Diaspora Matters

The question of the weekend for our followers is a simple one….Is Chicken Rearing Profitable? Can one make good profits from rearing  chickens especially broilers? Before answering this question lets look at the photo below from Novatek.

The cost of raising a bird is $3.13 per bird and the average selling price per bird is $6 giving us a profit of $2.87 per bird.

Now the above cost of $3.13 has not taken into account the following costs:

1.Labour costs

2.Water and Electricity charges

3.Travel costs

4.Marketing costs

You can add more costs but for now allow us to just add the above 4 costs. If we add labour ($60), Water and Electricity ($20), Transport costs ($10) then the total cost of production shoots up to $4.03 per bird and therefore reducing the profit to $1.97 per bird assuming that there is no loss of birds due to death.

So what does this tell us about rearing broilers in Zimbabwe?

1. It is a profitable business venture provided you have expertise of raising chickens
2. Profitable if you have a ready market
3. Very Profitable if you can push volumes so as to enjoy economies of scale

Reducing Costs

Growing own chicken feed is an option in reducing chicken rearing costs. It can however be tricky as it can affect the rate of growth of chickens. If you are not careful, you may end up spending more than the person buying chicken feed from reputable suppliers. If you have a ready market then this can help in reducing marketing costs as well as travelling or communication costs as you chase up  debtors.

Marketing Chickens

Most people now know how to raise poultry and this is an easy part especially if you raise them over time.  The biggest headache is the market! Finding reliable markets where you sell all of your chickens in bulk is the greatest challenge that farmers face. Most farmers are resorting to selling chickens to individuals on credit and this often brings more problems-people who refuse or fail to pay! Defaulters increase the costs of rearing chickens and thereby reducing the profit per bird.

What is ZBIN doing about Marketing Challenges?

1.You are free to use our adverts section to market your chickens. We do not mind whether you are a ZBIN registered member or not, log in and put your advert. Our Admin team is working hard to promote the page so that it can be viewed by many people as we expand our operations. We have in mind one online Poultry Market for Zimbabwe to help our members to sell or buy chickens.

2. Profitability can be improved if you reduce costs. Members should therefore form consortiums that enable them to sell their chickens in bulk. We will announce an interesting ZBIN innovation to help solve this, a first of its kind in Zimbabwe, we have discussed extensively about this on our group and even held meetings to brainstorm on the feasibility of the initiative.

So there you are poultry farmers, keep watching your costs and becareful of the term ‘profit’ because you may be excluding key costs in your calculations. We also advise our members to be wary of increasing cases of poultry thefts. When your broilers are almost ready for the market, make sure that you increase your security as you may risk losing all of your birds to thieves.

Are you interested in joining our popular ZBIN Poultry Whatsapp Group? If the answer is yes then kindly app me on +263774081808 as i have 10 places available.

So where are most people spending their monies on? The answer is Food, Accomodation, Education, Medical Aid and Transport.  The list can be expanded or reviewed but on average the areas mentioned are where most Zimbos are spending their monies on. For today we can have a look at Pre-Schools, they are increasingly feeling the heat from a new initiative to introduce Grade 0 in all primary schools. Does this mean there is no room for creches? We do not think so provided you do your research and analysis. There is need for innovation  remain in the game and we encourage our members to look at new surbubs cropping up everywhere-these areas provide room for you to set up a Preschool.

We are fortunate to partner with StartupBiz Zimbabwe who can be found on www.startupbiz.co.zw. They have given us a sample business plan to share with our members. For more business plans we urge you to visit their site.

