Diaspora Matters

Most  entrepreneurs fear the word business plan. Mention the word business plan and most will lose interest, to some it is a complicated document that is expensive to produce. It is a document that is required for accessing loans only, after getting the loan then you are done, you put the document in a closed filing cabinet.

ZBIN would however like to assist the SME sector to appreciate the importance of business plans. A business plan should not be viewed as an unnecessary document designed with the sole purpose of accessing credit from registered commercial lenders. It is a useful live document which every entrepreneur should embrace-it can be used for day to day business operations!

With time, one can easily learn to develop their own business plan. You may not need a lot of expert advice on it. ZBIN has therefore developed a presentation as per demand from the ZBIN community. Go through the presentation, feel free to download and use it. Next week, we are hoping to do a Facebook Live update on Business Plans-we will upload the video on the page in case you miss it.

The Zimbabwean economy is a complex one, in your analysis you cannot use the one size fits all approach. At face value it looks like no opportunities exist, it looks like all opportunities have been exhausted but if you dig deep you actually find new opportunities where business is thriving.

An analysis of all shopping malls generally show a decline in business. Look at some of the places we have covered on ZBIN such as the Old Mutual owned Highglen and Westgate . These shopping malls are characterised with empty office spaces. Most shops have closed doors and these malls are virtually empty. The Chitungwiza Old Mutual owned mall is doing better than Highglen when it comes to traffic but still the general trend is that of decline.

In Avondale, a new small shopping mall is being constructed a few metres from the Avondale shopping centre and this becomes the only mall being built in the capital. The Village Walk in Borrowdale being the other where CAFE NUSH is completing renovation for new premises.

So in the midst of all this what opportunities does ZBIN want to share with our members and followers? We can say that business is fast changing, the way of doing business or analysing opportunities is fast changing as well. A  look at one of our top articles we covered which looked at top areas where Zimbabweans are spending money revealed that Food is one area where there is no substitute!

Few companies are involved in Dial A Service business in Harare. The few that are involved in this business are enjoying their time in the sunshine! They are fast expanding whilst other areas of the business sector show signs of distress.

The big question

The question maybe how are they doing it? The easy answer to this question lies in who are you targeting? The high net worth class in Harare is now preferring ordering their food and having it delivered at their homes. Great way to avoid traffic congestion and possibilities of meeting the endless traffic roadblocks on our roads. So money saved in terms of fuel and the added advantage of convenience is leading to the growth of this sector which is still dominated by a few monopolies.

Food being delivered is mostly fast foods but there is a growing demand for traditional foods. The costs of running this business is reasonably low with the use of motorbikes which cost an average of $1,000 each. In some cases there is no need to rent premises as this business can be run from the comfort of your home.

Business Research

Do not just jump and try tis business without sufficient business research-unodonha! Take your time to build a clientele base, work with corporates where employees work during the evening such as Banks and Mobile Telecommunication Companies. Research more on companies that are doing well and find out where their employees get lunch or dinner. For now this business is concentrated in the low density areas but areas such as Chishawasha, Glenlorne lack coverage. Universities which house thousands of students provide huge potential too.

ZBIN wishes you best of luck and if you are in the Diaspora worry not, one day when the economy picks up-do expect this area to expand to all the residential areas in urban areas.

A friend of mine called Emmanuel who had been working in the IT field returned to Zimbabwe  from South Africa a few years ago. On his return he realised that there was no facility to send SMS messages to phones whenever one withdraws money from banks. He took of advantage of the expertise he had gained in South Africa and worked with a local bank to introduce the service in Zimbabwe. The facility had been operational in South Africa for a while but Zimbabwe was slow in its uptake.

So this is the huge benefit that the Diaspora possess-access to superior skills, cultures and technology. Some technologies will take decades to reach this side of the equator and the gap creates great opportunities  for those with an entrepreneurial mindset. I remember getting excited when this school in Harare introduced a school app, I thought the school authorities were being innovative. When I checked with friends based in the States, their answer was that this had been introduced many years back!

