Diaspora Matters

One the 19^th of December 2020, all eyes by entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe and across the globe will be on the forum awards where we will be honouring our members. We will be holding our first forum awards with 25 categories up for grabs.

It is a small gesture to boost the profiles of our members and also rewarding them for the sterling work they have been doing. The forum plays a crucial role for the more than 9 million small business owners in Zimbabwe.

We are starting on a low note with just 25 categories and in future we hope to make them national and bigger with more categories. We opened the nominations on Monday and closed them today. Overwhelming responses and support from the forum and some of the categories include;

Young Entrepreneur | Woman Entrepreneur| Brand of Year| Green Energy| Inspirational | Farming | Diaspora Brand| Rural Entrepreneur| Digital Marketing|Arts and Crafts| Fintech| Health & Fitness| Manufacturing| Client Service|Correspondent|Culture | Company Registration Consultant and others.

The awards will also coincide with the launch of the ZBIN Women’s Trust our women’s business wing which we hope to inspire thousands to millions of women entrepreneurs across the country and in the diaspora.

Come and meet some of the leading Zbinites already featured on the forum such as Emmanuel Dube our Chief Agronomist, Mr Garande the Paw Paws Farmer, Mr Tsuro and others.

More information on the awards to follow, keep following the forum.

We have always been challenging Zimbabweans to unite! To unite in every facet of life- be it politics, religion or business. Unity does not mean the absence of diversity but our country suffers from the DNA of individualism and as a result a lot of opportunities do fly away.

Perhaps we have been burnt for far too long–relatives, friends, workmates, neighbours and even pastors. It is difficult to trust anyone in Zimbabwe or even Zimbabweans on foreign soil. Expecting them to come together and support a common cause is almost impossible.

The late Prof Masipula Sithole perhaps summarised it well when he said ‘If you take 2 Zimbos to the moon, the following morning; they would have formed 3 political parties’

The journey to unite Zimbabweans in business has not been any easy, to be honest, we have invested a lot, been patient and slowly there is a glimpse of hope. It is just 1% as there is still need for more time till we get Zimbabweans to work and trust each other in business.

The good news is across Limpopo, the team there has done an excellent job. They formed an investment company and registered it in May 2020. It is by Zimbabweans with BIG AMBITIONS and they named it Big Ideas Galore.

Formed in May, the company acquired land in September 2020. For people who did not know each other on January 1 to meet in January and February and map the way forward in crowdfunding activities, this should be a national record!

Bringing 25 shareholders together from all over South Africa is a Herculean Task. We have in the past struggled to get 3 people to our meetings! Yes you may see hundreds of entrepreneurs at our events but it certainly was not easy to mobilise them! Getting them to pool resources inorder to conduct business is akin to moving mountains but slowly we are getting there.

BIG did it in style-they held their first AGM on the land they acquired [OWN LAND]. The first project they will be undertaking is a poultry project and venturing into other areas in future.

With an estimated 3m or more Zimbabweans in the diaspora and with diaspora remittances close to a billion dollars yearly, the diaspora economy is bigger than some GDPs of smaller cities in Zimbabwe.

We wish the team well for sowing the seeds, the target is by end of 2030, to have the first Zimbabwean Diaspora Company listed on the JSE and Yes Its Possible.

We congratulate Zbinites in South Africa and challenge the rest of the forumites across the globe to follow the steps.

For inquiries on joining the initiative, do get in touch with Chairman Blessing on +27 65 046 0436

So how has the forum fared in 2020? Well it has been a tough year with the Covid-19 Pandemic wreaking havoc and negatively affecting every facet of life with business not spared. However the forum still managed to register some successes and below we look at some of them.

Crowdfunding: The best output from the forum has been the inspiration members got from the forum and pooling resources in order to form companies. Not easy for people located in different parts of the globe to network and pool resources to form companies. We ignited the spirit of crowdfunding and registered several companies such as;

• Agri-volution: Agri business initiative formed in January 2020
• Big Ideas Galore [BIG]: Our South Africa chapter managed to form an own investment company in May 2020
• Nutricio: An agro processing company of 30 shareholders with an initial paid up capital of US$9k
• Global Runners Com: A runner services company registered in South Africa in October 2020
• Patsime: Our biggest crowdfunding initiative to date with a target capital of US$50k

Forum Meetings: Its official, our forum attracted the largest number of members in Zimbabwe! Started on a great note in February with 180 members, increased the tally in March with 200 members before Covid-19 upset the cart in April. We picked up the momentum in October in 2020 with probably the largest local business tour in Zimbabwe with 100 members making it to Seke Tour.