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Rewards and recognition Over the past several years, many countries in developing their diaspora strategies have included a mechanism for formal recognition. While it may be considered unnecessary, an act of recognition or expression of appreciation is likely to ignite a positive reaction from particular segments of the diaspora and would help highlight many of the efforts made on the part of particular individuals or organizations, which can otherwise go unrecognized. Having a mechanism through which to thank diaspora members will potentially increase engagement, raise awareness and generate substantial good will. In short, there is much more upside than downside. Possible systems for reward and recognition include:

The creation of a formal civic honors system, such as the Order of Canada, Legion d’Honneur in France, the Order of Australia, the British Honors List;

Universities acknowledging successful members of the diaspora either in the form of honorary degrees or through appointments as visiting fellows, adjunct faculty members, etc.;

Recognition could come through the network of the home country’s embassies and consulates around the world;

An invitation to a small gathering hosted by a visiting member of the home country’s Government is a form of recognition in and of itself. Diaspora members like to feel that if they are giving of their time and expertise to advise on particular matters a fitting form of acknowledgement is access to Government at senior levels;

Sponsoring trips home to meet domestic companies whom diaspora members could potentially assist is also seen as a form of acknowledgement; or

Membership in some recognized body of advisors, with a working title. Such an appointment suggests that the person is in a privileged position to help homeland companies, agencies, organizations or Government and is an acknowledgement of his/her global expertise.

Examples of recognition systems
Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards are an expression of honor by the Government of India to members of the Indian diaspora. The award ceremony has been constituted to acclaim those overseas Indians who have done exceptional work in their chosen field/profession. It has been organized by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs every year since 2003. Pravasi Bharatiya Samman awards are reserved exclusively for nonresident Indians and persons of Indian origin. The awards are conferred on those overseas Indians who have made an outstanding contribution towards fostering better understanding abroad of India and its civilization; for persons who have extended their support to India’s causes and concerns; and for those who made her proud by brilliant performance in their field of merit.

World-class New Zealand Awards Now in their eighth year, the World Class New Zealand Awards are one of the country’s most important accolades for outstanding individuals who have made major contributions to New Zealand’s success on the world stage. The annual red-carpet, black tie awards hosted by the Prime Minister are attended by 500 New Zealand business leaders.

Zimbabwe Achievers Awards The Zimbabwe Achievers Awards aim to recognize the commitment to excellence, creativity, innovation and dedication of Zimbabweans in the United Kingdom who have continued to expand on their talents and skill-set whilst celebrating their heritage. Categories for awards include: business woman of the year, business man of the year, sports personality of the year, event of the year, and outstanding contribution.

Governor-General’s Achievement Award Scheme (Jamaica) In 1991 the Governor-General’s Achievement Award Scheme was established to acknowledge and award the meaningful contribution of individuals at the community level. This Awards Scheme celebrates the success of these volunteers and highlights the impact of the award recipients on community and national life. There are three categories of awards under the Governor-General’s Achievement Award Scheme, one of which is the Governor-General’s Jamaican Diaspora Award for Excellence. This award was presented for the first time in 2008 and is given to three individuals who demonstrate exceptional service to Jamaica and communities in their countries of residence – United Kingdom, Canada and the United States of America. These awards are presented biennially to three individuals.

Remember forgotten diaspora members

It must be remembered that while there are a great number of high level influencers within the diaspora, there may also be vulnerable and forgotten members of the diaspora,
particularly older persons living in isolation, poverty and deprivation without the support of family and friends. Any diaspora policy must also provide for these members of the ‘Forgotten Diaspora’ – most of whom would have made provision for their homeland throughout their lives through substantial remittances or other means. An example of a diaspora initiative reflecting this need is The Ireland Funds philanthropic campaign entitled ‘The Forgotten Irish’ which is principally directed at those Irish migrants who went to Britain in the second half of the twentieth century. The majority left to find work, and sent billions of pounds home to their families. At the end of their working lives, many had the means to go home, however, many are still in Britain, often living in isolation, poverty and deprivation – without the support of friends or family. It has been estimated that there are in the region of 100,000 ‘forgotten Irish’ living in Britain with varying levels of need, ranging from homelessness and deprivation to social exclusion, or simply crippling loneliness. Furthermore, The Forgotten Irish Award was
created by the Funds to recognize the efforts made by a group or individual toward helping the vulnerable and elderly Irish community in the UK.

ZBIN has a solid chapter in Cape Town headed by Rodwell Mawoneke and  he is reachable on +27 78 695 9040. More Chapters for the forum being strengthened in Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia and Namibia.

Followers of our forum should have participated or seen the Long Cheng Challenge Post. On the post I asked the forum to assume they have been given a capital of $100 and you go to the popular Chinese shopping mall and u have to start a business. Tough task hey most of you struggled with the challenge because $100 is just too little for any meaningful business right?

