From Potential to Contracts: Turning Africa–UAE Trade into Commercial Partnerships

Africa no longer needs to be introduced to the UAE. The trade is already here; the harder task is turning it into partnerships that last. That was the message from Simba Makahamadze, Chairman of the Zimbabwean Business Council — United Arab Emirates (ZIBCO), in his keynote address at the Inter-Africa Networking Event on 10 October 2026.

The Inter-Africa Networking Event 2026, co-hosted by ZIBCO UAE and the South African Business Council (SABCO UAE) with Etihad Airways as headline sponsor, drew a full room. The Ambassadors of Zimbabwe and South Africa to the UAE joined business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs in Abu Dhabi. The ZIBCO Chairman's keynote, Turning Opportunity into Commercial Partnerships, focused on how that trade becomes commercial partnership.

The Chairman opened with a confession. "I have attended many events about Africa's potential. I have spoken at a few of them. And I have come to distrust the word," he said. "Potential is what we call an opportunity that nobody has signed for yet."

The opportunity is on the record

The Chairman argued that the opportunity "is no longer a forecast, it is on the record", and set out the figures.

In 2025, non-oil trade between the UAE and Africa reached about US$158 billion, up 41.6% in a single year. Africa now accounts for 15.5% of the UAE's non-oil trade, up from 10.8% in 2019. South Africa is the UAE's second-largest trading partner on the continent, with non-oil trade of about US$8.6 billion last year.

For Zimbabwe, the UAE is now the largest export market in the world, taking 48% of Zimbabwe's exports in the first half of 2026, ahead of South Africa and China.

"Nobody in this room needs convincing that the door is open," he said. "The question should be what we are carrying through that door."

Trade is not yet partnership

The Chairman turned first to his own country, "because criticism should start at home".

Zimbabwe's exports to the UAE passed US$4 billion in 2025, most of it gold and most of that semi-processed. Zimbabwe's National Development Strategy 2 puts value-added goods at about 5.5% of total exports. "To me that is trade and not yet partnership," he said.

He described what partnership would look like instead: "Partnership is when the buyer in Abu Dhabi becomes a co-investor in the packhouse. It is when a South African logistics firm and a Zimbabwean grower share one cold chain. Real partnership is when capital, skills and brands move in both directions and keep moving."

Three shifts

To turn opportunity into commercial partnership, the Chairman proposed three shifts.

1. From volume to value. This market does not need more raw material from Africa. What the UAE rewards is finished, branded, certified and reliable products.

2. From introductions to transactions. African businesses must be market-ready before they are market-present: with a credible presence or partner in the UAE, and meeting this market's standards before the buyer asks.

He linked this to ZIBCO's work with exporters at home. At the Exporters Indaba 2026, ZIBCO's Harare leg on 28 September, where the Chairman presented the case for Dubai as a gateway to the Gulf, was followed by a second leg in Bulawayo on the 30^th of September. The aim was the same, readiness built at home, before the first shipment leaves.

Drawing on his background in intellectual property, the Chairman added that market readiness means owning your brand in the UAE. A trademark registered in Harare or Johannesburg does not protect you in Dubai. Register here before you ship here.

He held business councils to the same standard. "Do not measure us by the events we host or the cards exchanged in our rooms. Measure us by the deals that close."

3. From separate flags to a shared corridor. No buyer in this market and region asks to see your passport. They ask about volume, quality and reliability," he said. Alone, many of us are too small to respond. Together, we are not.

That, he explained, is why ZIBCO and SABCO shared the stage. The African Continental Free Trade Area asks African countries to act as one market at home, and there is no reason for them to arrive in the UAE as 54 separate strangers.

The window is open

The timing has never been better. Etihad Airways begins direct flights between Abu Dhabi and Harare on 24 March 2027. Thanking the headline sponsor, he said a route "is more than a convenience. It is an investor who makes the meeting in Harare and cargo space on every flight." At the same time, Zimbabwe and the UAE are working to conclude a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.

But he was clear about the limits of both. "Governments and carriers build the road. It is us as businesses that have to drive on it."

From networking to contracts

The Chairman closed with a practical ask. Before leaving, each guest should find one person from a country other than their own, in a business that fits theirs. "Do not just exchange cards. Set a date for the next meeting." Within thirty days, they should sit down together with something specific, and report the deal to their council when it closes, "so that when we next gather, we count contracts, not attendance".

"The opportunity has already arrived," he concluded. "The partnerships will follow because they are waiting for someone in this room to build them."

ZIBCO thanks the Embassy of the Republic of Zimbabwe and the Embassy of the Republic of South Africa in the UAE, co-host SABCO UAE, headline sponsor Etihad Airways, Al Liwan, and every guest who attended.