This sector has grown exponentially in the world over the past 40 years and has become one of the key contributors to GDP for many countries across the world. There is scope for local assembly of the various ICT access devices; handsets, tablets, notebooks, tablets, dongles, and so on. Zimbabwe now has over 13 million mobile phones of one form or another, from the cheapest and most basic to the advanced smartphones. Virtually every one requires a gadget be it for learning, transacting, communicating, etc. On average, these gadgets are replaced every three years, in the case of handsets, and every 5 years for computers, which means that every year millions of units of these gadgets are purchased by people in Zimbabwe. This profile also fits into our neighboring countries as well, which further emphasizes the size of the potential market.
Bulawayo has the factory space, transport links, skills (universities, polytechnics, tertiary colleges, etc), to host ICT gadgets assembling and/or manufacturing. The transport links will also enable the export of these gadgets.
There is great demand for internet connectivity in the province, and this is clearly illustrated by the crowds one sees around the few hotspots across the city. There is need for expansion of these services, either by existing ICT operators or new ventures that can quickly provide these services. With a large university, a well-established polytechnic, the national mining school, the hotel school, two teachers’ colleges, two nursing schools, campuses for both Lupane State University and the Zimbabwe Open University, and dozens of high schools, Bulawayo is also a college province that has a significant student population and these are the prime consumers of ICT products and services.
The ICT sector offers very promising investment avenues such as:
- Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
- Payment & Billing systems
- Cloaking systems
- Video conferencing systems
- E-learning systems
- Drones to gather information
- CCTVs
- Fire alarm systems installed to domestic premises
- Interactive BCC Applications
