Africa-Press – Eswatini. The Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade, Manqoba Khumalo, announced EMI Gate Holding from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as one of the new investors in Eswatini.
A partnership between Eswatini and the UAE’s biggest investment company, Emirates Management Investment (EMI) Gate Holding was signed last year in October, during His Majesty King Mswati III’s visit to the UAE. As part of their appreciation for the new investment, EMI Gate Holding President HRH Fatima Alkaabi promised the people that they would build a school for over 1 500 students, a hospital with 10 ambulances, and a foundation.
The president also said they have committed to providing about 2 500 job opportunities for emaSwati in their various job entities. “EMI Gate Holding has committed to providing 2 000 to 2 500 job opportunities for the Eswatini nation to work for our various entities, and we will start accepting applications next month,” she said. EMI visited Eswatini last year on November 7 and the delegation, led by their founder and President of EMI Gate Holding, Fatima Alkaabi, paid a courtesy visit to Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Themba Masuku, who assured them that Eswatini had the best labour-skilled personnel. Masuku said Eswatini was a good investment destination, and there were more sectors in need of investors in the country.
Contributor
The DPM said investments were imperative for the country, as trade was the biggest contributor to the economy.“Eswatini has all the necessary labour needed by any business; we have academically skilled personnel who have had the opportunity to study abroad,” he said. Masuku further assured the potential investors in Eswatini that great strides could be derived in tourism, mining, and agriculture. He said the conditions of investment in the country were now more favourable to both investor and investee. Fatima Alkaabi, during her visit last year, said that they aimed to utilise the local labour force should they decide to invest locally.
Labour
She said when they invest in a country; they do not come with their own labour but use the one available within that country. Alkaabi mentioned that they became keen to invest in Eswatini following the presentation made by the Ministry of Commerce in Abu Dhabi. Minister of Commerce, Khumalo also mentioned that more investors were interested in investing in the country. Worth noting, Minister Khumalo and government have facilitated more than five international investments to Eswatini in the past two years, including Lush Hair, Kellogg’s Tolagram, a syrup factory and more. The Times of Eswatini news department reported on October 20, 2022, that EMI Gate Holding CEO and President Al Kaabi and the company’s advisor Emrah Tunca told His Majesty King Mswati III during his visit to the UAE that they were interested in investing in the country’s E60 billion in six major projects, announced by Minister Khumalo.
Revealed
Their declaration came on the day when Acting Natural Resources and Energy Minister Jabulani Mabuza revealed the outcome of the Geoscience Mapping results, which revealed the country’s huge deposits of platinum, copper, diamonds, nickel, and anthracite coal, to mention a few. EMI Gate Holdings told the King that they would be coming to Eswatini with the view of exploring more of what they can do in mining, including investing in the areas of ICTs, cyber security, energy, agri-business, and tourism. Tunca told the king that all the multi-billion-dollar Emalangeni projects could be easily handled by their company with their experience and operations. “We are ready to make some contributions in the Kingdom, especially in mining, especially coal, which is very important for us as we buy over 15 million metric tonnes per year. Of that, we source about five to six million metric tonnes from South Africa or Southern Africa,” he said.
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