Diaspora Matters

If you are indeed a serious entrepreneur, then you should be part of our Whatsapp Community where our members are verified, network, form join ventures, crowdfunding projects and also generate sales. The collective investment in assets by our crowdfunding projects stand at US$50, 000 and earmarked to double by end of year.

The collective investment in assets by our crowdfunding projects stand at US$50, 000 and earmarked to double by end of year. And every week we have a newsletter distributed across all the platforms.

Joining the ZBIN Whatsapp connected to a Facebook Forum with 200,000 Active Members is $10 per year. Or $50 per year  if joining as a premium member. You can link up on Whatsapp +263773055063

Our top list of Whatsapp Forums consists of:

1. ZBIN Subscribed: The Main Group where every subscribed member is supposed to be part of. Verified members where a lot of networking takes place.
2. ZBIN Premium Chats: The best group in terms of resources. Premium Chats hosted every Friday evening at 7:00pm
3. ZBIN Mompreneurs: One of our best forums for ladies business
4. ZBIN Mining: For serious mining deals and resources sharing
5. ZBIN Seafarers: Networking and Resources and guidance for new recruits to cruise ships
6. ZBIN Cruise ship Jobs: Resources for those searching for cruiseship jobs
7. ZBIN Agriculture: All matters Agriculture including buying and selling
8. ZBIN Poultry: Headed by Damson Royel for  all matters poultry.
9. ZBIN Rabbits: Headed by Mr Takawira Dururu and for sharing rabbits rearing, sales and sales.
10. Papaya Farming: Headed by Mr Arthur Garande for all matters papaya, networking, buying  and sales.
11. Financial Literacy: Covers all matters Finance and global news. A forum for critical thinkers.
12. ZBIN Youths: Youths networking and sales
13. ZBIN Harare: The oldest group for networking and sales
14. ZBIN Ruwa: Chapter networking, buying  and sales
15. ZBIN Bulawayo: Chapter networking, buying sales
16. ZBIN South Africa: Chapter networking and crowdfunding projects
17. ZBIN Diaspora: Chapter networking and sales
18. ZBIN UK: Chapter networking
19. ZBIN Capetown: Chapter networking and sales
20. ZBIN Midlands
21. ZBIN Fresh: Networking, buying  and sales
22. ZBIN Future: Networking, buying and sales
23. ZBIN AI Groups (1&2): AI Resources sharing, learning and networking
24. ZBIN Books Sharing: Books sharing and networking
25. ZBIN Mentorship: For members who attended The Visibility Sprint
26. ZBIN General Ads
27. ZBIN SADC: Networking and resources sharing for ladies across SADC trained by ZBIN

Over the past 11 years we have built a solid infrastructure of well connected entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe. Our first challenge in the early days was to get entrepreneurs to share their experiences and network. Through persistence-we managed to develop a small well connected community and on a weekly basis we compile a newsletter for internal circulation.

Below we feature our latest newsletters. They are not perfect in terms of design and also include a lot of typos. However the content is good enough. If you are on our Whatsapp Forums, you should have a lot of copies.

May-8-2026-ZBIN-Newsletter May-1-2026-ZBIN-Newsletter

Zimbabwe has one of the highest informal sectors in the world and effectively supporting them so that they can effectively contribute to economic development is a Herculean task. The greatest need is access to capital, but how do you provide capital to over 6 million entrepreneurs?

So ZBIN has come up with a number of projects to support access to capital with the biggest initiative being cruise ship jobs. Farming Madagascar Lima Beans is the second one.

Last time we reported progress in backyard farming and building stock banks. This has been successfully achieved with a few trying commercial farming on a small scale. We do not have anyone with an acre planted but very hopeful that in 2027 we will have a good number farming acres and some extending to hectares.

To new readers, The Madagascar Lima Beans are delicious beans originally from Madagascar and do come in 2 varieties. The most common is the speckled variety and then the white butter beans called Grois. The Grois Pois is very expensive with retail prices in South Africa ranging from $4-$8 depending on grade. A popular part of Chinese and premium restaurants.

Unlike sugar beans which only grow for a season. The lima can span several years up to 7-9 years. Non stop fruiting and harvesting and dot need fertilizer and herbicides.

We share below progress of photos. In case you need to join other farmers and getting seeds, we have a forum available to subscribed members.