Our RSA chapter joined too holding meetings at the same time with their Zimbabwean counterparts.

We also initiated area specific meetings in November that saw the forum holding meetings in Chitungwiza, Ruwa, Monavale, Warren Park, Kuwadzana, Mufakose, Glenview, Budiriro, Bulawayo and Gauteng. These meetings started on a slow note with expectations of more members attending in December and follow on months.

Formation of ZBIN Women’s Forum: All is set for the launch of the Women’s Wing of the forum which has a target of mobilising and empowering 90,000 women by2025. The forum has already identified 3 projects they will pursue in 2021.

Book Launch: Our books are unique for they cover an area not covered in many books and educational materials—opportunities for Zimbabwe! We launched our book at Capitalk Gardens and also got interview coverage on ZTV Good Morning Show. We also published Zimbabwe’s first book on Digital Marketing in May 2020.

Premium Chats: We introduced Premium Chats that feature our forum members presenting on various topics every Friday evening and the uptake has been encouraging with many presenters coming on board—with solid support forum members.

Record Forum Views: Our Facebook numbers grew to 92,000 as of December 2020 with forum views on a monthly basis shooting from 162,000 to 760,000. The forum  participation is unparalleled in the country for a business forum. This has created a rich platform for access to markets and resource sharing.

 Partnerships: We partnered with Capitalk FM for holding our forum events at their Capitalk Gardens in Chisipite and look forward to more partnerships in 2021

ZBIN TV: We launched our Youtube Channel for featuring and boosting the profiles of forum members. We expect more work to boost the network in 2021.

Business Coach of Year Award: To cap all the great work taking place on the forum, we received an award as finalist for the Business Coach of 2020. This means a lot for us to be recognised by the International Coaching and Mentorship Foundation (ICMF)

The fastest growing sector in Zimbabwe is no doubt entrepreneurship! It is attracting all ages, sexes, the employed and unemployed, pensioners, locals and diasporans–almost the whole nation is interested in entrepreneurship.

With Zimbabwe having the second largest informal sector in the world after Bolivia, it is no surprise why the buzz word around the country is how to make income!

Our forum is at the heart of entrepreneurship with more than 92,000 members and growing. The focus has been networking members to unlock opportunities. Is it easy to network members? It is a tall order–a surmountable task. We are trying to do the impossible!

However we have registered great progress starting with record attendances at our meetings in February and March before Covid-19 derailed plans. We picked the pieces in October with a record attendance of our Seke Tour.

Inorder to comply with Covid-19 regulations, we have empowered members to network in their areas of residence and this is likely to pay huge dividends as members link up for business opportunities in clusters and also get a chance to market their businesses.

The attendance has been impressive and with time, Zimbabwe will have plenty of business meetings and fairs–some from our forums and the majority from others.

Below we showcase some of the photos from our weekend meetings.

A qualified English teacher by profession and now a full-time horticultural farmer LethuMandaza has gracefully taken up the challenge with much success in Bulawayo. We managed to sit down with her for an interview to get details of how she is doing it.

By Emmanuel Dube

ED. Tell us a little bit about yourself, who is Lethu Mandaza

LM. I am a qualified English language online teacher by profession, I was born in Hwange which is where I grew up and I am also a proud mother of one. I used to teach in Cape town South Africa before resigning in 2018 and relocating back to Zimbabwe to try out new business ventures and farming happens to be part of it.

ED. What other business ventures where you involved in when you came back to Zimbabwe?

LM. I was trained in Tapestry and bead work and as a person who is passionate about empowering women, I set out to train other women in this craft. In 2019 we managed to travel across Africa training and empowering women in this craft and I must say the uptake was amazing.

ED. How did you then get into farming?

LM. A friend offered to teach me farming and together we decided to start our venture by growing cabbages on a small piece of land measuring 2.5 acres and its been nonstop since.

ED. Where is your plot located and how big is it?