So for entrepreneurs especially those based in Zim, the message is clear-make sure that you are clued up on latest technological issues. Make sure you know what is in, what is out, what is coming etc. One way to stay up to date is to join forums where they discuss latest business trends, do watch news or read forums such as www.techzim.co.zw. Just make sure you do not miss out as doing so is perilous!

One can take our post on Bitcoin Fraud which we posted in January this year. We had analysed Nigerian Business Groups and realised that Bitcoin fraud was gaining ground. We estimated the fraud to land this side by mid year and we were not wrong at all! The point here is that as an Entrepreneur , one should always be scanning the environment and the environment does not have to be local only-do expand and cover the region, the continent and all the four corners of the globe.

A trend in West Africa will eventually reach Zimbabwe, A trend in India will eventually come this side. In the past it could take decades but these days the time lag has been reduced. So do check out for trends whether they are on risk management or opportunities. Compare and contrast with the current environment in the country and take advantage of the gap.

Scholars of Management Accounting would call this Benchmarking, a topic we will cover in future but for now lets look closely at what the richest man in Zimbabwe did to benefit from benchmarking. He saw a trend in East Africa and moved fast to take advantage, others who were not following events in East Africa obviously lost out.

By Dr Strive Masiyiwa

Understanding business models (Part 2)
__When you see an opportunity, get STARTED! A case study.

I knew it would be the next big thing. It was time to act, and be a “fast follower…”

The product opportunity I saw: Mobile Money. I’d been watching the developments at Kenya’s M-PESA, talking to friends in the industry, reading about it, and had even made a secret visit there to look for myself. I also knew what was happening in other parts of the world, in places like the Philippines and Bangladesh…

First step (to answer one of your questions at the Tanzania Town Hall): Do your homework!

Next step (yes, you’ve heard it before): #People.

I needed a small team of people of highly-motivated entrepreneurial executives. I plucked a guy working for us in Burundi, and asked him to move to Nairobi, the epicenter of this new Mobile Money revolution. He didn’t report to anyone else, except me. Every week he wrote me a report on his observations. Sometimes we would talk for hours on the phone:

“Sir, there are some smart Kenyans I think we can get…”

“Sir, we can get developers from Cape Town. Can I go see them?”

“I have found a guy in Cape Town but he won’t move to Zimbabwe, can I ask HQ to hire him and keep him in Cape Town?”

“Sir, the best platform for us to use is in India. Have made contact. We need to travel to India to see them…”

Months later:

“We have a system up and running in Burundi. It’s small but we’re learning fast…”

“Sir, I have been working with HR’s talent management team. We’re tracking some really smart young people who we think we could recruit and train to run with this. There are also some people in our system who want to try something new…”

__The #People and #Product were coming together nicely.

Next step: #Process.

“We need the ‘Process builders’ to get involved heavily now, because the business plan is looking good!”

“I love it!!”

# Finance systems? Check.
# IT systems? Check.
# Legal systems? Check.
# Marketing? Check.
# Sales? Check.
# Recruitment? Check.
# Distribution? Check.
# Training? Check.
# Logistics? Check.
(What else? You tell me).
Check!!

“Bring on some really experienced talent for process. You can even use consultants. This business will require complex processes for recruiting and managing dealers.”

“We also have a very sensitive product… Money!”

“Sir, our competitor in (x) is rushing to market with a similar service. What should we do, because we’re not ready?!”

“Neither are they, so stay the course. Don’t cut corners, even if it means they get a year’s head start. We’ll beat the pants off anyone who goes into the market with a half-baked idea.”

__Intense meetings took place every day on getting the #Processes right!

Twelve months later:

“Sir, Burundi is looking great. Can we scale to a bigger market now?”

“Not yet. I need to see more data.”

“Bring your team.”

After listening to them: “What do you want to call this great service of yours?”

“Sir, we were thinking to call it EcoCash.”

“I like it. Go ahead.”

Fast forward 10 years:

The executive who set it up is now one of the most senior members of our organization. He runs our financial services business called Cassava Fintech, based in South Africa. Their operations cover every aspect of Mobile Money including Digital Banking, Payment Systems, Mobile Insurance, Remittances, and eCommerce. They are active throughout Africa, and even in the U.K.