In Zimbabwe you should make sure that you have as much information as possible when it comes to opportunities. Even in areas you may not have time or capital for. However getting access is difficult. This is why we formed the forum back in 2015. We prefer it when we go to the ground with our members sharing latest experiences. And Premium Chats do the trick. Not everything covered in Premium Chats get outside though. So you should subscribe for access to all weekly chats.

My name is Tinashe Chingoma member of the esteemed ZBIN for over five years now

Professionally I am an accountant/auditor, however I have been into groceries for over a decade and farming for the past three years but have been on the ground full time for the past six months. The reason why I went to the farm on fulltime basis whilst I do part-time on groceries is I realized that farming can only grow kana uri paground.

Today we will delve into cabbages;

For cabbages I will add another bonus for red cabbages and cauliflower and broccoli

With my experience cabbage is the easiest crop to grow, however it’s also a crop inogona kukurarisa nebhutsu if you mistimed. Can members please confirm, do all members understand Shona or I stick to English only? Waiting for any non Shona speaking member before I proceed,just one minute window!!

For cabbages I would recommend these varieties

• 1-kilimo
• 2-3301,10,11, Stake ayres
• 3-Lunaria

Fabiola for me handina kuridira size of the head, mumusika raizvimbira. You would end up wakudollar for 5/6 plus makoronyera vanokuwisira pasi yet radya same feeding nemahybrids ayo. Cabbages are heavy feeders who require both fertilisers nemanyowa. I did both experiments and I realized kuti asina manyowa their perfomance can’t match ane manyowa. So during off season august ikoko uko tsvagai manyowa as much as possible kumatanga uko.

Prices: Cabbage pick up prices usually from mid November up to latest of June thereabout.

Generally hector we deal with 30k plants however I recommend an extra 20% to cater for asingakure,anotsemuka, anofa etc. Also stagger them coz ukamati zhuu kaone anozvimbira iwe muridzi.

Fertilizers:  I usually put between cup 22-30 for compound C, high C

Manyowa just my palm,ruoko one pagomba usina kurivhara is enough

These requirements apply to brascias family yandatauta pamusoro apo ie,red cabbage, green ramajaira, cauliflower, nebrocolli. For cauliflower please stick to twister iyoyo inovhara,macustomers haadi yakasviba

Then for Top dresser we use AN 15g per plant however spread over three times ie day 7,14,28.musapfuure day 35 musina kupedza kuisa AN kana muri musummer then musapfuure day 35 muwinter matapinda umu.

Best Period

Kana uchirima cabbage please never ever over expect profits. Kuti usage neBP work just with 100% return. Matimes 4/5 you will be disappointed. This crop is a compounding crop meaning consistence carries you through. Good margins momawana December up to April- May. Then November, June and sometimes July are survival months.

My current Kilimo yakasvika ne60 days, yes just two months ranga rasvika.

These crops dzooda mumunda makachena,plus rinoda mvura,every third day engine inenge ichiridza.

So with my experience ndoburitsa cabbage every second month for nine months

Kutenga mbeu yakabuda kudhara kune disadvantage yemaextra costs yekuti kana zvarema unozochema coz you can’t adjust your prices.

For Stake Ayres maseeds totora kucharger seeds however for those vanoenda,SA, Zambia, Tanzania ,you can get them at a fraction. Kagama ke12500 seeds kanoita $48 kucharger seeds. Seedlings akabuda kudhara anoita between $25-$30 per thousand

Saka mukatenga 4 zvigaba zviya you are guaranteed to get good seedling dze40k plants at less than a dollar (Sorry neless than $200)

Profit Calculations

Manje mukatenga akabuda kudhara makubata $1,200 same thing chandashandisa maybe $250. Cost cutting kufarming carries you through fellow members

Saka let’s do the maths tese;

• $250 for seeds
• Compound C*16 bags *$36 $576
• AN 11bags*$39 =$429
• Mishonga $100 is enough if you buy in bulk mukatenga one one vanodhura
• So we have $250+$576+$429=$1255.

