The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Limited (“ZSE”) and Lloyd Corporate Capital have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to mobilise private sector financing capacity in direct support of high-growth startups and SMEs seeking to access capital through the Zimbabwe Entrepreneurship Exchange (ZEEX). Grounded in a shared vision that Zimbabwe’s most promising enterprises require access to sophisticated, commercially structured financing solutions, the partnership brings Lloyd Corporate Capital’s innovative financing expertise into alignment with ZSE’s regulated capital market infrastructure. This creates a new and powerful channel for scaling businesses on their path to formal market participation with a focus on businesses in Bulawayo, Matabeleland and surrounding areas. 

The MOU commits the Parties to collaborate across five mutually reinforcing workstreams which include; 

Pipeline development

• The focus is on the identification, screening, and prioritisation of high-potential, wellgoverned, and growth-oriented startups and SMEs supported or financed by Lloyd Corporate Capital.

Co-financing and blended finance activities

• This involves the active exploration and implementation of co-investment models where Lloyd Corporate Capital participates in financing enterprises progressing toward ZEEX listing, with a particular emphasis on structuring blended mechanisms that combine institutional financing with private market capital.

 Capacity building 

• ZSE and Lloyd Corporate Capital will conduct joint training programs covering corporate governance, financial reporting standards, investor readiness, and listing requirements.

Market development

• This will be driven through joint awareness campaigns, co-hosted investor forums, roadshows, and SME financing conferences that showcase investment-ready companies to the broadest possible audience.

 Product innovation

• ZSE and Lloyd Corporate Capital will explore growth-focused financial instruments including SME bond programs, growth capital and private placement structures, green and sustainability-linked instruments, and structured SME funds. 

Mr. Justin Bgoni, Group CEO of ZSE Holdings Limited, said: ““Lloyd Corporate Capital is bringing a commercially viable, private sector capability to structure and deploy financing solutions that are precisely calibrated to what a growth business actually needs at each stage of its journey. ZEEX is built to serve businesses that are ready to step into the formal capital market, and Lloyd Corporate Capital’s involvement means that more of those businesses will arrive at that threshold genuinely prepared, adequately capitalised, and structurally sound. That is exactly the kind of ecosystembuilding that will define ZEEX’s long-term impact.” 

Mr. Bekithemba L. Nkomo, Chairman of Lloyd Corporate Capital, said: “For over a decade, Lloyd Corporate Capital has worked alongside owners and management teams across Southern Africa to prepare growth businesses for their next stage of funding. Partnering with ZSE gives the enterprises we support a clear, regulated pathway from private capital into the formal market, and gives ZEEX a pipeline of businesses that have already been through the discipline of proper structuring, governance and advisory support. This MOU turns two complementary strengths into a single, seamless route from early-stage growth capital to public market participation.” 

With each new partnership formalised, ZSE continues to assemble an increasingly comprehensive ecosystem of capital market enablers around ZEEX. The signing of this MOU with Lloyd Corporate Capital further reinforces the depth and diversity of that ecosystem, ensuring that the platform is a well-rounded support network capable of serving enterprises at every stage of their growth and financing journey.