Little is known about Beira by Zimbabweans and yet the city is located less than 600km from Harare-more like the distance between Harare and Beitbridge.
So our forum hit the road last week with the following objectives;
1) Assess opportunities for our members
2) Create material for our next book and tv channel
Business model : Crowdfunding (pooling resources or the tour)
Results
As you enter the Forbes Border post, you are greeted by a long winding queue of long distance trucks…hundreds of them! What are they doing? Transporting goods between Zim & Moz.
The Road:
Mozambique should get an award for the road of the century👏🏽👏🏽. The road so good that its literally an airport runway stretching for 283km. For most parts, the road is straight making driving an enjoyable experience!
So much has been said about the Chinese and yes most of it not so good but this stretch of the road redeems the image of Chinese👏🏽👏🏽👌🏾.
State of development:
Chimoio: Technically a Zimbo city in Mozambique….fast developing, well organized. City taken over by South Africans who are building shopping malls competing with the Chinese. You find Barclays Bank (Yes still operational) FNB bank, BancABC etc. A lot of farming done by our former white farmers. Our diaspora investing too with some of our members having acquired farms in the region.
Other urban areas
Haphazard settlements and it gets worse the further you move away from the border, even the soil types-typical poor Mozambique as shown by media.
Beautiful Beira:
A mixed bag of poor roads & infrastructure. Most areas experiencing inner city decay and situation exercabated by the recent cyclone which blew off roofs.
However there are some nice areas, modern buildings and a lot of new areas.
Opportunities:
1.Tourism: We found that tourism not taken seriously but has a lot of potential. Some nice beach front areas and yet few tourism support industries.
2) Export clearance opportunities: Most of imports are in containers unlike Durban…so no abnormal loads like Durban. There are repackaging, warehousing & support opportunities. Zim Cooking oil comes in tankers from India…Malawi too. Fertiliser imports come in bulk & packaged there before onward transportation. Transport business overcrowded.
3) Salt: If you can figure out how to completely dry salt being processed from sea water…then great potential for export to Malawi. The salt sold there is not completely dry but good enough.
4) Mabhero: This is a tricky area where few people make it. Wholesale prices of mabhero (Shoes from USD65) Clothes from USD 130 depending on quality. The bales are sealed and the question is why🤷🏾♂
5) Zimbabwean Shopping Malls: The Chinese have own shopping malls, Ivato etc South Africans too…Zimbabwe Nothing! We need our own Zimbabwean centres for pushing our products! We found isolated cases of Dairiboard products…condensed milk etc Mazowe Drinks & Cerevita. Food for thought especially for diasporans. Plenty of land…lets mark our territory after all, the cidade was built for facilitating Zim imports & exports.
6) Farming: Poor and swampy soils in Beira but still room for commercial rice farming, cattle ranging etc. We witnessed small scale fish farming done by foreigners. More opportunities in agro industries if you can process fish and other sea food
7) We also identified an interesting opportunity where we will conduct a market survey and test the product in shortage in Mozambique & Zimbabwe. Funny enough they import when they have the key inputs. 8) Ice cream & freezits _ more room for enterprising Zimbabweans to introduce these products. Find out ways of distribution and kabum….Business generated! Its hot and humid but no physical presence of cool drinks in the city or beach front!
9) High consumption of potatoes and the good news? We are taking advantage of it. Chickens coming from Chimoio by ex Zimbabwean white farmers👌🏾
10 ) Stone Cladding: Most of the buildings have poor paintwork due to salty sea water. Solution? Stone cladding, stone cladding (Google search it) Had my home fixed with stone cladding…awesome stuff. Someone please whisper into the ears of House of Stone in Bluffhill that vanofa nemari pa Moz…shopping malls, hotels, churches, schools and private homes!
There are plenty more opportunities…cheap mbudzi cellphones going for USD4,00…resold in Harare for USD10,00.
Zimbabwe Community:
If Zimbabweans come together in Beira…they will benefit immensely! Need for Zim education, Zimbabwe products & more manje muZimbo kubatana nevamwe is difficult.
Logistics:
Everyday a Triptrans bus leaves Harare at 11:am arriving in Cidade De Beira @ 8:00pm. Bus fare=USD 30 equivalent.
If using own vehicle…it costs USD35 to get insurances at the border.
Police: One infamous roadblock after Chimoio…they will ask for documentos and if all inorder, they ask for an international driving licence and you have to negotiate. Make sure all passengers have buckled up or more fines will come your way.
Parking at the beach: Check for prohibited zones close to the beach…some of the signposts difficult to see.
Car break inns: In town avoid leaving your vehicle unattended, thieves can pounce on it even lights or mirrors!
Language: Learn some basics but you can still find your way using Shona & English.
No fuel problems, functioning atms, no electricity black outs.
Malaria: Get tablets, mosquito repellants etc The mosquitoes pierce your skin even when wearing jeans lol Sort them with repellents!
Hospitality:
We only saw one small car from Zimbabwe for the 3 days…Zimbos dont travel that much to this side despite close proximity.
Mozambicans go to vote this morning and political parties were holding last campaign rallies on Saturday.
We bumped into an after party of Frelimo supporters and as soon as they realised we were Zimbabweans they welcomed us and we managed to get a lot of contacts…patichada minda hazvichanetse😄…some top officials hanzi huyai huyai muri hama dzedu kkk
We even got Frelimo regalia…hats, tshirts and more! Of course our forum is non political but the regalia helped us avoid trouble with police on the road on our way back….clever lol
Danced to Passada, Kizomba & Zouk. They know our music too and can sing along to our hit songs. Mr Bow is the ladies favourite…we only realised it was 4:00am before leaving the after party. They were disappointed to learn Sunday was our last day before heading back home!
We will compile a documentary of our tour covering videos, photos, interviews and more and will share.
No meaningful material exists on the internet about Beira, absolutely nothing on business opportunities but where no information exists, our forum creates it!
Lets not let boundaries stop us from exploring opportunities. Dont allow language too…we are ONE PEOPLE with Mozambicans and they generally like Zimbabweans.
Kudos to our team, Gerald Kumansala, Fadzai Katandika & Mr Chidziva in Beira. More tours in future and its enjoyable when done in groups. Of course you can also go on your own.