Remember tiri kushandisa ndina ye36,000 plants, this is just over a hector but we treat it as a hector to accommodate for the losses I highlighted earlier. Kurima zvosiyana nenzvimbo. Kusakura haridi sora. Sorry to say this handina kufarira randakashandisira maherbicides harina kundiitira zvakanaka. Also I realized kuti mulching kutimbira kuuya the perfomance is different from asingatimbirwe. Mvura cabbage rinoda chaizvo but not too much.

Any questions before we proceed?

Sorry to say this akasakurwa perfoms far much better than ashandisirwa maherbicides

Vekusakura vacho ngavaite kakutimbira even culvate achirimadiki

So pandinoisa cabbage ndoisa futi some red cabbage,cauliflower nebrocolli at the same time. These input them in batches of just a thousand to 1500 each per batch.

Red cabbage pamunda they take ne$ for 2/3

Cauliflower nebrocolli the same maximum $ for 4

So pavanotora cabbage they then take maybe 200 broccoli,200 cauliflower then 100-200 red cabbage. Another experience as long as the batches are good and the sizes are good please vakomana vemabare,chikwanha ,Bulawayo nemutare ngavauye vatore vega.iwe verengerwa Mari yako zvekuti kumarket zviri kuita marii siyana nazvo.

Fresh produce just scan the market then price in a way yekuti you attract the correct people. Mutare market, those guys take them to Mozambique,big ones vanga vachitipa ma$ for 3 then the rest 4 and 5. So if you manage your crop well ,60% will be big ones ,.ie 18000 marova mu$6k. Balance 12k or so mowana even $2000 bho zvokuti. Inini personally ndotsvaga anything above $6000 ratorwa pamunda. That way I am guaranteed 100% profit every 3 months. If the market is good you can get as much as $10k but those figure dzobuda kana uchiri nemasmall portions kana akawanda work with $6k-$8k

Questions & Answers

Dorcas Oriflame: How is the spacing done?

Tinashe: For those hybrids please isai ma50cm-60 interrow then 60-8cm kuitira pakudiridza. Mukanyanya kumabatanidza anotambidza pakudiridza moshaya pekutsika

Lenience: Do you have a spraying program for pests?

Tinashe: Right every 3-4 days. Muchichinjanisa mishonga. Please check chemical groups kuti akasiyana here

Dorcas: So pakudiridza you only skip one day then water again?

Tinashe: No twice a week especially kana kuchipisa. For those who use big pumps I recommend rain pipes.

Gungano re ZBIN rine gurumwandira revanhu vanosvika 225,000. Vamwe vari muno muZimbabwe—vamweni vacho vachiwanikwa kubanze kwenyika.

Gungano re ZBIN rine rombo rakanakisa rekuti munhu wese arimo. Kubva kumazera ose arimo. Vana mazvikokota ese vachiwanikwawo zvekare. Vadzidzisi kuma university. Ana makoti kuzvipatara uye nevamwe vakuruwo mumapoka avari pamwechete ne vechidiki varikuzvikoro.

Hwuwandu uhwu huwnoita tigare takadzidza. Tinopa mikana kune vakasununguka kutaura pama Premium Chats. Ma Premium Chats aya anosimudzira zvikuru uye subscription is $10 pagore. Ndibatei pa Whatsapp 0773055063 musarasikirwe nemamwe anotevera.

Heinoi Premium Chat ye Data Analytics yechipiri kubva kuna Engineer Luckson Mugomo.

Manheru akanaka hama neshamwari. Sekuudzwa kwamaitwa ini ndinonzi Luckson Mugomo. Mazuvano mukanditi Engineer zvinofadza chaizvo. nekuti zvandirikuita ndezveEngineering. : tosongana pachikamu chino chatinotaura nezvezvinhu zvakurumbira zvokudaro

AI neData Science: Simudzira Bhizinesi Rako, Simudzira Hupfumi. Mhoro sei, ZBIN? Mhoro sei, Ndinokutendai nokundigamuchira pano nhasi. Zita rangu ndinonzi Eng. Luckson Mugomo. Nyanzvi muBig Data Analytics neEngineering Consultancy

 Ndinoda kutanga ndikuzivisei zvishoma kuti muzive kuti munhu ari pano nhasi ndiani uye kuti ndinotaura nehanya panyaya iyi.