LM. Our plot is conveniently located approximately 18 km from the city of Bulawayo on your way to Matopo. Currently we are using 3 ha of land for intensive horticulture all under drip irrigation.

ED. Which crops do you grow on your farm?

LM. We grow Okra, sugar beans, straw berries and green mealies which should be ready in a few weeks, you should place your order by the way. We also plan to put in beetroot, carrots etc as we expand our program in the future.

ED. How is the market in Bulawayo for fresh produce?

LM. Because I am into digital marketing it was not that difficult for me to penetrate the market though its not always that easy, I still manage to reach out to many upmarket fruit and vegetable shops in and around Bulawayo.

ED. Earlier you mentioned cabbages how was that venture for you?

LM. Cabbage is a no-go area for me because the first time we grew them it flooded the market, and it was a harsh lesson as we struggled to sell. I strongly encourage a good market research before growing anything.

E.D How lucrative is the fresh produce business in Bulawayo?

LM. I have realised that fresh produce sells like hot cakes every end of the week and most people want fresh vegetables for the weekend and that is when we schedule our harvest and delivery hence I can safely say it is indeed a lucrative business worth getting into.

ED. Horticulture is labour and capital intensive how are you coping?

LM. Honestly  this is one thing that keeps me awake at night however I just have to find a way to make it happen and eventually run a self-sustainable project and with the little we have done so far the returns have shown that it is possible. Skilled labour is a challenge however to bridge that gap I rely on input from professional agronomists who advise my team and I regularly on best agricultural practices and cropping plans.

E.D What are your future in terms of your project.

LM. We plan to put up a green house and set up a large scale nursery for seedlings as we have noticed most farmers in and around Bulawayo have to order seedlings from Harare as there are very few nurseries in Bulawayo, those that are there are overwhelmed.

E.D Wow those are big plans ….

LM. Ohh did I also mention that I have set up a mushroom growing house, I am expecting delivery of the growing kits next week. I realised there is a huge market for these in Bulawayo.

E.D What word of advice do you have for other upcoming farmers especially women in agriculture.

LM. The struggle is real without passion you can easily give up, just make sure when you get into farming give it your all, make it your baby, research as much as you can , start small, grow in it and above all be humble enough to ask for advise and help from those in farming already. I draw a lot of inspiration from Tanaka seedlings in Harare I would like to follow in her footsteps.

ED. How can people get in touch with you?

LM. If anyone wishes to contact me, they can send an email to Lethu42018@gmail.com

E.D – Interviewer   LM – LethuMandaza             

If you would like us to feature your project, please get in touch with us.Emmanuel is a qualified Agronomist and Agribusiness specialist with more than a decade’s experience working in the agri-business industry and development sector. You can contact him on edndsep@gmail.com or WhatsApp on 0783495396

The public media recently reported that on a monthly basis,  Zimbabwe is losing gold worth US$100m through smuggling. This is bad news for the country as this has a direct impact on the fiscus!

The Business Times reported recently that gold deliveries had plunged by 73% and the situation could not be any worse. Huston we have a problem!

Most of the gold is smuggled through our porous borders with South Africa being the preferred destination regionally and Dubai being the international one. Our gold should be headed to Fidelity but of late gold deliveries have plummeted with small scale miners preferring instant greenback payments from illegal market merchants.

The question is how can the country rectify the anomaly?

• Cancel all local gold trading licences except Fidelity,
• Invite international and local traders to set up Gold Banks,
• Independent Gold Banks to complement Fidelity in the trade of gold,
• The Gold Banks to also provide access to capital for small scale miners and machinery,
• Gold Banks to keep records and remit taxes

Those buying our gold in Dubai and South Africa should be invited to set up local offices—this helps to reduce smuggling as they will have access to gold directly from the miners.

Botswana did it with their diamonds and there is little smuggling of their precious minerals. Our current system encourages smuggling which comes at a huge opportunity cost to the country. We also have a successful tobacco system which we can draw lessons from.

Fidelity is not going to match prices offered by shady dealers as their prices are too low and takes time to be processed. The end result is miners are now selling a small percentage to Fidelity inorder to keep up appearances—the real deal is smuggling!

