At the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe Winter School and Investment Conference, held in partnership with the Financial Markets Indaba, Old Mutual Zimbabwe articulated a vision of sustainable investment opportunities designed to accelerate economic transformation and social progress. Group Chief Finance Officer and Executive Director Takura Mudekunye told delegates that the institution, with more than 130 years of presence in Zimbabwe and 180 years across Africa, is uniquely positioned to mobilise capital towards projects that reconcile financial yield with developmental value.
Old Mutual has long been regarded as one of the region’s most diversified financial institutions, with operations spanning insurance, banking, asset management, and microfinance. Mudekunye highlighted renewable energy, infrastructure development, tourism, and innovation as the principal sectors in which the group intends to anchor new investments. These priorities align both with Zimbabwe’s domestic policy agenda and with broader global sustainability frameworks, underscoring the company’s dual strategy of enhancing competitiveness while meeting environmental, social, and governance benchmarks.
The group has already made tangible progress through the establishment of a US$100 million Renewable Energy Fund. This facility seeks to deliver competitive risk-adjusted returns to investors while addressing Zimbabwe’s persistent energy deficit. With US$20 million committed to early-stage solar and hydropower projects, the fund represents one of the country’s most ambitious attempts at blended finance. Its architecture draws upon private equity, institutional capital, and development finance to de-risk renewable infrastructure and embed ESG criteria in project appraisal.
The economic backdrop underscores the necessity of such interventions. Zimbabwe’s economy contracted to around 2 per cent in 2024, weighed down by El Niño-induced drought, lower commodity prices, and chronic energy shortages. Projections for 2025 indicate a potential rebound to 6 per cent, premised on recovery in agriculture, forecast at 12.8 per cent, and mining, projected at 5.6 per cent, contingent upon improved liquidity and power supply. The uneven trajectory illustrates both the volatility of the external environment and the structural fragility of the domestic economy.
Foreign direct investment flows remain below regional comparators. UNCTAD data shows inflows rising to approximately US$588 million in 2023, a 49 per cent increase on the previous year but still below the pre-2018 peak of US$745 million. While this momentum is positive, FDI accounts for less than 2 per cent of GDP, underscoring the limited scale of external capital mobilisation relative to Zimbabwe’s requirements. At the same time, sovereign debt has reached 81 per cent of GDP, with external obligations of US$12.7 billion. Government efforts to normalise arrears and pursue an IMF Staff-Monitored Programme may create pathways to renewed market access, but investor sentiment will continue to hinge on policy consistency and regulatory transparency.
In this constrained environment, Old Mutual’s approach reflects a pragmatic recognition that partnerships are indispensable. Mudekunye emphasised that collaboration with pension funds, development institutions, government agencies, and the private sector is the most effective way to unlock value for both investors and communities. This collaborative ethos is evident in the group’s support for entrepreneurship, particularly women-owned enterprises and youth-led innovation, through incubation programmes and targeted funding channels. Such initiatives expand the investable universe of small and medium-sized enterprises, which remain underserved in conventional capital markets.
The mining sector illustrates both the promise and pitfalls of Zimbabwe’s investment landscape. Projects such as Kuvimba Mining House’s US$310 million Build–Operate–Transfer agreement for a lithium concentrator and Caledonia Mining’s US$250 million gold project at Bilboes suggest significant capital inflows. Yet regulatory unpredictability, foreign currency restrictions, and inadequate infrastructure continue to erode investor confidence. For lithium producers, these conditions have squeezed margins despite buoyant global demand for battery metals.
Energy remains the most critical constraint to growth. Zimbabwe’s electricity supply deficit has curtailed industrial productivity and deterred foreign capital. Yet the sector’s latent potential is substantial, with new solar developments such as the 200 MW Umguza and 90 MW Chiredzi projects signalling the feasibility of scaling renewable generation. Old Mutual’s Renewable Energy Fund therefore occupies a strategic space, aligning market capital with a national development imperative.
Placed in a continental context, the fund illustrates the growing importance of pan-African capital mobilisation that privileges endogenous solutions over externally imposed frameworks. African capital markets are increasingly embracing models in which ESG, community alignment, and developmental dividends are not peripheral obligations but central to risk management and return optimisation. This represents a structural shift from extractive investment paradigms towards integrated frameworks in which financial alpha is generated through sustainability and impact.
Old Mutual’s model—mobilising capital across public and private spheres, structuring returns around dual optimisation, and targeting sectors aligned with national priorities—offers a replicable template for the continent. It demonstrates how blended finance can serve as a catalyst for sustainable infrastructure while de-risking projects that would otherwise remain outside the remit of traditional investors.
As Zimbabwe contends with macroeconomic fragility, debt overhang, and limited external inflows, instruments such as the Renewable Energy Fund highlight a nuanced multi-vector strategy that harnesses capital markets, climate imperatives, and local agency simultaneously. They reflect a decisive move towards continental self-determination in capital formation, balancing investor needs with developmental imperatives and shifting Africa’s investment narrative away from dependency towards endogenous, impact-oriented growth.