Background

Ndoshanda ne kuGreat Zimbabwe University, uko ndinoshanda saCoordinator weBiomedical Informatics neBiomedical Engineering. Ini ndinodzidzisawo muSchool of Medicine, School of Commerce, neSchool of Natural Sciences. Ndinotungamirawo tsvakurudzo dzemudzidzi, uye ndakagadzira makosi akaita seBSc muBiomedical Analytics neMSc muData Science.

Kunze kwezvivakamunyu, ndine ruzivo rwakakura mukushanda nemasangano makuru akaita seSave the Children neHeifer International, uko ndaigadzira masisitimu ekutarisa kuti mapurojekiti avo ari kushanda sei, ndichishandisa maturusi akaita sePower BI neTableau. Ndashandawo mumaindasitiri, kuInnsor Africa, ndichishandisa SQL neAdvanced Excel kugadzirisa mari uye kuderedza nguva yekugadzira mareport ne30%.

Chinangwa

Chinangwa changu nhasi ndechekuti ndikutsanangurirei kuti ruzivo urwu (data) rwunoshandiswa nemakambani makuru sei, uye kuti imwi semabhizinesi madiki munogona sei kurushandisa kuti mukunde mumakwikwi, muite mari, uye mushandure hupenyu hwedu nehupfumi hwenyika.

Zvakare tisati taenda kure ,tine zvatakuisa mumhepo (website )

Hama dzangu, nyika yatiri kurarama nhasi ndeyedata. Chese chinhu chatinoita kutenga, kutengesa, kutambira mari, kurwara chinogadzira data. AI neData Science zviri kuita senge “brain” yezvinhu izvi

Budiriro

Nyika dzakabudirira dziri kushandisa AI kuita sarudzo dzakachenjera. Semuenzaniso, kurima. Nekushandisa data yemamiriro ekunze, nemhando yevhu, nekuti zvirimwa zviri kukura sei, AI inogona kutaurira murimi kuti ashandise fetereza riini, kana kuti acharima sei kuti awane goho rakakura. Izvi zvinoreva kuti haticharimi nekungofungidzira. Tinorima tichiziva. Zvakafanana nezvimwe zvikamu, seutano hwedu, mari, nezvokufambisa.

Small Businesses

 Mabhizinesi Madiki Angashandisa Sei Nguva Yake neMaturusi Aya?

Mubvunzo mukuru: “Ko ini, ndine shopu diki, kana kuti ndinotengesa zvinhu zvishoma, ndingazvishandise sei?” Izvi hazvina kuoma sekufungwa kwenyu

Kutengesa Kwakanangana (Targeted Marketing): Usatengesa kumunhu wese. Shandisa data yevatengi vako. Semuenzaniso, kana uine duka rezvikafu, shandisa Excel kana Power BI (izvo zvandakabatsira kudzidzisa vanhu) kuti uone kuti chikafu chipi chinotengeswa zvakanyanya pazuva ripi. Wobva watumira meseji kune avo vatengi vako vachiti “Nhasi tine discount pazvinhu zvaunoda.” Izvi zvinowedzera kutengesa uye zvinoderedza kurasikirwa nezvakakanganisika nguva.

 “Ruzivo rwevanhu vemabhizimisi madiki vanga vandudza sei mari munguva ino yekuoma kwezvinhu”

Hama dzangu, tiri munguva yakaoma. Mari iri kushomeka, zvinhu zviri kudhura, uye vatengi vane masimba mashoma ekutenga. Asi pane chandinoda kukutaurirai: mabhizinesi madiki akawanda ari kurarama, uye vamwe vari kukura, nekuti vakashandisa zviridzwa zviripo nenzira yakangwara. Handisi kutaura zvenhema; ndazviona ndega mukubatana kwangu nemapurojekiti akasiyana.

