Diaspora Matters

The biggest challenge for start-ups is access to markets! It is not easy to just start a business and get access to markets when you are not known. To help start-ups, Digital Marketing enters the scene and it’s a great way to quickly build a brand name and fight for your share of the market.

Statistics show that Zimbabwe has a total of 9m people connected to the internet, 5m on Whatsapp platforms and 1m on Facebook. Of course these figures are a gross understatement as they exclude the diaspora community where up to 4m are estimated to be domiciled.

So where do you begin when it comes to Digital Marketing?

You can enrol for online trainings or research on the internet

However without appreciation of the Zimbabwe’s culture, you can miss out a lot. What works in South Africa may not work in Zimbabwe and vice versa

In order to plug the gap, we enrolled 700 entrepreneurs for a free Digital Marketing course sharing a lot of useful resources and also capturing a lot of feedback on what works in Zimbabwe

The output is an important handbook which covers:

Appreciation of basics: Whatsapp, Facebook and Youtube Marketing

Appreciation of SEO: Using our local examples and how we have been benefiting from it

The 7 seconds rule: Local illustrations of the use and power of images

Acing regional markets: Practical example of 2 of our successful regional initiatives that went viral

The missing link in Zim Digital Marketing: Seen some lengthy ads? How do many respond to them?

Off the hook techniques: How we linked huge traffic from our combined Facebook platforms of 150,000 to our various online platforms including the development of our email databases

Anchored on experiences: Digital Marketing is all about experiences and we covered local easy to grasp case studies

A short handbook easy to read and helpful to everyone involved in Digital Marketing. It has a record number of images capturing the latest trends and local pace setters.

The book provisionally available as an E-Copy for US$1,00 before being available on Amazon for US$8,00. To those interested in the copy, do contact us through Whatsapp on +263774081808

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Fine beans or green beans as they are commonly known in Zimbabwe are a good and easy crop to grow for the local and export market. This is the first of a series of articles in which we shall be chronicling in detail the various crops that you as a farmer can grow for the export market.

By Emmanuel D.N Dube: ZBIN Agronomy correspondent

1.What do I need to be able to export fine beans?

Just like any other export crop you will need your farm to be GGAP and SMETA certified before you export. I strongly encourage that you enlist the services of a reputable consultant to help you with this. You can contact the details below and will refer you to reputable consultants.

2.Do I need a lot of labour to manage this crop?

Well fine beans do not require much labour during the vegetative phase. However more is needed at the harvesting stage. You will need on average a minimum of 60 people per ha at peak harvesting. This should determine how much you should be planting in terms of area.

3.Climatic /Soil requirements?

Without getting too technical fine beans can be grown pretty much through out the year in Zimbabwe. The crops seem to do quite well during the winter April – July season as disease and pest incidence is low. A summer crop also thrives but rain seems to bring along with it a lot of fungal diseases which affects quality tremendously, greater care needs to be taken here in terms of management. Well drained soils are the best soils for fine beans, as a universal rule we encourage farmers to plant on raised ridges. Fertiliser requirements should be determined by soil analysis avoid using blanket fertilisers applications.

4.Market and Quality

There is a huge market for fine beans locally and on the export market. The trick is you must meet the export quality requirements. Depending on the market things such as length, width, size, colour have a very slim margin to which your crop should conform to.

5.Management and harvesting

Harvesting – great care needs to be taken at this stage. I have seen several farmers loose it all at this stage. There is an old Shona adage which says “kuputsahariwasvika”, loosely translated it means failing at the last hurdle. Missing one day of picking this crop when the crop has matured means the entire harvest of that day will be out of spec. What this means is that the crop will be out of the required export quality required range. Fine beans are fast growers and overnight they can be ready for harvesting. This goes back to the fact mentioned earlier on the need to have adequate labour to harvest the crop.

6.How much do I need to invest?

Just for arguments sake we will assume this new farmer does not have anything and is starting from scratch. He/she will need to invest approximately 4 800 USD/ha.

7.How much do I expect in return?

Perhaps I need to emphasize that quality is everything in the export business. If you do not meet the quality requirements you will run a loss. Most contractors will pay between 1.20 – 1.35/kg exported. Farmer will produce on average 8 t/ha but with good management 15t/ha is achievable. The profit margins are quite reasonable at a minimum of 22 % profit.If you invest 5 000 you get back about 1 100 USD Profit/ha. Note this has taken into consideration all running costs. It may seem like it is not much but remember this is in the much-needed USD currency.

8.Considering the costs attached with getting GGAP/SMETA certification is it still viable?