I also carried out the challenge live when ZBIN was invited to carry out a business presentation at this popular local church. We simply asked congregants to go into pairs and come up with business opportunities they can pursue at LongCheng.
For minutes they struggled with the challenge, The Pastor, Mai Pastor…amongst the congregants were Bankers, Accountants, Economists, Teachers, Policemen, Students…I mean everyone. The good thing at the end of the minutes of ‘cracking heads’ they all came up with brilliant business proposals.

So what was the rationale of the challenge?

The rationale is twofold, the first is anyone can identify opportunities-everyone, no special skill required. If you are given a task to look for opportunities then you are not likely to come back empty handed! At this church we asked people to be in pairs which helped in the brainstorming sessions. So partnering with others can help you achieve more in identifying opportunities.

The second rationale, the main one is that we wanted to show the problem of the old model of investment. The old method is that whenever you think of business the first thing that comes to mind is Capital. Where are you going to find capital? If you are not going to find capital then that’s the end of story in your thinking. We had made it worse for members by asking them to confine themselves to $100. Had we asked them to look for opportunities without capital restrictions –chances are very high that they would have come up with more opportunities, even their innovation levels would certainly have been high.

To summarise it…the new way of investment is that of identifying opportunities first without capital worries, opportunity identification when not under pressure or restrictions allows a lot of innovation. After identifying opportunities then start finding how best to fund your ideas.

In funding it you may need to approach banks with business plans and given the prevailing environment, chances are high that your application will be turned down. You will not stop with banks-you explore more opportunities-how about venture capital? How about CrowdFunding? How about partnerships? ZBIN has helped members in getting partners…infact when we brainstormed on lack of access to capital we came up with a brilliant innovation of linking locals with the Diaspora!

We did not stop when we found opportunities but lacking capital, we kept on pushing and slowly the initiative is paying dividends. So the big point here is if you start investment by thinking of capital first then you are going to lose out on a lot of opportunities, your chances of stopping investing because of capital constraints are extremely high. The one who worries about capital last is the one most likely to succeed because he or she has no worries or restrictions limiting their thinking or innovation capacity.

Mwashuma Yaambo

So if you are asked about your forum what it stands for will you say? The answer is simple. ZBIN helps members to have access to the following:

1. Access to Markets

2. Access to Capital

3. Access to free information and resources and

Our forum is a Diaspora Friendly forum and has been in existence since February 2015. We got registered formally as a trust in March 2017 and our registration number is MA 000457/2017. Made up of a board headed by Ms Martha Tholanah, the board is made up of seasoned professionals from various fields such as Accounting, Law, Engineering, NGO, Consulting, Nursing and Human Resources. Fifty percent of our board is from the Diaspora and sixty percent being women.

The Finance Profession had more representation on the board with Farai based in USA who is the deputy board chair (CGMA, CPA),Tavaziva based in UK (CA) and your trully (ACMA,CGMA). The board has been funding all initiatives to date such as website registration and management, forum registration, forum business trips and the provision of free business resources over the past 2 years. With a strong corporate governance structure and culture, the term of office for the board is 5 years and we can only be re elected for a maximum term limit of 10 years. As a centre of excellency on corporate governance, we hope to transfer a successful ZBIN organisation before the expiry of our maximum term limits.

Achievements to date

1.    Successful trips (X3) to Mozambique to explore business opportunities, kindly refer to the website Gallery for

2.    Setting up a website www.zbinworld.com that has reached more 200,000 views. The website has a record number of free investment advice, more than 250 in total and we achieved this in less than 6 months.

3.    Current projects to register a poultry marketing company to help members to sell their poultry products in bulk and enjoy economies of scale.

4.    Carried out a mining tour of Mashonaland West which helped members with free information on mining opportunities.More tours lined up for the second quarter of the year.

5.    Introduced a tender tracker to help members in the Diaspora with access to opportunities presented by tenders in Zimbabwe.