Varimi & Data Science

kana uri murimi for example: mvura yavakuitwa juice semagetsi data urikuriziva here ,lets say unehuku pamba. kana small horticulturedata hauoni here kuti rakudiwa apaaa

Muenzaniso Wekutanga

Ngatitangei nemumwe muenzaniso wandakasangana nawo panguva yandakanga ndichiita basa rekune imwe kamba , Taishanda nevaarimi vemumaruwa. Panguva iyoyo, mitengo yezvirimwa yakanga ichidzikira nekuda kwemamiriro ekunze uye kushomeka kwemisika. Asi pane rimwe boka revakadzi raive rakaumbwa seboka rekudyidzana. Takavabatsira kushandisa nzira iri nyore – kungoshandisa mapepa uye nharembozha – kuunganidza data yezvavaitengesa. Vakatanga kunyora kuti chii chaitengeswa zvakanyanya, zuva ripi, uye kuti vatengi vavo vekuuya kwaari. Mushure memwedzi mitatu, vakakwanisa kuchinja nguva yavanotengesa, kudzikisa kurasikirwa nezvakaora, uye kuwedzera purofiti yavo neinosvika 25%. Havana kushandisa Power BI kana Python; vakangoshandisa ruzivo rwavainge vatora kubva mudata ravo. Izvi ndizvo zvinonzi data-driven decision making – uye zvinoshanda.

Muenzaniso wepiri

Mumwe muenzaniso ndewemumwe mudiki wandaidzidzisa mune chimwe chikamu. Aiva neshopu diki yezvipfeko muChiredzi. Aida kuziva kuti sei mari yake yaisaramba ichienda. Takamubatsira kugadzira fomu muGoogle Sheets yekurekodha kutengesa kwake kwemazuva ese. Mushure memwedzi miviri, takaona kuti zvipfeko zvevakadzi zvaitengesa zvakanyanya nemusi weChishanu, asi zvipfeko zvevarume zvaitengesa zvakanyanya mazuva ekutanga kwemwedzi. Akachinja nzira yake yekutenga stock, akatenga zvakawanda zvinotengeswa panguva chaiyo, uye akatanga kushandisa WhatsApp kutumira meseji kune vatengi vake vekare pamberi pezuva rekutengesa. Mukati megore, purofiti yake yakakwira neinosvika 40%, uye akakwanisa kuvhura imwe shopu diki mudhorobha rakapfuura. Uyu hausi wekufungidzira; uyu muenzaniso chaiwo wekuti kushandisa data, kunyange padiki, kunopa simba rekuita sarudzo dzakanaka.

Muenzaniso wetatu

Mumwe muenzaniso ndewemumwe mudiki wandaidzidzisa mu School of Commerce paGZU. Aiva neshopu diki yezvipfeko muChiredzi. Aida kuziva kuti sei mari yake yaisaramba ichienda. Takamubatsira kugadzira fomu nyoro muGoogle Sheets yekurekodha kutengesa kwake kwemazuva ese. Mushure memwedzi miviri, takaona kuti zvipfeko zvevakadzi zvaitengesa zvakanyanya nemusi weChishanu, asi zvipfeko zvevarume zvaitengesa zvakanyanya mazuva ekutanga kwemwedzi. Akachinja nzira yake yekutenga stock, akatenga zvakawanda zvinotengeswa panguva chaiyo, uye akatanga kushandisa WhatsApp kutumira meseji kune vatengi vake vekare pamberi pezuva rekutengesa. Mukati megore, purofiti yake yakakwira neinosvika 40%, uye akakwanisa kuvhura imwe shopu diki mudhorobha rakapfuura. Uyu hausi wekufungidzira; uyu muenzaniso chaiwo wekuti kushandisa data, kunyange padiki, kunopa simba rekuita sarudzo dzakanaka.

Munguva yekuoma, vanhu vanofunga kuti vanofanira kungoomerera. Asi vamwe vanoshandisa iyi nguva kuita zviri nani. Nzira idzi hadzidi mari huru. Dzinoda kuda kuziva data rako, kugadzirisa mashandiro ako, uye kuita sarudzo dzakavakirwa pane zviri kuitika, kwete kungofungidzira.

Sezvandakaitawo mumabasa angu econsulting , ndakaona kuti vakawanda vakatanga mabhizinesi madiki vachishandisa hunyanzvi hwavakawana kwandiri rweePower BI neExcel. Mumwe wavo akatanga kupa masevhisi ekugadzira mareport emari kumashops madiki mudhorobha rake. Iye zvino ane vatengi vanopfuura makumi maviri, uye anochaja mari inobatsira iye nemhuri yake. Akashandisa iyo nguva yekuoma kuti ave nyanzvi, uye zvino vanhu vanomutsvaga nekuti vanoziva kuti anogona kuvabatsira kunzwisisa mari yavo.

