Buying Zimbabwean, advocates say, is no longer a matter of patriotism alone. It is an economic imperative.
That was the central message delivered this week by Buy Zimbabwe, which is urging households, builders and businesses to prioritise locally produced goods as a direct route to job creation, industrial revival and export competitiveness. The argument is stark: every dollar spent on imports is a job created elsewhere; every dollar retained at home strengthens the economy.
Speaking to Great Dyke News, Buy Zimbabwe chairperson Munyaradzi Hwengwere laid out figures that underscore the challenge. Between January and December 2025, Zimbabwe produced minerals, tobacco and other goods valued at US$9.7 billion. Over the same period, the country imported foodstuffs and manufactured products worth US$10.1 billion—a gap of roughly US$400 million that adds to an already heavy debt burden.
“To put this into perspective, US$10 billion may sound like just a number,” Hwengwere said, “but it represents enormous economic potential.”
He illustrated the point with a comparison familiar to Zimbabweans. Mimosa Mine, one of the country’s flagship operations, is valued at about US$1 billion and employs roughly 5,000 people directly. By importing US$10 billion worth of goods in a single year, Hwengwere argued, Zimbabwe effectively exported the equivalent value of ten Mimosa-sized enterprises—and with them, tens of thousands of jobs.
“Instead of that value circulating here,” he said, “it is creating employment in South Africa, China and other countries, while Zimbabweans remain unemployed.”
The imbalance is not new. Since the turn of the century, deindustrialisation, currency instability and policy uncertainty have eroded domestic manufacturing capacity, pushing consumers and businesses toward imports. Even basic inputs—steel for housing, food for supermarkets, processed consumer goods—are often sourced offshore despite the availability of local alternatives.
But Hwengwere insists the trend is reversible. Central to that optimism is the Dinson Iron and Steel Plant at Manhize, a multibillion-dollar project that has begun reshaping Zimbabwe’s industrial landscape. If Zimbabweans choose locally produced steel for construction, he said, and if downstream industries are developed to add value and export finished products, the country could anchor a new manufacturing ecosystem.
“This is an opportunity to create our own wealth,” Hwengwere said, “and to generate jobs for thousands of young people who are currently in school.”
Economists broadly agree that import substitution—when pursued pragmatically—can stabilise foreign currency demand, deepen industrial linkages and strengthen resilience. The risk, they caution, lies in protectionism without productivity gains. Local industries must compete on price and quality, not survive on sentiment alone.
Still, the numbers give urgency to the call. A US$400 million annual trade gap may appear modest on a global scale, but for an economy of Zimbabwe’s size it represents factories not built, skills not absorbed and communities left behind.
The Buy Zimbabwe campaign, Hwengwere said, is not asking consumers to lower their standards—only to recognise the power of their choices. “When we buy local steel to build our houses,” he said, “the money stays here. Industries grow. Jobs are created.”
Whether Zimbabweans heed that message may help determine whether the country continues to export opportunity—or finally begins to keep it at home.