6.    We have 5,000 members on our ZBIN Group who are constantly sharing business information and ideas. Professional groups that are well managed and have attracted a number of foreigners from Ghana(Rabbit Group), India and South Africa (Human Resources) and Malawians (Malawi General Group). This is in addition to the 28,000 members that we have on Facebook.

7.    Carried out outreach activities for a number of churches and church groups inspiring them to identify and take advantage of opportunities. Outreach programmes to local universities is next in the pipeline.

8.    Influenced the drafting of the National Diaspora Strategy.

Plans in the Pipeline

Everyone on the group is working on a part-time basis and this is not an effective and efficient way to deliver our 3 Objectives already mentioned. We have done extremely well on  Objective 3, Provision of Free Information and Resources. Information on its own is not good enough. We need to see member getting access to capital and actually starting businesses. ZBIN should be able to say we helped 2000 members to have access to capital, they started business projects and the members are so and so. We would like to see members who got additional capital which they injected in their businesses and this should be tracked.

We would like to see members who have had access to markets. We would like to see someone saying through ZBIN I accessed this new market, I got help from this group to sell x amount of goods which generated xyz amount of revenue.

So provision of information will continue but the focus will shift a bit—more action and evidence of what we are doing on the ground. How many members have accessed Capital? How many members have accessed Markets? Objective 1 and 2 are going to be our top priorities for the rest of the year. We already have a  scorecard  on our site which provides direction of our focus as a group. The group will review it in the next weeks.

Member Registration

In order to effectively carry out our objectives, we will have to recruit qualified and experienced personnel. We will need a CEO/Administrator, Access to Markets Manager, Access to Capital Manager, Research and Innovation Manager Positions. We have various options for fund raising which we are exploring. One of the options is raising funds from registered members. We feel this initiative will cover 5-10% of the needs of the organisation, a few funders have shown interest in our work and we will announce once we have tangible discussions going on.

So our registration is $10 per member for 6 months or $20 for a full year. The benefits of registering are that you help your organisation to grow and secondly, you enjoy a number of benefits listed below:

1 Exclusive Access to Advertising Opportunities on all ZBIN forums such as our website, newsletter and conferences.

2.  ZBIN Paid Up Member Facebook Page: Exclusive forum for paid up members to be created, a platform where members have access to high quality business plans and other investment trends and opportunities.

3. Free resources such as Tax laws,  Loan Application Templates, Cash flow, Market Survey templates for download. 

5. Free Trainings and Participation on ZBIN Conferences and Tours:The Online Forex Group is going to be the first ZBIN group to obtain free trainings, the training on Online Forex Trading. The cost of the training is worth $250 but members will pay nothing! We will negotiate for more training partnership opportunities for our members.

6. Better Quality Information: We have demonstrated information provision as a key strength for ZBIN. Our record number of free investment advice is unprecedented! We will continue to provide general information to unregistered members. Registered members will however have access to better quality

7. Tenders Tracker Access: A first of its kind in Zimbabwe, the tender tracker is a database of all available tenders in Zimbabwe. Information shared is not easily accessible to non-resident Zimbabweans. Members should therefore have access to opportunities in Zimbabwe and track trends. The Diaspora is highly encouraged to access this tracker with a view to establish partnerships with locals and participate on high value tenders. In future we hope to expand the tenders and cover the whole Southern Africa Region.

8. Endorsement for Credit Access: Did you see a recent Homelink Advert which we shared widely? For you to access loans, you have to be a member of a registered business association-this is where ZBIN comes in by not only endorsing but providing helful advice on loan or credit applications.

9.  Diaspora- Locals Linkages Programme Banefits: We are the pioneers of the Diaspora-Locals Partnerships Programme Diaspora Linkages in Zimbabwe:. The Diaspora Community remits close to a billion dollars to Zimbabwe per annum. This community can even increase the amount of money they send if sufficient conditions and enabling environment is put in place. Through our website, we have become a hit with the Diaspora interested in investing in the country. There are a lot of inquiries and to respond to that we are refining the list of companies and consultants on our register so that the 2 parties can mutually benefit. Economic conditions in the Diaspora are different from those prevailing in Zimbabwe. Some have access to credit, access to information and other resources. Some are interested in opening exclusive distributorship franchises; to do this they need local partnerships-In comes ZBIN with a list of registered members from Zimbabwe and the Diaspora for possible partnerships. The advantages will be plenty and those who have been with ZBIN since inception can testify, more opportunities should come with the growth of the forum in the coming few months. We are also increasingly becoming the window of investment into Zimbabwe by foreign nationals and this should also benefit our members.