Saka ndinokurudzirai:

Regai kungoti “hazvigoneki.” Tarirai data yenyu yemazuva ese.

Shandisai maturusi aripo: Excel, Google Forms, kana kunyange notebook.

Tsanangudzai dambudziko: Ndeipi nguva yekutengesa yakanaka? Ndezvipi zvinhu zvinonyanya kurasika? Ndeapi madhiraivha emari yenyu? Itai shanduko diki diki, moongorora kana dzichishanda.

Building a brand from scratch is one hell of a task. You need deep pockets and also be consistent. But small scale businesses often lack resources that enable them to push their brands.

However one innovation which you can leverage on is identification of the correct circles to hang around with and hoping that one will be accepted in.

Some of the circles one could break into include;

• Sports & Fitness Teams
• Toastmaster clubs
• Churches
• Community Groups
• Crowdfunding Communities
• Business Groups***

Pentecostal churches have emerged as one of the best networking groups especially crowd-pullers. However this need careful thought and sign legal contracts. Yes some churches have been excellent pushers of brands. Am sure you have seen some very vocal supporters of certain churches who do not tolerate any sort of negative sentiments against their church leaders. A good number of them have commercial interests to protect.

The most complex networking platform is a business group. There are not many open business forums which are growing in numbers—actively promote and engage in networking.

Business groups where as a new member, there is a good chance of your brand growing over time.

So what opportunities do we provide to new members joining the forum?

Premium Chats: An excellent promotional opportunity provided by ZBIN. Every new member expected to host a Premium Chat with fellow Subscribed Members listening and linking up on opportunities.

Website Articles: To content creators—our website www.zbinworld.com is one of the best business platforms in the country. The site has a record 20,000 unique visitors. Although we could do better—the site attracts quality visitors such as Policy Makers, Business Leaders, College students and Lecturers. The site also attracts investors and ranks high in Diaspora circles. Correspondents to the site have not remained stagnant. They include Emmanuel Dube who has been roped in by the largest media house as a correspondent on farming. Advocate Namatirai Ruzvidzo is now an A-Lister at conferences. We are proud of their achievements. Surprisingly—not many are too keen to contribute articles on the site. Technically an open cheque available to new members.

Event Roles: Whenever we hold events, we create space for leadership. Hostess, Presenters, and more. This pushes unknown brands to the fore. When we establish projects such as Crowdfunding—we create new leadership roles which help unleash new talents.

One of our greatest contributions to Zimbabwe is championing the introductions of cruise ship jobs back in 2021. At the time there was solid rock resistance to the initiative. Even veteran members of the forum were not convinced that one could easily land a job in USA without much hussles.

Everything looked like a scam. If it is too good, then it obviously is a scam. His is the first rule of scams—and we perfectly passed the first test. And the more desperate we became in appealing to our members to participate—the more dubious the scheme became.

Lessons for business strategists—If it is too good, it will face strong resistance. If the price is zero—market dynamics could confuse you as demand could remain flat.

So 2026 here we are and millions of Zimbabweans now know about what we started—and thousands of Zimbabweans have benefited. So the trending topic is what sort of businesses can seafarers do when back home on vacation?

Here is our advice

1. Skills Enhancement: Learn new languages—French, Portuguese, Mandarin and others. This could help you in career development. In addition enrol for advanced courses in your career. Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Client Experience and more.
2. Learn Trades: The Polytechnic and other colleges have courses on trades. Look for courses of interest and learn. This could even help you in career development in additional to personal growth.
3. Entrepreneurship Workshops: Scan the environment for workshops on entrepreneurship and learn from experts.
4. Venturing into Business: Read as many books as possible and this also include being part of many business forums. You may want to start and complete a project such as poultry, fashion design, and others. Don’t expect huge profits but focus on  skills and experience acquired—which you could use in future.

So vacation is time for your to relax, recalibrate and also find something to do. Travel to new areas, volunteer to help. Even visit former schools and present your experiences on cruise ships. You could improve your public speaking skills or any area you have weaknesses on.

Meanwhile have you read all of our books? They are full of business ideas and including the content shared in this post. You could also join our Premium Chat and learn from others.

Joining ZBIN is only $10 per year and we have a hundreds of seafarers on the forum,

We also share a testimonial from one of our members below.