__Another question from our Town Hall meeting this week: “If you feel like you want to give up, what do you do?”

There were times when things broke down completely, and crisis meetings. Sometimes I had to fire people who failed or were not up to scratch. Sometimes people resigned or were poached! We lost so much money in the first two years that some of my more senior executives were actually begging me to shut it down. Yes, we almost shut down EcoCash before it took off!

This year the GSMA (the organization representing Mobile Network Operators from around the world), meeting in Barcelona, Spain named EcoCash the best Mobile Money Solution in the World for 2017!

__How did we do it? We kept our focus on the 3Ps.

If you want to find out more about “People, Process and Product” (and much more) go to Kwesé Inc (channel 405 on Kwesé TV). If you want to learn more about Cassava Fintech, visit the website: http://cassavafintech.com.

To everyone who took part in our Tanzania Entrepreneurship Town Hall (from Tanzania, here on this platform, all over Africa and the world via lifestream on FB) and to our hosts in Tanzania: Thank you. I really enjoyed meeting you and look forward to another one soon.

To be continued. . .

The major advantage of being part of the Zimbabwe Business Ideas and Network is access to opportunities. The forum with numbers now at 40, 000 members is growing everyday. We are expanding at a rapid pace, connecting with Zimbabweans and Foreign Nationals across the globe. We are slowly becoming the window of opportunities in Zimbabwe for Diaspora and Foreign Nationals. A lot of inquiries  on opportunities in Zimbabwe are coming from all corners and this is good news for the forum and the country as a whole. To date our site has had close to 160, 000 views in 7 months of operation. An important measure of a website effectiveness is a benchmark called Unique Viewers. These are regular viewers of a site who always visit it for information and resources.

Our unique users number has risen to 5,000 and continues to grow as we innovate and bring new ideas and ways of doing business. What is remarkable is the fact that we have achieved all of this without spending a penny on advert and promotion! When we start using a small budget we expect our impact to be 1000 fold. So as a fast growing forum we have a facility for our members and followers to register as consultants.

The facility is available free of charge and you can email vicmunemo@yahoo.com or whatsapp me on +263774081808 if you would like to be on the list of consultants. The list of consultants is our first port of call whenever members inuire about consultant services.

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We give you the latest prices of vegetables from Zimbabwe’s biggest fruit and vegetables market-Mbare Musika. Latest survey results have shown that up to $1 billion circulates in the Mbare Informal sector and this includes Mbare Musika, Siyaso and Mupedzanhamo. The price tracker  comes courtesy of Musika Solutions.

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On paper the Bitcoin Currency is a legitimate currency which is taking the world by storm. A lot of investors have made big monies by investing in this currency. Little is known by the general public of how it operates, how to make money, how you can make losses-who makes losses when you make profits etc. The gap in information has created room for fraudsters who are cashing in on the lack of information by duping unsuspecting members of the public.

The modus operandi for fraudsters is easy and involves the following processes:

1.Fraudster opens a Whatsapp Groups,

2.Targets individuals interested in making quick returns

3. A few people invest funds with him and offers them high interest returns in the first month
4. Those who got high returns recruit more
5. Those newly recruited invest funds and the recruiters reinvest funds plus interest
6. One of two members start complaining about investment overdue
7. The Admin reassures the group that all is inorder
8. More members join the chorus of complaining about funds over due
9. Bombshell dropped on the group as the Admin fails to satisfactorily answer when funds invested will be deposited into members accounts.
10. With temperatures boiling on the group, the admin performs a disappearing act. He removes every member, blocks everyone and deletes the group!

The above modus operandi was in full action last week in the beautiful city of Masvingo where members lost close to $60,000. The method used is detailed below:

Bitcoin Watsapp Group is formed promising members who invest to get an interest of 50% -now surely this is heaven on earth! The first month the few members who had invested money all got interest. So far so good with everyone getting their monies back-excited members not only reinvest funds but go on to recruit their close relatives. Zvikanzi kwaita ngoda uku hama dzinodiwa, huyai huyai tiite mari nekukurumidza.

