to open the country for business.

 Masters Diapers is expected to create scores of downstream jobs.

Speaking during a tour of the plant, the company’s Managing Director, Mr Nigam Desai told Industry and Commerce Deputy Minister Honourable Raj Modi that the manufacturing concern has been a distributor of diapers for the past six years.

“The product (diapers) at the moment is also coming through South Africa into the informal sector, so we are hoping to stop that by setting up a manufacturing plant for import substitution so that we can create employment, provide the product locally and then of course thereafter we can export,” Mr Desai said.

Mr Desai said Bulawayo was an investment destination of choice, which had been neglected. He said Government’s call to revive Bulawayo must be heeded by all.

“We are here and machines have come and we are setting up the plant,” he said.

The company management has asked its South African investors to set up a manufacturing plant in Bulawayo so as to evade the foreign currency shortages which are affecting business a lot in the Country.

Recently, President Mnangagwa officiated in the opening of a $2 million state-of-the-art tomato processing plant for production of tomato purée in Bulawayo. The development has revived the industry sector in the city.

During the campaign period, President Mnangagwa visited the Bulawayo community where he promised the revival and awakening of the Industry sector in Bulawayo.

Masters Diapers Zimbabwe uses different types of raw materials that include glue, pulp and tape, which are imported from countries such as China, India and the United States of America