One key topic within the Diaspora community is Real Estate! Investment in homes back home and also in the Diaspora. An increasing number of people are investing in foreign land as some have taken up foreign residency and citizenships.

Now we have interesting cases of people who have invested in homes back home as well as the Diaspora, this community now wants more! They now want investment in other forms and not necessarily Real Estate. Some time back we had Zimbos in UK sending back used cars for resale, a business venture which peaked during the 2007-2012 period. Earlier, we had witnessed our Diaspora community investing in trucks (magonyeti) during the 2005-2007 period.

So the question here is that the Diaspora wants more than Homelink homes and what are the options available? Today we will examine the option of Government Bonds and our case studies are going to be Israel and India.

Diaspora Bonds

‘The rationale behind diaspora bonds is twofold. For the countries, diaspora bonds represent a stable and cheap source of external finance, especially in times of financial stress. For investors, diaspora bonds offer the opportunity to display patriotism by helping their country of origin.’ Ketkar and Dilip

Although remittances are the best known flow of monies from the diaspora to its homeland, there are other instruments that can capture some of these monies as well. Foreign currency accounts and bonds are designed to specifically attract the migrants’ monies. A diaspora bond is a debt instrument issued by a country – or potentially, a sub-sovereign entity or a private corporation – to raise financing from its overseas diaspora.

Foreign currency bonds have been around for at least as long as remittance bonds but once again are targeted to migrant workers abroad. As explained by Lowell, the bonds are denominated in a foreign currency and bearer certificates are issued, permitting the holder to redeem them for cash anonymously. High interest rates and premium exchange rates are given. These schemes are thought to attract remittances into formal banking, although they may be most attractive to professional and higherincome migrants.

Diaspora savings can be channelled to projects that have multiplier effects in the home country, rather than being transferred in the form of transfers that have little or no multiplier effects.

Israel: Some of the first diaspora bonds were the State of Israel Bonds issued in 1951.

India: The Indian government has consistently pursued diasporic capital. Between 1991 and 2000 it issued 3 separate savings schemes aimed at the diaspora. In 1992 the government issued ‘India Development Bonds’ and in 1998 and 2000 it launched ‘Resurgent India Bonds’ and ‘India Millennium Development Bonds’. Each offering was targeted towards infrastructure financing in India.

Sri Lanka: The Government of Sri Lanka has also sold Sri Lanka Development Bonds since 2001 to several investor categories including non-resident Sri Lankans.

Israel and India have raised over $40 billion through issuing diaspora bonds. There is scope for other countries with large Diasporas to issue diaspora bonds to raise finance for development.

Given the evident success and financial yields of the issuance of diaspora bonds in India and Israel, it is surprising that so few other countries have followed suit.

Food for thought for African Governments.

Our ZBIN Mining Group has a total membership of 256 active members and we are looking to expand the membership to 1,000 by end of year. No doubt our richest group as these are the folks with operating in a rich field of minerals.

So what is our vision for 2017?

Information Provision: On this website expect to see an improved site with a section for Small Scale Mining. On this section will be a lot of resources on mining such as The Mines and Minerals Act, Contact Persons from the Ministry and Mines, Mining Classifieds, Downloadable Application Forms and An Help Desk.

Networking Events: So far we have a great group and we are proud of our closely knit group. We hope to build on the strength already built by carrying out a number of networking events throughout the year. This will be a great platform for information and ideas exchange.

Registration: Our ZBIN Motto in 2017 is registration-formal registrations of members’ businesses and this applies to all ZBIN forums. We are therefore looking forward to helping members to register their businesses so that they can derive benefits associated with being a formal business.

Funding: There a lot of funding options available to Small Scale Miners, however few miners are accessing these loans. Reasons for failure to access these loans are plenty and range from lack of knowledge of the availability of these funds. Some do not have the requisite knowledge of how to apply for the loans or some do not know the advantages of accessing these loans. ZBIN will therefore ensure that we assist members with information as well as assistance in acquiring loans and other funding options available.

Diaspora Partnerships: In everything that ZBIN do, the Diaspora is covered as they are a key community. We are hoping to facilitate the partnerships of locals and the Diaspora in 2017. We will not have full scale partnerships but a few case studies that will be used to launch full scale partnerships in 2018 and beyond.

Mining Equipment Access: Mining equipment is expensive, one require a lot of resources in order to acquire mining equipment and resources are not easily available! We are therefore hoping to unlock opportunities for rental of equipment, rent to buy options or pooling of resources by members in the purchase of mining equipment in 2017.

Mining Tours: We hope to launch quarterly mining tours which should benefit members, investors and any key stakeholder interested in the mining sector. We had one tour of Mashonaland West in 2016, we are looking forward to improve and carry out more such tours in 2017.

Mining and the Environment: Mining causes irreparable damage to the environment. We hope to promote sustainable and environmental friendly practices by our members. We will share more information on this initiative and reward miners who are observing this.

Mining across the borders: We have members who are into mining in neighbouring countries. We hope to explore linkages with them as some are in Mozambique and  Tanzania.

Job Portal for the Mining Sector. Increased investment in the sector, increased partnerships, increased information exchange should result in the expansion of the sector and this should see the sector looking for more people to employ. We hope to become the only official portal for mining job and consultancy opportunities.

Linkages with established mining companies: We hope our members to benefit from good practices from well-established mining companies. Linkages established should result in better management, markets creation and investment improved.

So together we can and lets unlock investment opportunities in the mining sector through effective partnerships and information exchange.

If you would like to join our ZBIN Mining Group then send your number to Catherine Shava on 0776 196 313