With total amount invested reaching $60,000 what happens next was to teach Masvingo residence a tough lesson about Bitcoin funds! Everyone in the group was supposed to get their money last week but nothing came. When members started getting vocal and asking for their money, the admin followed point number 7 above. With members not satisfied with answers from the group admin, the admin invoked section 9 above and all hell broke loose.

With everyone in the group realising that they had been conned…they rushed to a mobile money agent to check the authenticity of the person they had been wiring funds to. They also though tat they could possibly have fund transfers reversed.

At the mobile money agent more trouble awaited them-the fraudster had transferred funds to more than 5 accounts….ichibuda umu…yoenda umu..yozoenda uko….a case of someone sophisticated involved in money laundering!

Tracing the movement of the funds was to become a wind chasing event as the fraudster had covered his back in endless funds transfers.

Legitimate programmes tainted by con artists

The essence of this article is not to taint Bitcoin, we have seen it working in other countries. Even in Zim, a lot have benefited from it. What is worrisome is that fraudsters are using the scheme to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.

The same method was used in online forex trading. Members are encouraged to come for training and those who fail to master how online forex trading works are then invited to invest funds with the admin and the whole episodes always ending with tears from group members! This is why ZBIN is always encouraging Online Forex Traders to learn to trade on their own and not give funds to anyone.

Lessons learnt

The trend of online fraud is not going to end any time soon especially with the economy and cash crunch worsening by the day. Last year the MMM collapse resulted in an estimated $6m loss for Zimbabweans. Online Forex Trading was soon to follow with more than a million lost. We get some comfort in the sense that one of the fraudsters who had duped Hararians of $225,000 was arrested. Binary trading also followed and one of the fraudster admins who had vanished with $9,000 was arrested.

In January we cautioned members and told you to grasp Bitcoin with caution as it had started making waves in Nigeria with members of the public falling prey to Bitcoin Investment fraudsters.

In point form we advise all stakeholders to take note of the following:

1.If it is too good to be true, then avoid it-use your gut instinct

2. If you are in an online forex group and the admins answers to the name Blessing or Evangelist, then sickly demand your money back and hit the exit button of the group
3. Most of the platforms are being perpetrated using mobile money platforms. The $6m lost last year was through them, the recent $60,000 was again through them. Are mobile money transfer platform equipped enough to monitor and deter fraudulent activities? How about all money transfer agencies investing a small portion of their profits in public awareness? Surely these companies are making millions of profit-how about $50,000 each company investing in anti fraud awareness programs encouraging members of the public to be wary of online fraudsters? It is $60,000 for Masvingo but how about the whole nation? It could well run into multi millions of dollars!
4. The Fraudster from Masvingo transferred money from one account, then the next, the trend continued. How is this possible? If a bank can programme their system such that one cannot overdraw available funds, how about putting mechanisms that suspend funds transfer when you start moving them from fund to fund within minutes?

There are definitely more points to add above and our hope is that our followers will scrutinise all online opportunities. Some are very good on paper but there will always be con artists looking at loopholes so that they can dupe the public of their hard earned monies.

Below we feature some of the responses from our ZBIN platform

Yemurai Nhongo-Thepe They sent this money to an individual? Vakaita due diligence here vanhu ava?

Numerous Mashv Manduku Chabata Bitcoin rates were very attractive

Rachel Chitongo Haaa zvakaoma, hakuna quick money forex trading is university chaiyo aaaa

Watson Musenda Next time they will play Lotto… Where in the world will you get 50% interest…. How will the investor invest your hard earned money to acquire that profit margin? Even old mutual with a huge investment portfolios will not afford even 10% p. a…let alone 50% per month. Kkkkkkkkkkkk

Mdala Wa Rue Zvakawoma….ko panenge paine vawana mari zve first month lol

Watson Musenda Yes, so that they will tell others boss… I haven’t seen a guy who made money with these “get rich overnight investors” except lotto,Surprisingly they all end up crying, blaming the investor. Why putting money to an entity that is not registered with the Reserve Bank… Why investing through eco cash to a guy whose physical address you don’t know? Why investing to a company who have a one roomed tiny office with an old computer? Lots of red

Kwame Mwemba Thanks for this article.2 years ago l lost thousands in MMM using bit coin that was in SA.Then from nowhere l saw alot of posts on groups from Zimbabwe.l tried to warn people about it and most sent me bad messages and l was even removed from most groups.People must realize there is no such thing as making 50% to 100% within days of investment without working.Hope they catch the guy and post his face on all groups and FB so that he is caught.l hate people who just get peoples money like that .