Yes, it is viable but ……. I would strongly urge the farmer to grow other export crops as well. The certificate can cover several export crops at once. This ensures continuous production and kind of spreads the costs amongst the crops.

9.How do I get contracted?

A good reference point is Zimtrade, they can easily direct you to several companies in the fresh produce export business in Zimbabwe. Most markets in the EU will not want to deal directly with a producer for various reasons. I also urge would be export farmers to be cautious when choosing a company to deal with, fresh produce export is big business and a lot of con artists are out there, deal with reputable organisations only. Short cuts are always wrong cuts.

10. How long does it take to grow

All things held constant it will take on average 7 -10 weeks to mature depending on the variety.

Emmanuel is an Agronomist and Development practitionerwith 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

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Our forum has now reached a great milestone! We now have 60,000 members in Zimbabwe and 85,000 in South Africa. Awesome numbers as we continue with our thrust of assisting entrepreneurs with free opportunities resources as well as helping them to network for business success.

We have over 30 Whatsapp groups which have been in existence for over 6 years and this week we introduced new groups which are suburb specific.

What are the advantages of these groups?

Convenience: You connect with entrepreneurs in your area and therefore saving on transport costs or marketing costs

Reduced risks of scams: Most scams on the internet are people who stay far away from their victims. So close proximity means reduced risks of people who scam others and disappear.

School runs and rides sharing: No need to waste resources on fuel when you stay in the same suburb going the same direction. Members should simply share rides and reduce on costs. The same applies to school runs which can be an inconvenience to many a parent.

Crowdfunding: Members can link up and harness resources for startups. They can also enjoy benefits of economies of scale in procurement or renting of premises.

Our latest groups

*ZBIN Area Groups*

Marondera
https://chat.whatsapp.com/HV9auNWmmmK8OV1kuQbMFU

Waterfalls/Hatfield
https://chat.whatsapp.com/CPtzyW1rET76B7tbcK2Xpr

Harare North
https://chat.whatsapp.com/BfwdnETfIrZ1noDKm1kC6d

Ruwa
https://chat.whatsapp.com/IknWcPKhXPK5uAtkF91QWM

Norton
https://chat.whatsapp.com/BfaMrp5Icj7Hj6ozLmrmhl

Harare West
https://chat.whatsapp.com/KyYMoHHU4nIILefEuP4QFt

Kuwadzana

Countries

Zambia
https://chat.whatsapp.com/F0GzqYlQQWkJGevqtpbsmF

Botswana
https://chat.whatsapp.com/EYAaV1WY6QIHXF9V73UcS9

Malawi
https://chat.whatsapp.com/KUh6lk3vZ7qL1pdoZt3tFm

Namibia
https://chat.whatsapp.com/D93xDY0lBsD646BvUGHa9s

Mozambique
https://chat.whatsapp.com/IRiDR0l1XXyFzUY2yjlNkh

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Zim has an estimated population of 5.5m Whatsapp users. This number does not include diaspora figures. If we add them, then our figures could be above 9m. This makes the study of Whatsapp a crucial topic as part of the Digital Marketing Strategy. It is our most popular Social Media platform.

The study of this topic includes Zimbabwean culture-What works here and you may not find it documented anyway unless you hold a discussion and getting the experiences of hundreds of users.

Challenges with Whatsapp Marketing

Unlike Facebook, there is no one central place to enable one to reach out to all 5.5m users in the country as they are all scattered in thousands of groups.

Fewer than 5% Zimbabweans appreciate Graphical Designing and the immense benefits it brings to Digital Marketing.

Little appreciation of the difference between selling and spamming. For instance repeatedly sending the same ad to the same group!

Little knowledge of the benefits of Business Whatsapp

Opportunities Discussion

Entertainment: Why do people log on to Whatsapp Groups? The answer is entertainment so if you are advertising on the platform, keep your Ads short, sweet, eye candy and containing all key information.

Canva: Canva is the most common Graphical Design App for the few Zimbabweans who appreciate the field. Found on Google Play Store or www.canva.com. For starters this app=Money.

Timing: When are you posting your ads? Study the best time to post ads

Linking your app: Can you link Whatsapp to your website, Facebook and other platforms? How is it done and the opportunities?

Business Whatsapp: Zimbabweans deriving a lot of benefits from the use of Business Whatsapp

Complex Issues

What if your ad or ad photos are stolen? Use water marks? What if they are cropped out?

How do you deal with competitors who join your group and start competing with you?