Hi Ntate how are you? I wanted to ask if I could come with a testimonial. I work for Carnival and have been home on leave.

So during this downtime have been trying to find something to do so that I can grow and have a secondary income. We had a data analytics session some weeks back and Dr Mugomo helped shape out the idea I had to use Data for customer service analytics and audits. I wanted to reach out so he can know that I took his lesson and started a consulting firm for that with some of my colleagues.

I wanted to thank him for the insight and push because that session helped me see that I was sitting on a gold mine that I could tap into. Thank you so much for providing this platform and I look forward to bringing more testimonials from all that I am learning.

The writing is already on the wall for the NGO sector as traditional development partners are switching to trade and partnerships. Funding cuts now the order of the day with some even closing.

I have been engaged by a few International NGOs and covered this content.

• Family Financial Literacy
• Leveraging on skills acquired and exposure to business
• The future of opportunities
• Untapped Opportunities in Zimbabwe
• The Learning/Experience Curve
• Wearing many hats (Systems)
• Balancing Short, Medium and Long term
• Business Opportunities Identification Skills
• The B2E Business Model
• Crowdfunding & Partnership Model (Opportunities & Risks)
• Up-skilling
• Relocation (Opportunities & Risks)
• Virtual Opportunities
• 5 Short Business Plans
• Unwillingness to change course—and paying learning costs.
• Case studies of former employees

The most difficult topics are 1) Identifying Opportunities—A key skill not formally learnt at school and college, (2) Balancing Short, Medium and Long term cashflow management in the current VUCAH environment and 3) Appreciating the B2E Business Model (B2E doesn’t mean Business 2 Employer) , 4) Wearing many hats in systems development. Finally the Learning Curve—which often comes with heavy losses, but part of business life.

In Zimbabwe you can find a person juggling 5 businesses—Which is very confusing and one could be tempted to ask the rationale of doing it. Even running a small business which barely manages to Break Even. But there is a very good reason for doing so—it is not the main business.

It is almost impossible to juggle many roles as a first timer—but this is what the economy is demanding—being thrown to the deep end.

Lucky enough—this forum has almost a thousand articles. Our Facebook Page with 10,000 posts and loads of activity on our Whatsapp Forums. We have also compiled 6 books over the last decade.

Therefore do not just focus on Financial Literacy which has a lot of experts—focus more on what will be keeping you busy for the rest of your life. And you need tons of exposure.

Some of you may need inspiration from others before you plunge into business. How are others doing it? What challenges did they overcome? This is the whole essence of Premium Chats. Learning from others who have travelled different entrepreneurial journies.

We bring you Pastor Joel Chiviru and he shares with you the Premium Chat delivered last week.

Greetings ZBIN . It’s an honour to be on this platform with men and women of great focus and success . My name is Joel Chiviru. I am married and have a daughter. I am a young brother to Fine Chiviru , one of the most influential entrepreneur in ZBIN .I am also a founder and Pastor of a ministry called Fruitful Grace ministry which is based in Mozambique so I travel quarterly between Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

So you know being a Pastor, some people always think a Pastor is either in ministry for business and is surely making money by people offering and thithes. There is also another group people who think a Pastor should not live a good life, but should live a humble and kinda poor life while doing church the rest of his life. These two perceptions made me to make some crucial and deliberate life decisions which are:

1. I will never take church’s money but rather be the biggest giver in my every own ministry, currently no one gives more than me in the church I lead.
2. I will not be a begging Pastor who moves around waiting for the church to feed him.

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Before I became a Pastor. I only worked two times in my whole life. The first time I was sales person in 2006 for two months , the second time I was a waiter in south Africa at Panarotis for only a month in 2008. My experience with working for people was very bad bcz I was very passionate for God and because of immaturity I thought my Employees are inhuman and don’t understand that I should serve God so they must allow me to do so at times.

So on these two jobs I left and this led me to another crucial life decision, that I will never ever work for anyone in my whole life and since then. This notion was further brewed by the mentorship of the Word of God from my Life Mentors. They made me understand it’s not really God’s blessing to work for someone. A blessed person is the one in charge and have control over his life, money and finances. So ever since I have never worked for anyone. In 2021 I started a company for fitted cabinets and this is how I started it.