Israel Zombo Gusalo Why invest in  things u have least knowledge of ? That is ignorance and suicidal -first read,  study check and scrutinise.  

Runyararo Primrose Chandiwana-Munjoma shame ndakamboitambwa it happens Upenyu kupindana kwemazuva

Mary Mathew my sister was duped neimwe inonzi Helping hands international but l had warned her before

For most of my life, I had goals and would get irritated by obstacles that got in my way. I heard a wonderful quote the other day, but don’t recall the original source. The quote went something like this:

Having obstacles in your life is a sign you aren’t settling for what life gives you, but are getting out of life what you want.

In other words, a life without any obstacles is arguably a life live passively. You take whatever comes your way. While there is certainly enormous value in expressing gratitude for what you do get out of life (this is one the keys to happiness by the way), it is still worth striving for what YOU want out of YOUR life.

So my question for you to think about today is:

Do you have enough obstacles in your life?

If not, are you striving for what you want out of life? If yes, be grateful as it’s a sign you are striving for what you want out of life. You might not get what you want, but if you don’t try at all you are guaranteed to not get what you want.

Here’s another way to look at it.

Using the logical construct of cause vs. effect, there are two ways to view the world:

• The world is the cause, and you are its effect.
• You are the cause, and the world is the effect.

Here’s my second and final question for today:

Which paradigm are you viewing your life and the world through?

Thanks,

Have you seen the number of followers that Dr Strive Masiyiwa has on Facebook? He has millions of followers and has become the most influential African on Facebook! The reason for the followers is simple-Business! Africans want platforms where they discuss business, they want platforms where they are inspired by their business role models. They want to learn about entrepreneurship and there are few platforms for this.

Masiyiwa has therefore seen a gap and is enjoying sharing information through posts and recently Facebook Live broadcasts. He is always ahead of the curve and one needs to look at the people he is targeting and you want to know about them? They are youths, young people with a lot of energy, young people full of ambition, young people who are not afraid of taking risks. The future of business in Africa lies in Youth! If you are not targeting youths then you are missing the point. If you are dismissing youths then there is something totally wrong with your strategy.

Even political parties in Zimbabwe that are campaigning for the 2018 elections are targeting youths! We have witnessed a couple of youth rallies and at these rallies young musicians perform popular music genres such as Zimdancehall. On the Christian movement, one cannot escape the waves caused by popular young preachers such as Pastor Makandiwa and Pastor Magaya! The most popular musician in Zimbabwe at the moment is a youngster by the name Jah Prayzer who has relegated established musicians to second and other lesser positions on the music scene.

Youths are slowly taking over and they represent the future. If you operate a company in Zimbabwe and in your management structures you exclude youths then expect to lose competitive advantage in future. Most of your consumers are youths or are soon going to be youths and if you do not capture their feelings, if you do not capture their communication channels then you are a sure bet for failure in the long run. Population analysis puts the percentage of youths at 67% in the country and the numbers could be growing. This helps to explain the attention to youths by Zimbabwe’s most influential business person.

Dr Strive Masiyiwa has youths in mind and through his posts he inspires and also markets his Kwese Tv programme. Those of us who love marketing know that he is doing what is called content marketing! If he writes exclusively about Kwese Tv then few will be interested….he however inspires, educates and then throw in Kwese Tv at the end of his articles. Now that’s being a business genius and expect us to tackle content marketing in future which is still to be grasped by a lot of Zimbabweans.