Is it feasible to capacitate Fidelity and avail them with more hard cash to match parallel market rates? Where will the funds come from? An additional question is what will stop illegal merchants from increasing the premium? They will fight for control of their turf and deliveries to date shows this is an unwinnable war.

This may turn out to be the best business tour by locals in 2020. The forum has a lot of support by members and when we organise events, they turn out in huge numbers. We feel humbled by your support Zbinites and below we feature some of your photos from the tour.

Let’s admit it, times are tough and no one has the luxury of attending a business tour more than 40 kilometres from the capital. Transport fares, fuel costs, tollgate fees, food costs and more –but the numbers we witnessed yesterday simply unbelievable—ZBIN is now a force to reckon with in business circles. We set a new benchmark on business tours!

Credit goes to everyone who turned up,

1. The organiser of the tour Mr Mombeshora
2. Farmers who allowed the forum free access to the forum
3. The councillor of the area and of course,
4. Coordinating team—Hopemary Mombeshora, Fadzai Katandika, Lisa Mufanebadza and Darlington Letala
5. Zbinites who provided transport for the members
6. Honourable Rubatika

Our last local tour in 2018 had 7 members touring Melfort but this latest one was simply amazing—massive turn out! There is strong hunger for entrepreneurship in the country and relevant stakeholders should review current strategies of supporting  the sector.

Seke Rural

Thousands of people travel along the Seke/Wedza Road every year. They witness pockets of beautiful homes and some projects—nothing new really—urbanisation of rural areas is ongoing countrywide. However do not be deceived by what you observe along the roads for deeper in communities, far from the roads is where awesome projects are taking place. They are taking place far from the public eye and our forum managed to get rare access to some of the most successful projects.

Piggery Project by Mr Mombeshora

You will not make profits from buying feed from shops—rather buy maize immediately after harvest when its cheap—keep the maize for making concentrates!

Much more was shared by Mr Mombeshora who is a successful piggery farmer who also rears road runners. Look out for the pictures of his project. Will do enough justice in future posts.

Fish Farming

The second project toured was the fish project and vanhu varkuita zvinorova maSeke umu! Unoti haa….zvichiri zvekumusha here  izvi? Several fish ponds, generators and a borehole to pump water. The whole property durawalled and constant income for the owner. Youngsters from college who feel farming is for old people need to visit this project for inspiration.

Goat and Cattle Rearing Project

Due to time constraints, we had to split the tour teams into 2, with the larger group touring the fishery project and the smaller group heading 12km away to tour the cattle and goat rearing project. Lisa Ngirish coming up with the report.

Member  of Parliament Honour:

We were hosted by the Member of Parliament of the area Hon Rubatika. A business man in the area and the biggest opportunity he mentioned should perhaps remain under wraps. Our women’s forum are you there? Discuss how you can use crowdfunding to grab the opportunity—include men and the rest of the forum later—develop a business plan and then apply for the opportunity.

Although the forum hosts a number of parliamentarians from across the political divide, this was the first time ever to be hosted by a parliamentarian and he did not disappoint with a pot of mazondo for forum members. Ainaka here mazondo lol

Of course we will not forget the local councillor and approval processes by the local police. Honourable Rubatika will be added to a few groups such as Agriculture, Tourism Opportunities and the Subscribed group.

BUT the tour was meant to inspire you, now its action, action and more action—action alone, action with friends, action with crowdfunding….we should be touring projects inspired by this tour.

The good news is ZBIN is now a well oiled forum, you might not see much on the forums but when it comes to events, members turn out in large numbers.

Keep it up guys and may your ventures be BLESSED Abundantly

More news on follow up events coming

Makadadisa Zbinites rambai makadero#

So I just got an inquiry from an accounting student looking for industrial attachment which means I had an opportunity to review the subjects he studied at college. Nothing much has changed from what I studied some years back in the first year—principles of accounts and economics, business communication, introduction to business law, business management, ICT, business mathematics etc. An  interesting addition is entrepreneurship.

Not bad at all for first years but students are likely to focus more on theory and by the time they complete studies, some of the concepts would have been technically erased from their memories. Not sure why marketing was removed and yet is the engine room of business!

Recommendation

Principles of accounting could be improved by taking students to the stock exchange and observing how is works, how companies raise funds, presentation of financial statements, rules and regulations. Tours to stock brokers and appreciating their roles in participation on the stock exchange.