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I have my friend who is called Sandiswa Chirinda , my Patner in business. He is also a Pastor and we met at bible skul. He had learnt to do joinery by observation and mastered it. Myself I was just hustling through what’s trending, most of my years I was a middlemen and making some money through that. I have learnt that if you solve someone’s problem, you can get money for that. If you spend time studying people’s problems, find solutions to help them then you won’t die of hunger.

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This Partner of mine in 2021 made me to see a piece which he did in carpentry by then and was amazed at the piece he did while he was working under some one. Right away I persuaded him to leave work and we start our own thing. At first he was not confident, I guess he was afraid of leaving work and struggle. So I began to create fliers and I developed a deep passion for marketing . I did this until I came to him with a job that needed to be done.

This job was from a diaspora lady in UK. From that job I gained more confidence and began serious marketing and began to win jobs until my Fellow Pastor began to see the light. He now believed he can be his own boss. I bought the needed equipment and encouraged him to leave. He was still hesitant and as a religious someone who believes in God I just to him I am firing you from your work so soon you will be fired at work and we will be registering our company soon. It didn’t take a month. He had issues with his boss concerning payment of cluster job they had done. From there he wholeheartedly joined me and we registered a company Josan Interior Luxuries Jo el and San diswa.

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Our experience in this field has been amazing. We did more than 300 since 2021. Most of our clients were generally from UK, US, Australia, Ireland but mostly UK. 90 percent of our clients came and still come from disapora. 10 percent are locals. I am delighted that on locals we managed to do jobs for some ZBIN members and that is an honour.

A Bbg opportunity we had was that upon the hardwork we did. We got one of the biggest suppliers of boards to enter into a partnership with us , in this partnership allows us to get all materials we want and pay later. This opportunity made us to start our program FIT AND PAY LATER. A initiative where our clients pay a deposit, we do work for them and they pay balance in three to six months. This initiative has made us to live a very sustainable life bcz we are guaranteed of something every month.

Good day ZBIN family. My name is Rutendo Nemapare (Masithole) 65 years of age on the 6th of this month. Would like to start by thanking God for yet another year. Am a mother of 4 and grandmother of 5 living in Chitungwiza.

History

I worked in administration and secretarial positions during my working days. Growing up my hobbies were knitting and knitting. I have always enjoyed making stuff with my own hands (kushandisa maoko). When my children were growing up in the 80s I never used to buy jerseys for them, my husband even for myself. I used to hand knit. Unfortunately in those days we didn’t have mobile phones to show off our work.

UK Experience:

I then left for the UK and when I came back I brought a few knitting patterns and knitting needles but people were now into machine knitted jerseys and fleeces and even the wool was now hard to find.

I joined the FB and saw an advert for beading lessons. I took up the course for 3 days and perfected it on on my own. I then joined the ZBIN family and asked Ntate if it was OK to design and see if I can make a ZBIN bag and got a positive response . This is the bag shown in the pictures.

Zimbabwe Flag

I also decided to make a go at the Zimbabwe flag bag and other designs including church colours. The Zimbabwe bag was a hit with the Diaspora community. I once joined a group of ladies on a trip to Tanzania to source the material originally from China.

Then when sales dropped I decided to go on YouTube and learnt how to make beaded key holders as well as bracelets. These I advertise on the FB Market place. I also have a FB page RN Beaded Bags & Accessories. Please check it out and like my page. All my beaded work is displayed there. I also have this flyer with some of my work.

ZBIN Impact.

I also thought about doing a different kind of project having followed J@J Rabbitry’s journey on the group whom I approached and he gave me an online training on rabbitry and still he is still my mentor. I took up rabbitry because of lack of space and it’s something I could do at the back of my yard. I then bought my cage and all the necessities to start the project. I started with 3 rabbits 2 females and 1 male they were 8 weeks old at the time. I specialise in New Zealand White breed and sell to those who want to start their own so I sell breeding stock. Rabbits take long to start multiplying but when they do they can give birth to average of 8 at a time and only carry for a month. They only feed on rabbit pellets, hay and water. I start selling at 6 weeks but they start breeding at 6 months old. Am glad to say I can also share my experiences with other upcoming rabbit farmers. I am also a member of the ZBIN rabbit group and other groups.

Herewith are pictures of my small rabbitry project.

Contact No: +263 73 536 9100