The South African Connection

This week witnessed ZBIN featuring an article by a South African lady based in East London. The article on ‘how to open and run a restaurant business ekasi’ The post attracted more than 600 views and shocked the writer, Ms Siviwe. She had never written an article that got published and what had happened was that we collected the information that she was sharing on one of our groups and compiled a story. A good story that helps to inspire a lot of women interested in starting businesses.

I remember her fears when she said ‘But iam far, based in East London?’ Our response was simple-business nowadays knows no boundaries. Talent also knows no boundaries and what a way to start writing and you get 600 views with your first article! What is also happening is that the ZBIN brand is nolonger restricted to Zimbabwe as more than 500 South Africans visited our site to read an article that was relevant to them. ZBIN now has 1000 South African citizens on our Whatsapp groups, they discuss South African issues, they write articles for themselves…ZBIN only comes in to facilitate and providing a platform. We are also playing our part in a small way to help promote the future of business in Africa, the future that involves a lot of young people who are not afraid to break boundaries.

ZBIN Online TV

We have 2 new business newspapers coming and the reason is simple…..The Future is in Business! Two weekly publications will be hitting the streets in the coming few weeks to months. This is great news for the nation and ZBIN wishes them well.

On a related note, we have been doing Facebook Live Updates and seem to be improving each time. Each update has attracted more than 400 views and the numbers are increasing. We do not have studio equipment for the live updates but this is not a worry at all. Our intention is to provide our members and followers with up to date business or opportunities information. The live update is going to be a weekly event where we will cover various topics such as business registrations, opportunities in Zimbabwe, Running your business, Women in Business and a lot of other business issues.

The updates will include the Diaspora too so that they can share information on various topics as per request by our community. This should be a game changer in the area of entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe. We will use the platform mostly for updates and capacity building of SMEs. A cost effective method which does not cost a lot of money and we hope to improve and attract more than 10,000 per each broadcast session by the end of the year. Our volunteers will also use the platform to provide training and this will be a welcome move as there will be no need to hire venues or use money for travelling. Another first from Zimbabwe, young people showing that Zimbabwe got talent. Whilst Dr Strive Masiyiwa is making an impact on the continent, ZBIN is making a mark locally and regionally.

What is up this week?

A facebook live update from Vee in South Africa: She explains how to run a business in South Africa. We also make follow ups on a story of Bitcoin Fraudsters in Zimbabwe. Do expect an article on Face Book boosting. We encourage you not to miss the Facebook Boosting article as it is the new ‘in thing’ in the country. A number of companies are turning to Facebook Boosting and even political parties are turning to it too. We may even do a live update of this, do check progress on this during the week.

The Beira trip preparations are ongoing, all is now in order for a chance of forum members to critically analyse opportunities that exist in Beira. We would like to know how other Zimbabweans are doing it there. There is little written about Beira by Zimbabweans and we hope to be the first to write about it and also tap into opportunities that exist there. The distance from Harare to Beira is 457 kilometres and it is roughly the same distance from Harare to Bulawayo.

A lot of our members based in South Africa have been inquiring about company registrations. We welcome the need to register your companies, great move that will benefit you in the long run. Banks or funders generally prefer to work with  registered companies. So if you are looking forward to growth then consider becoming professional and registering your company. An extra advantage is that one can now do the registration online!

Below we feature an article compiled by the Entrepreneur Magazine and share it with our South African members or Zimbabweans in South Africa interested in registering their businesses.

Since 1 May 2011, the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (CIPRO) ceased to exist and was replaced by the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC). The New Companies Act came into being at the same time, changing the way business owners register their companies.

The Act stipulates that no new close corporations (CC) can be registered, but those registered prior to 1 May can continue to operate as CCs.

Registering your company

The Companies Act provides for two categories of companies, namely non-profit and profit companies. Each of the different business entities under these categories has specific requirements in terms of the documentation that is required.

1Types of entities

Non-profit companies:

• A company incorporated for public benefit or another object relating to one or more cultural or social activities, or communal or group interests.
• The income and property are not distributable to its incorporators, members, directors, officers or persons related to any of them.