Tours to a selected big firms to observe financial statements, interviews with finance managers in practice—what they do, their output etc. The connection of the work they do with the stock exchange and other relevant regulatory bodies.

A tour to accounting and auditing firms—knowledge of the work they do, audit work papers and auditing systems and the connection of auditing to the whole business system.

In second semester students are introduced to principles of accounts—thedebit and credits, T accounts, ledgers and journals, Trial Balance, Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet and supporting notes. They refer the knowledge to the big picture of the tours conducted.

Expected Outputs: Students produce at least 3 financial statements (financial reports and management accounts) of industries of their choice—Mining, Financial Services, Manufacturing, NGOs, Public Services and Small Business Sector.

The output marries to business law, business mathematics, research methods, principles of economics, business management, marketing, entrepreneurship and other subjects studied during the first year.

The above project ensures the student has an overview of the accounting role especially the practical side. They have knowledge of practical accounting—inputting data into accounting systems, receipting, invoicing, payment voucher preparations, bank reconciliations up to financial statements.

The second year builds on the practical knowledge studied with students being inspired to develop own accounting systems, own auditing softwares, mobile apps, knowledge of how to open own accounting firms, investment firms, how to assist the SMEs with finance services. Knowledge and skills of latest developments in the finance field. Add more depth to principles of accounts with Accounting 11 concepts, Management Accounting, Auditing, Tax, ICT and more.

The current educational model produces students who are not fully aware of the outside environment. Yes there is industrial attachment but few students are getting access to internship opportunities. Those fortunate to obtain industrial attachment experience are often relegated to periphery roles such as receipting, vouching, journal processing and bank reconciliations. Few students get opportunities to appreciate the full cycle of the finance function.

What are the opportunities in the accounting field outside formal employment? A question many local accounting graduates struggle with. So accounting and auditing lecturers need to reconsider how they are delivering lectures. Instead of cramming accounting concepts with most of them forgotten or obsolete after a few years from graduation—graduates should be empowered to start own ventures, solve local problems, develop own accounting systems, assist the SMEs, tap into 4IR opportunities, social skills to network for opportunities.

We have developed strong business relationships over the past 5 years with constant business posts, discussions, trainings, book compilations and also various events such as meetings and tours. In the process becoming the biggest online hub of entrepreneurs in the country.

The next strategy is converting the strong business relationships into meaningful business partnerships including raising capital for businesses. Banks are not in a position to avail funding to start-ups without stringent collateral requirements. Donors are also not forthcoming as entrepreneurship support is not a priority. So entrepreneurs are on their own and have to innovate or die.

Our crowdfunding initiatives have been gathering momentum with a few companies formed and others in the pipeline and they include;

• Rabbits International: A company that raised funds to start rabbits rearing
• Agri-volution: A company of 30 shareholders who raised funds to kick start a cattle rearing project.
• Big Ideas Galore: A company formed by members based in South Africa for investment purposes.
• Nutricio: A mealie meal production company formed in September a month later already producing mealie meal for sale. The company raised US$10k
• Borehole Project: A company in the pipeline that seeks to raise US$100k to purchase a drilling rig for members.

A ZBIN Runner Project that seeks to facilitate the imports and exports of goods from Zimbabwe to South Africa is already underway. In Bulawayo a brick moulding project is at feasibility stage.

Our women’s forum has 3 projects of rearing goats, agro processing and microfinance.

Our relationships investment paying dividends as members identify opportunities—pool resources and form companies. Some of the members participating in projects are dotted across the globe such as UK, Dubai, RSA, USA and Zimbabwe. Distance is no longer an issue due to use of digital platforms to conduct meetings.

The good news is the desire to invest in Zimbabwe by our sons and daughters in the diaspora. Of course the challenge is running into dubious schemes where funds can be misused! This is why we have emphasis on transparency and stewardship of resources. Members are involved in company formations, shareholders selections and setting up of organisational systems that protect investments.

It’s still early days but we expect an explosion in crowdfunding next year across the country especially as results start coming up. The risk is some may use crowdfunding to create ponzi schemes!

Financial institutions are also encouraged to do more researches and come up with packages that support crowdfunding just like stokvel packages in South Africa. The risk is always—will forex banked locally not be converted to other currencies?