Staff reporter
In a development which shows that Zimbabwe is a safe investment destination, Lucas Robinson, husband to the British ambassador to Zimbabwe, Melanie, has shown interest to invest in the Zimbabwean tourism sector.
A contact from the Zimbabwe Investment Development Authority (ZIDA), disclosed that a locally incorporated company, Treehouse Project Private Limited, which is wholly owned by Robinson, has applied for investment licence in Zimbabwe.
“Mr Robinson intends to invest in the tourism sector where he intends to build and operate a six roomed lodge that will be called The Tree House Chimanimani. This tree house will be situated in Tilbury Forestry Estate on the outskirts of Chimanimani National Park.
“The lodge will take the form of tree house cabins with four on the ground level and two rooms will be up ‘on the trees,’” said contact who preferred anonymity.
Contact further revealed that the total investment equity will amount to US$300 000.
“Its initial total equity of the investment will total US$300 000, of this US$100 000 will come from the parent company in the UK called the Treehouse company, US$200 000 will be a loan advancement from a Zimbabwean registered company called Rift Valley,” said the contact.
According to contact, Robinson also intends to contribute towards the post-Idai recovery efforts and also to create positive environmental changes, while creating employment opportunities for residents in that area.
The re-engagement policy is paying off with investors flocking to the country despite, the media played a big role in soiling the image of the country, a practice that scared away potential investors. However, most of the foreign visitors who visited Zimbabwe had a change of attitude after discovering discrepancies between what they read in the media and the actual situation on the ground.
Robinson has been in the country since January 2019, when his wife was appointed ambassador to Zimbabwe. For the past two plus years, Robinson had an opportunity to assess the investment climate in the country, culminating into his current decision. The decision to invest in Zimbabwe has been viewed by analysts as an endorsement of Zimbabwe’s political and electoral reforms that the New Dispensation has been carrying out.