Profit companies:

• Profit companies are categorised as companies without restrictions on the transferability of their shares and that do not prohibit offers to the public (larger public companies), and companies that do contain restrictions on the transferability of their shares and that prohibit offers to the public (smaller private companies).
• They may take one of four different forms: a personal liability company, a state-owned company, a public company and a private company.

Personal liability companies:

• The directors and past directors are jointly liable with the company for any debts and liabilities arising during their periods in office.
• The company name ends with the word ‘incorporated’.

State-owned companies:

• This is a company defined as a ‘state-owned enterprise’ or a company owned by a municipality.
• The names of a state-owned company must end with the expression ‘SOE Ltd’

Public companies:

• The definition of a public company is largely unchanged.
• The only difference is that a public company now only requires one member for incorporation compared to seven members in the past.

Private companies:

• While comparable to private companies under the old Act, these are similar to previous close corporations.
• Some of the changes made to private companies include fewer disclosure and transparency requirements, no longer being limited to 50 shareholders, and a board that must comprise at least one director.
• The name of a private company must end with the expression ‘Proprietary Limited’ or ‘(Pty) Ltd’.

2Documentation

A company is incorporated by the lodging of a Notice of Incorporation (CoR 14.1) and Memorandum of Incorporation (CoR 15.1 A-E). These forms are available for download from the CIPC’s website.

Memorandum of Incorporation:

The Memorandum of Incorporation (MoI) contains the following information:

1. Details of incorporators
2. Number of directors or alternate directors
3. Share capital (maximum issued)

Notice of Incorporation:

The Notice of Incorporation, which is lodged with the MoI, contains the following information:

1. Type of company
2. Incorporation date
3. Financial year-end
4. Registered address (main office)
5. Number of directors
6. Company name
7. Whether the company name will be the registration number
8. The reserved name and reservation number
9. List of four names to be checked by the Commission

Supporting Documents:

To register a private company you will complete either a CoR 15.1A (for a standard private company) or a CoR 15.1B (for a customised private company) and a CoR 14.1. The supporting documents required include:

• Certified ID copies of all indicated initial directors and incorporators
• Certified ID copy of applicant if not the same as one of the indicated initial directors or incorporators
• If an incorporator is a juristic person, a power of attorney is required for the representative authorised to incorporate the company and sign all related documents
• If another person incorporates the company and signs all related documents on behalf of any of the incorporators and initial directors, a power of attorney and certified ID copy of the person is required
• If a name was reserved before filing of incorporation documents, a valid name reservation document is necessary

Fees: The basic filing fee is R175. According to Elsabie Conradie, head: Communication, marketing and stakeholder relations for CIPC, a private company can be registered within one day if the company registers without reserving a name first.

3Register online

The CIPC’s website allows business owners to register their companies online. Once you are ± registered as a CIPC customer you will be able to access the transactional website. After you have logged in, look for the ‘New Companies’ link under the ‘Companies’ tab.

Credit:Entrepreneur

I remember attending a breakfast seminar hosted by the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce last year in November. The breakfast seminar was about the introduction of the Bond Notes onto the market by the Reserve Bank. I remember the governor Dr John Mangundya speaking passionately about 3 issues affecting the country. He said the Bond Note is not the main issue but a symptom of other issues that needed to be addressed and these are:

1. lack of exports leading to a huge trade deficit
2. The high and unsustainable government expenditure spend on salaries. At the time the government wage bill was 90% of the total government revenue
3. Lack of foreign direct investment in the country

So the Bond Note was not really an issue, the issues that need to be addressed are the 3 mentioned above and they cannot be solved in isolation as there are a lot fundamentals that need to be resolved.

The Bond Note was introduced as an export incentive with a 5 % premium to attract more exports, attract more diaspora remittance infows and also help solve the cash crisis. It is exactly 8 months after the introduction of the currency what is the verdict?

We do not have statistics to analyse the effectiveness of the Bond Note in attracting diaspora remittances or helping to drive export growth but we do have evidence of the cash crisis situation. The cash crisis situation is still with us, infact it has worsened because some banks have stopped disbursing cash altogether on certain days.

