BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – An amount not less than E809 453 988 will be injected by the Semlex Group when it sets up its head offices for the African continent here in Eswatini.
This transpired today (April 17, 2024) when His Majesty King Mswati III cut the sod at the construction site for Semlex Group’s Africa head offices and plant at Nokwane Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Semlex Group, a multi-million Emalangeni company owned by Albert Karaziwan, will produce documents and devices for secure identification such as passports and identity (ID) cards. Semlex is one of the companies that met the King during his working visit to Turkey in February this year.
During his address, the King stated that the authorities of this company promised to inject around EUR40 million as a start-up for this project. In that spirit, the King then challenged Emaswati to go out into the world and bring more investments that are going to make billions of Emalangeni so that Eswatini can prosper economically.
The King stated that the opening of Semlex Group did not mean that the space at the Nokwane SEZ had been used up. He said there was still more space left for many companies to work on, especially the companies trading within the technology sector. It was for that reason why the King challenged Emaswati to go out into the world to get more companies to invest in the country. He said the companies should make billions of Emalangeni for the country to prosper in economic terms.
The King commended the Republic of China (Taiwan), Ministry of ICT, Royal Science and Technology Park and others for developing the Nokwane SEZ. He said such organisations had made it easy for other companies to come and set up for business in the country. He said he was promised by the authorities of Semlex Group that a state-of-the-art building would be constructed in the country.
He said this would enable the company to serve the country and others in the SADC Region, in line with regional cooperation that was encouraged among the countries. He said the company would help the country move along with the times, as Eswatini was using an obsolete technology to produce documents such as passports.
The King said he was happy because this event happened two days before his birthday, which would take place this coming Friday. He said his birthday was synonymous with development, as this year’s birthday would present development opportunities to the Manzini Region, especially Mankayane.