Registration Modalities

How much to register? $10 for 6 months or $20 for full year

Member Registration forms can download it below or abe accessed  from Catherine Shava who is based in Bulawayo. Her number contact number is +263 776 196 313. She will send you guidance on registration and next steps to follow.

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What happens to Unregistered Members?

We will continue to provide information the way we have been doing-general business information, engaging everyone, inspiring members, providing them with resources whenever we can because we enjoy doing our work. We enjoy seeing success stories because this is good for you, your family, local community and Zimbabwe and the region as a whole.

We bring you the best known Zimbabwean Start-Up Company, Bust Stop Tv. A company formed by young people which produces comedy/satire skits. Hugely popular in Zimbabwe, the company has used social media extensively to market their brand. The corporate sector has supported them well with a number of endorsements. Below is an interview that ZBIN had with Lucky Aaroni a co-founder and director of Bus Stop Tv.

1.Tell us about your company :

Answer:Bustop is online Tv channel, which mainly produces comedy/satire skits among other productions.

2.How many people do you employ?

Answer: Bustop Tv employs  5 people who are full time with Bustop and sometimes we employ people based on a project needs.

3.Source of your ideas?

Answer: Source of ideas is our lives, society, politics, religion, current affairs and many other interesting issues and sometimes fans suggest to us on themes to address.

4.How have you used Social Media to grow your company?

Answer: Social media is new way of communicating and marketing and Bustop tv has managed to package  entertainment successfully which helped to push our brand. Collaborations with other online outfits like ZAMBEZI NEWS , top musicians such as Jah Prayzah and stand up comedians such as Doc Vikela assisted us to quickly establish ourself in the market.

5.Your website address :

Answer: www.bustop.tv

6.Any Plans to reach out to the Diaspora? Any Diaspora Tours in the pipeline?

Answer:We hope to do Tours as soon as we find promoters who are interested in supporting us and host a comedy show only for comedians and not mixing with music acts.

7.Top 3 challenges

Answer:

-Self -censorship

-Our jokes make sense to Zimbabweans only because  we only use Shona, if we try use English we might lose the humour in the process but we are trying our best to figure ways to strike balance.

-The splits we have encountered over the years have dragged us down, we could be doing more as one team.

8.Do you have any Expansion Plans?

Answer: We want to start doing television  production and films if possible and at the moment we focusing on turning Bustop Tv into a media production house.

9.Parting Message to your fans.

Answer: Keep working and be passionate about what you do!

Zimbabwe Business Ideas and Network Comment: We hope the story of Bus Stop Tv helps to inspire youths across Southern Africa especially in countries where ZBIN has a strong presence. The message is that you do not need a lot of capital to start sucessful projects as shown by Bus Stop Tv. Think outside the box and create companies in various fields, do not just stick to conventional brick and mortar companies but use your innovation to venture into new fields never tried before.

“To make a lot of money, you must solve people’s problems” goes a certain entrepreneurial saying. A latest post on this website about “The Virtual Zimbabwe” Inspired me to write this post about the real Zimbabwe, highlighting the problems and possible entrepreneurial solutions. Well in Entrepreneurship and or businesses, the word problem or opportunity are used interchangeably, implying that problems are a “pool” of idle opportunities. It only takes one’s mind to see possibilities where others see empty spaces and also to take action in utilising the opportunities whilst others muse, relax and wait for the so called “the good” time when the Zimbabwean economy is flourishing. Here are some problems that represent untapped business opportunities.

1.Hunger

Although Zimbabwe was once Africa’s bread basket, it has for the past two decades been facing prolonged dry spells. `There are some areas/ regions that were giving better yields although the farmers have to be more capital and labour intensive. The opportunity for this problem is straight to the window: Grow as much as you can in areas where there are better yields such as Mash Central, then after that, your markets are ready in areas of dry spell such as parts of Manicaland and Masvingo provinces.