The Reserve Bank has used $160 million of the Afrexim bank Facility and only $40 million worth of Bond Notes is left. If they withdraw the remaining funding, will the cash problems suddenly disappear? We do not think so, even if they bring another $200 million, the problem will still remain and the reason is simple….the cash will not solve the 3 issues that t Dr Mangudya mentioned above.

In comes the Cash Barons

The aim of this article is to look at the cash problem which has been exacerbated by cash barons. So far no official information is available as to who they are and our assumption is that the RBZ is not involved in the market like what happened during the 2008 era.

The cash barons are back in full swing and are now found everywhere especially in the city centre. Some are moving around with mobile swipe machines. If you fail to access cash at the bank as has become the norm for the majority of people, all you need to do is to approach cash barons who will give you cash at a premium ranging from 10% to 15%.

If you would like to withdraw $100 from your bank and would like to get cash then you are expected to do a bank transfer of $110 or $115 to cash barons.

Who bears the cash premium?

If it is a company that is in the retail sector that has been charged the $10 premium above then it has to pass on the cost to the consumer! This is a slow beginning of USD inflation and already the IMF team has mentioned the inflationary pressure emanating from the current cash premiums.

Effect on Exports

The cost of production is obviously affected as companies raid the informal sector to access cash especially hard currency. The obvious effect is the lack of competitive prices of our exports on the international market. Exports are part of the 3 issues already mentioned above which the RBZ is passionate about.

Will cash barons stop?

Cash barons are not going to stop anytime soon. Discussing the issue within the ZBIN platform,we actually found out that selling cash is now a source of livelihoods for some. A visit to Road Port shows that the number of cash barons has increased, it is the same with EastGate and a number of offices in town have been converted into cash selling points. Every business Whatsapp group has someone with cash looking for buyers or sellers.

Cash buying and selling has therefore become a cancer which will be difficult to weed out. What is worrisome is that the premiums started at 5% then rose to 10% and up to 15%. The question that is of concern is what will be the next rate? A rise from 10% to 15%? Will the new limit rise to 25%? What will be the effect of a 25% on local prices? What will be the effect on exports?

Why do people need to withdraw cash anyway?

The argument has been why do people need to withdraw cash? Why not just swipe, why not go electronic like other countries? What has been missing is that our business sector is 70% informal. Most transactions require cash and those with cash get preferential treatment or terms. Even in supermarkets, those with cash can skip long queues and join fast express tills. The majority of the population lives in rural areas and they need cash. Once more cash is King and if you do not have it you face double prices than one with hard cash. The demand for cash is therefore getting higher every day.

Tracking the cash barons

One school of thought is that those selling cash are doing the industry a favour because they are simply fulfilling a need. There is a gap in the market and those who are entrepreneurial should be commended for their efforts. Some are even calling for the regularisation of the informal money changers through establishment of Bureau De Changes.

Our different school of thought is that cash barons are responsible for the cash shortages! By selling cash, you are pouring paraffin onto a raging fire. You are stoking the fires of inflation which will consume everyone in the long run. You are being selfish and certainly to not care about the long run implications of your actions!

In 2008 most cash dealers used cash which made tracking difficult. In 2017 the situation is better, they are using formal banking system thereby making tracking easy! The Reserve Bank simply need to encourage members of public to come forward with evidence of transferring funds to cash barons. Provide incentives of say $40 for everyone who has transferred funds to cash barons and they will be overwhelmed with evidence.

As mentioned at the start of the article, the assumption is that the apex bank is not involved in these activities. The downside of this move maybe driving the cash barons deeper underground and thereby driving up premiums. Some skipping tracking my move to neighbouring countries as is the case where the Bond Note is now traded as far as Maputo.

In conclusion we hope the RBZ which is drafting the midterm monetary policy will look at the issues we have discussed. The cash situation needs to be addressed, a holistic approach to solve it need to be adopted. It is 8 months after the introduction of the Bond Note and already premiums have shot up to 15%. We hope to hear measures that will reduce these premiums. ZBIN encouraged our members and the SME sector to embrace Bond Notes when they were introduced and we are looking forward to continue doing so as long as correct measures are taken to address current cash accessibility challenges.