Its now 2 weeks with our offices having been opened-loads of work involved in setting up the offices. Bank forms filling by board members and the secretariat, filling TelOne forms to open a landline and official email for the forum, designing forum strategies, forum organogram, employee contracts and organisational policies….hey what a hectic period it has been for everyone involved in office setting up.
The aim is to create a world class forum that will definitely leave a mark on the business sector in the region. We are fortunate to be a diaspora friendly forum that draws its strength from the diverse backgrounds of its members. Half of our board members are diasporans, these diasporans bring much needed experience and skills in setting the agenda for the forum. We have 3 qualified accountants on the board, Farai a CPA, CGMA based in USA, Tavaziva a Chartered Accountant based in UK and yours truly a Chartered Management Accountant, CGMA based in Harare. We also have an Engineer, Farai who is based in SA, Rutendo a lawyer who is a civil servant and works with the Prison Service. Polite Ndlovu based in Plumtree holds an MBA plus a lot of NGO experience. Rudo(UK) and Laureen (USA) are both working in the medical field and bring a lot of experience on working with youths an women. Our board chair Ms Martha Tholanah was recently voted amongst the 100 most influential Zimbabweans. An international award winner on Human Rights, Gender and HIV and Aids, she brings more than 30 years leadership experience in the NGO sector.
All of these skills, Engineering, Law, Consulting, Medical Industry, Accounting & Auditing, NGO Management and Entrepreneurship will be harnessed so that we can deliver a high quality service! At ZBIN our philosophy is that there is always a way-we do not dismiss business ideas at face value. In most cases if it is not feasible, we park it for a while and revisit it when the environment or conditions are conducive. Imagine in 1995 if someone had said they are working on a model to enable people to bank money using phones? Imagine if someone had mentioned working on a Social Media project? They would have been dismissed as day dreamers, ridiculed and perhaps recommended for Ingutsheni! Such is the nature of business, what made no sense yesterday will make sense tomorrow. What is laughable today will earn millions in future-in business the boundaries have been removed, in business monopolies are being dismantled…its nolonger business as usual. If you do not change or adapt then you will fall by the wayside!
ZBIN is coming in as an engine of innovation, a platform where Zimbabweans share their business ideas-no idea is silly, no idea is impossible. We do not particularly like the word NO! We will work around the word or answer No and find a way.
So what is coming up this week?
Office start up completion-we are hoping to have a landline, official email, posters and forum bank account in place by end of week.
ZBIN Online Forex Trading Meta Trader 4 Training-On Friday at 3:00pm, we will host members of the online forex trading group for a hands on training on forex trading. Kindly note that this is a follow up meeting-there is a training for first timers on the 8th of July 2017. Do not attend the Friday one if you are blank and do not know what online forex trading is.
Partnerships-Interesting discussions we had yesterday with someone who will partner ZBIN in an educational facility initiative. Expect to see banners with ZBIN in the coming weeks.
Donate a Book Campaign-We keep dreaming and bringing some of the dreams to fruition….we are sting up a resource centre for the forum. A walk in resource centre for entrepreneurs. A place where they get everything that they need, from opening bank accounts, managing small businesses and website management. With a wifi already in place for all ZBIN members, this is a great initiative by the forum. Visitors to our offices should be able to check for resources online and also get material from our office resource centre. We are therefore asking you to donate old books on business, women and youths or motivational books. This is our contribution to the entrepreneurial community, you too can play a part.
ZBIN Volunteer Program-kudos to the massive response to our appeal for volunteers to inbox me. Iam still going through the hundreds of emails received and will reply to each one of you. The concept is that of helping the business community by providing mentorship to SMEs in need of technical expertise. We know you are busy professionals with hardly anytime to spare-so we are developing a scheme that takes into consideration all of these limitations. More details to come in due course-if you missed the post that i did put, kindly send an email to vicmunemo@yahoo.com
This is enough for this week, a lot on our plate, we would like to thank those who have been formally subscribing to the forum. The tender tracker should be hitting your inbox as well as 3 interesting and practical business opportunities in the Food, Baking and Educational sectors.
