THE second edition of the annual Stanbic-China Day kicks off today in Harare as efforts to grow trade between Harare and Beijing intensify.
The two-day event is the second Stanbic-China collaboration, following up from the inaugural event held last year.
Stanbic Bank head of trade and Africa China banking, Tapuwa Nyika, said while the inaugural event was targeted at helping source and secure jobs for Zimbabweans, the second edition is aimed at promoting trade with China.
“Running under the theme Creating sustainable partnerships for growth, the event is aimed at forging mutually beneficial business relationships between Zimbabwean and Chinese businesses,” Nyika said.
“To that end, we have lined up exhibitors from Chinese owned businesses and Zimbabwean companies that trade or those that intend to trade with China.”
He said attendees would be afforded an opportunity to interact with Zimbabwean and Chinese companies and the Stanbic Bank team.
The event will be headlined by a business forum, where key issues that affect trading with the world’s second biggest economy would be discussed.
“The aim of the business forum is to unpack the trade opportunities between China and Zimbabwe and provide key insights from industry leaders on how to tap into and benefit from these opportunities,” Nyika said.
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He said representatives from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the largest bank in the world by assets and a shareholder of Stanbic Bank’s parent company, Standard Bank Group, would attend the event.
Nyika said the Stanbic-China Day was another step towards cementing relationships between the financial services institution, its clients and Chinese suppliers.
“This is an event not to miss for any business looking to grow their portfolios especially in China. China’s economic influence is spreading throughout the globe and as Stanbic Bank we have opened this window for our clients to maximise on this event and expand, leveraging on our relationship with ICBC,” he said.
He said the relationship between Stanbic Bank and ICBC was instrumental in ensuring that ZimTrade held a successful three-day Zimbabwe-China Business Forum in Beijing earlier in the year.
A total of 25 companies and government departments from Zimbabwe participated in the forum and had business-to-business meetings with 250 Chinese businesses in various sectors of the economy.
Stanbic Bank’s bid to promote trade between Zimbabwe and China has seen the financial services institution establish the Africa China Trade Solution (ACTS) in 2021.
ACTS is the conduit through which Zimbabwean businesses can liaise with their Chinese counterparts for ease of trade.
Stanbic has since established a partnership with Zhejiang International Trading Supply Chain Co, which trades as Guamao and has over 10 000 validated Chinese suppliers.
The partnership with Guamao ensures that Zimbabwean businesses wishing to buy products from China are guaranteed superior quality goods amid a flood of fake products from China.
