July 2018 was a historic month for Zimbabwe.
The southern African nation held her first general elections in which long-time leader Robert Mugabe and his arch-rival Morgan Tsvangirai were not on the ballot papers.
A record 23 presidential hopefuls took part in the polls.
The then political environment was very peaceful.
Foreign observers who were last invited to observe the polls nearly two decades ago witnessed this historic event.
Sadly their sentiments changed after the polls.
In the midst of the post-Mugabe euphoria, a new business weekly came to the fore.
Today, AB Communications celebrates two years of existence for its business weekly newspaper, Business Times (BT).
BT, a privately owned newspaper that articulates issues on Zimbabwe’s political economy from within has over the past two years been positioning itself as a preferred weekly that publishes every Thursday under different formats such as the print edition and the e-paper.
The paper has embraced the digital transformation of the newspaper industry and will continue to be innovative.
Its distinct salmon colour that can only be matched to world-class newspapers like the Financial Times symbolises the rosy outlook that many Zimbabwe can only dream of when the dust has settled.
In doing so, our team of seasoned and passionate journalists will articulate Zimbabwe’s story objectively as the country national discourse shifts from that of intolerance, polarisation, and partisan politics to that of thoughtleadership on business, economic, and financial issues.
At the launch of the paper, we promised to continue upholding journalism ethics to ensure that our stories are not only credible but position Business Times as the paper of record.
We have done that for the past two years and will not be pliable to the whims of political and business actors.
In fact, we have and will report factually on stories that are not only interesting but also of national interest.
Business Times will seek to forge dialogue and create a platform between business and other stakeholders with the view to express that business comes first.
We have lived up to our pay-off line, Redefining Business, reporting on issues under the veil of corporate boardrooms and government policies with a view to make Zimbabwe engage in constructive dialogue.
We have encouraged diversity of views and this we will continue to do so through independent columnists and experts who will write thought out op-eds every week.
Let us also take this opportunity to express our gratitude to our current advertisers who have walked with us since our launch.
We thank our columnists who have delivered under strict deadlines.
To our future and potential advertisers, we promise you value for money, a growing audience, and above all responsible journalism.