2.Load shedding

The unplanned switching on and off of electricity has become a normal issue in the present day Zimbabwe, although the frequency of power cuts is declining. Simply put, to make a lot of money in this energy industry, invest in alternate sources of energy. These include solar energy, paraffin, liquid petroleum (LP Gas) and even charcoal or firewood.

3.Higher fees at schools

Many pupils are dropping out of school due to high fees being demanded. An ideal to ride on this opportunity is simply providing a learning facility at a very affordable fee. Think of those who are conducting extra lessons at their homes or having a private college or a crèche. If you want to go an extra mile, then make use of technology and have an online class or have the assignments uploaded online.

4.Health problems

There are so many patients that a doctor has look for if you visit public clinics. It is sad that patients are dying in queues before being attended to. More sadly, to those attended, you are just given a prescription without the medication or the pills to cure the disease. Entrepreneurs, how about opening a private clinic or a pharmacy that sells the prescribed medicines from the clinics. It is a project that is much viable and worth taking.

5. Cash crises

This has become almost everyone’s problem, whether employed or not. Having cash at hand seems to be everyone’s dream. With the rising of the sun marking a brand new day, everyone things of how he/she can have cash at hand. So if you are business minded, look for avenues where you can get the much needed hard cash and “sell” it. Many mobile financial services agents are giving cash after you give them a certain interest, usually 10% i.e a $1 on every $10.

There we are. Go on and give it a try, take the problems around and turn them into opportunities.

**be reminded, in business you have to take risks, if you win you will be happy and if you lose, you will be wise**     {maxmakumucha@gmail.com}

ZBIN wishes all of our members Happy Holidays. A lot of our members should be visiting rural areas or holiday resorts and some maybe sticking around especially those in Harare. Munemo will be around town -money too tight to mention. My kids however expect me to be innovative and come up with a plan. My options include a fishing trip, a visit to Harare Safari Lodge, kuenda kumusha or Domboshava Caves visit.

So Zimbabweans love their families and will always do their best to make them happy especially the little ones. If you want evidence of this then visit Longcheng Shopping Plaza in Harare  or Megga 2 in Hatfield Harare.

A look at Megga 2 in Hatfield Harare

The concept here is of a one stop shop for family fun. Families enjoy an outing with parents enjoying drinks, braai and music whilst kids will be busy at the Kids Play Centre. This is the only place in Zimbabwe where you find kids having outdoor fun during the evening. It’s common to see parents and kids leaving this place at 11:00pm during the evening with both parties satisfied…kids and parents!

Unfortunately the one stop shop concept for entertainment seems to have found no takers because by now more such centers should have been opened around Harare and the country as a whole.

We are however not encouraging our members to copy Megga 2 but to come up with new innovations that can capture the attention of Zimbabweans. Our kids love to have fun and there seems to be limited options around. There is nothing new introduced in the country in the past few years. Perhaps we can talk about Ice Skirting introduced at Old Mutual but it is the only one and we feel that there is room for improvement. A chance for the Diaspora community to consider bringing new technologies to Zim.

Inflatables: The Jumping castle is now outdated and only cater for kids. Below we show you a video of inflatables that allow parents and kids to have games together. What a better way to have quality time together by participating in games! There is no better way to bond for families than being involved in games. The inflatables would suit places near lakes, outdoor areas such as Lake Chivero. As shown in the videos, the inflatables can be used for sporting competitions, companies doing company strategic retreats can use them too. So unlike the traditional jumping castles, the inflatables shown in our videos cuts across all ages. We will share in our newsletter how you can obtain them and the costs involved.

1. Water floating ball: I witnessed this on a Mozambican group, popular on selected  Indian Beaches becareful though because it can be risky. The water balls can be fun to parents and kids…walking on water a new experience which should find a lot of takers.

Waterball Videos

Inflatable Videos

For registration with ZBIN and access endless business opportunities whatsapp Munemo on +263774081808.

We continue to give you free information concerning tenders in Zimbabwe. Great opportunity for you to view all tenders in one place.

