Zimbabwe’s flagship trade and investment showcase, the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF), is adapting to a changing economic landscape. With a bold expansion of its event calendar for 2025, the ZITF Company is stepping up to address some of the nation’s most pressing priorities, including innovation, skills development, and sustainable economic growth.
The headline announcement is the transformation of the Scholastica Expo into a stand-alone event, scheduled for July, decoupled from the main trade fair. The decision, according to ZITF Chief Executive Officer Dr. Nicholas Ndebele, was informed by consistent feedback from previous trade fair editions, particularly the urgent call for stronger collaboration between industry and academia.
“The decision to host Scholastica in July as an independent event stems directly from crucial conversations held during past ZITF editions,” Dr. Ndebele explained. “The consistent theme was the urgent need to strengthen collaboration between industry and academia.”
This move isn’t just administrative; it’s strategic. By providing Scholastica with its own platform, ZITF aims to foster deeper conversations around heritage-based education, indigenous knowledge systems, and career development —areas that have historically lacked the dedicated focus they deserve.
“Scholastica will serve as a crucial nexus, fostering dialogue and collaboration that will lead to more responsive academic programmes, targeted research, and ultimately a more competitive and innovative industrial sector,” Dr. Ndebele elaborated. He highlighted the central role of a robust talent pipeline, with the expo acting as a bridge between students and industry. “This is about nurturing human capital and ensuring that local businesses have the solutions they need to thrive in a rapidly evolving global economy,” he said.
The theme of the 2025 Scholastica Expo, “Empowering Future Generations Through Heritage-Based Education and Innovation,” reflects the wider ambition: to connect the past, present, and future in a way that shapes Zimbabwe’s trajectory towards an upper-middle-income society by 2030.
But Scholastica is just the beginning. In August, the ZITF will roll out two brand-new thematic expos, a Green Business Expo and a Technology Expo, targeting two of the most critical growth areas in Zimbabwe’s development agenda. These new platforms are expected to catalyse investment in sustainable enterprises, digital technologies, and innovation-driven solutions that are essential for economic diversification.
Analytically, this expanded calendar represents a major shift in ZITF’s role: from being an annual trade fair to becoming a year-round driver of sectoral growth and collaboration. By segmenting its expos and focusing on thematic areas, ZITF is aligning itself with the country’s strategic development goals, most notably the emphasis on knowledge-based industries, green energy, and technological advancement outlined in Vision 2030.
With Zimbabwe’s economy on a transformative path, events like Scholastica, the Green Business Expo, and the Technology Expo are more than exhibitions, they are crucial forums for dialogue, policy alignment, and partnership-building. They offer stakeholders an invaluable opportunity to collectively address challenges, share best practices, and unlock new pathways to growth.
As ZITF adapts to a new era of economic imperatives, its expanded calendar signals a commitment to building bridges between key players in Zimbabwe’s development journey. And in a time when sustainable, inclusive growth has never been more important, that commitment is
exactly what the country needs.