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Yesterday I found myself 150 kilometres away from Harare! What a fabulous journey, this reminded me of my first journey to Tete last during the Easter Holidays. Looks like every year around this time I look East!

So what was the business in Mutoko?

I was involved in a swap deal with a relative of mine who wanted one of my small tucks in exchange for land. I was initially sceptical of this deal because I honestly have no business in Mutoko. The little knowledge that I have of this place is when last year we stopped in Mutoko to refill fuel at the Total Service Station, the stopover lasted 10 minutes.  So yesterday witnessed me and my wife in this beautiful place and I was there for more than 3 hours. We were fortunate to have someone with inside information about this place.

General Economic Conditions

The area is affected by the current liquidity challenges that are affecting the rest of the country. There is evidence of business struggling with a number of closed shops. Commercial banks such as CBZ closed shop and the only commercial bank at the centre is Agribank.

Real Estate Sector

More land is being serviced for residential stands and this has resulted in massive expansion which defies the performance of the economy. Will need more information and research on what is driving this expansion. The number of new homes constructed over the past few years is very high. I also had a chance to visit one of the newest residential area called Mutandihwa where stands range from 800-2000 square metres. Iam not sure about the price ranges but I took the following phone numbers for the benefit of our members:+263773994686 and +263772237460.

The increased activity in the real estate sector has led to the growth in the Hardware Shops where business is brisk. We also witnessed 2 churches constructing massive church buildings.

And the Opportunities?

This town would suit someone who is looking into the future, someone who can look beyond the current challenges. The first question you may need to answer is what attracted commercial banks to set up in this area in the first place. It is obvious that at one time it made sense to set up shop in the area. At one time business was so brisk that one commercial bank was not enough for this area.

So they came because there was massive potential but later on business became unprofitable. So if you are patient and got a positive mind set then this area presents a lot of opportunities in many sectors. The real estate is the obvious one, we do not have population figures but estimate that since 2009 the area has grown by 100% with new houses being built every year. Opportunities abound for construction companies and hardware shops in this area.

Vehicles Servicing

We did not see a main shop selling vehicle parts, maybe we need to research more in future but we did not see visibility of this sector in the town. Chance for ‘makava eku Harare’ to research and invest lol because the population of vehicles in high and the only area we witnessed that has auto related products is the Total Service Station that was selling vehicle tyres. It is easy to overlook this area on paper but connect this area with the massive residential area expansion. A new service station is being constructed along the Mutoko-Harare Highway at the centre and this shows that someone has seen the potential presented by vehicles in this town.

Outdoor Leisure Centre

Witnessed an outdoor centre near the town which is in a ramshackle state, perhaps related to the general economic situation currently prevailing in the country? We feel that Yes the Economy plays a huge part BUT what is required is innovation. Wanted is someone who can bring a Megga 2 concept, A Paramount Signature concept to this centre and target 2 clients-travelling motorists along the highway and the locals. Mix the 2 clients and not have to worry about localised economic conditions.

Micro Finance Institutions

The gap created by the exit of the commercial banks means that micro finance institutions should consolidate market presence. ZBIN to carry out more researches in this area.

More Opportunities?

More opportunities to be shared with our registered members. Remember to register next week and access more opportunities. In future we will be providing detailed information so that you can make informed investment decisions.

Our Star

Our investment star has to be firstpack, they have invested in a business sector that is expanding-books, stationery and IT related products.

Getting Ready

So this is what is happening 150 kilometres to the East of Harare, massive real estate expansion which is going on quietly and not being featured. Our source told us that the Council is looking for more investors especially those interested in setting up manufacturing industries. The Toko People are also asking why Hararians take granite stones and transport it to the Capital? Why not set up stone processing plants in Mutoko and transport finished products? Chances for Diasporans to look at innovative ways of solving this area and help create employment for people living in this area. Application is simple, go directly to the council and inquire, no need for middlemen!

So whilst current opportunities are limited it is the future that some of us are interested. I do not even have money to develop the area that I acquired but got my eyes firmly fixed on the future. The future of this area is unlimited and so should be put on your investment radar.

Do not forget to register as a ZBIN Member next on Monday.