Should you create an app group where only the admin can post? What are the advantages and disadvantages?

What if everyone in the group is selling? Can you make business from sellers?

Experience Factor

We covered information you are hardly going to find anywhere else because Digital Marketing is a new field. You are not going to find a Professor in the field locally….but you will only find seasoned experts who are continuously learning every time.

Assignment: Task for first timers-develop own ad on Canva and share tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will cover Facebook Marketing in detail and sharing winning tricks used by members. This becomes the last series shared outside our 3 groups.

One for the road: The power of relationships in business especially REFERRALS, REFERRALS AND REFERRALS.

Kea leboga

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Did you know that many people will be busy during the lockdown? Some will be undertaking formal online studies, some reading books and more. Make sure that by the end of the shutdown you would have acquired new skills. Do not remain the same person you were before the Covid-19 inspired shutdowns.

We are going to be sharing lessons on Digital Marketing on our forums and will create Digital Marketing groups for the lessons. They are coming free of charge and we intend to create a cream of entrepreneurs who will dominate the digital landscape in the coming months.

At the end of the lockdown, you should give yourself a *Certificate in Digital Marketing*

Course Outline©
1) Appreciation of Digital Landscape
2) Developing a Digital Marketing Strategy
3) Digital Marketing Benefits
4) Setting up and managing own website
5) E-Commerce
6) Content Marketing
6) SEO
7) Influencer Marketing
8) Facebook Boosting
9) Whatsapp Advertising
10) Video Marketing
11) Introduction to Graphic Designing

12) Practicals

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We asked many entrepreneurs from Trinidad and Tobago, Zambia, Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe the answers to the quiz below and got a lot of responses with 560 responses in 2 hours from Trinidad and Tobago and hundreds from the rest.

Only 1% got the answer correct and what is the answer? It is 43.

Look at the last man, he has 2 shoes and is also holding 2 cones!

This makes the calculation:

5 (shoe) + 19 ( man+ 2 cones+2 shoes) x cone(2)

We use BODMAS to solve the quiz and remember its additions first before multiplication!

Thank you for participation.

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South Africa began its Covid-19 inspired lockdown yesterday and Zimbabwe will begin its own lockdown on the 30^th of March. The rest of other countries in the region expected to follow suit in the coming days. We pray that a solution is found soon to this novel pandemic as it has negatively impacted the world.

So what activities should you be doing during this lockdown?

You have been presented with an opportunity to spend time with your family, time to bond, to discuss with your children about school, career guidance, work-life, health, religion, entrepreneurship and more.

Our forum will be running a number of programs during the lockdown that will cover a lot of entrepreneurship topics. We hope to cover digital marketing, business opportunities in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Entrepreneurship books review, Agricultural Opportunities, Service Sector Opportunities, Upscaling strategies, Pricing, Financial Literacy, Risk Management and more.

We will cover these topics with Facebook live broadcasts on our 2 main Facebook Pages ( South Africa Business Ideas & Network with 84,000 members and the Zim Business Ideas and Network with 56,000 members.

Make sure you follow us and not miss out on this opportunity which will empower thousands of our members.

We hope you stay safe, practice hygiene and social distancing. We urge you to follow formal channels of communication for updates on the pandemic.

God Bless

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Have you ever thought about exporting the crops that you grow? Well if you are already growing Tobacco you are already an exporter as more than 95% of the Tobacco grown is exported to China, Europe and the rest of the world. In this article we shall be looking at a more sensitive and lucrative crop export production namely fresh produce export. Some of you are probably wondering what fresh produce is.Perhaps to break it down, fresh produce simply refers to the usually highly perishable vegetables such as tomatoes, peas, lettuce, cabbage, strawberries, green beans etc.

Emmanuel D.N Dube |ZBIN Agronomist

There is a very huge demand for fresh produce particularly in Europe and Zimbabwe is one of the big suppliers of fresh produce into Europe.It is no longer surprising to find fresh produce with the label produced in Zimbabwe in big supermarkets such as Tesco in the UK. The current economic situation in Zimbabwe has not helped either especially when producing for the local market as monetary value is lost quickly. Producing for export is a worthy investment as most contractors will pay the farmer in forex usually the green back (USD) of which the farmer retains approximately 80% of the money in Forex. Clearly this is big business the big question then is,“how do I get into this business as farmer?”. Well below are a few basics that you need to know before you get into the business or rather the requirements.

1. Tenure

The farmer needs to have title to the land/farm. Most contractors will need you to have an offer letter/lease agreement/tittle to the land or some form of authorisation for you to use the farm. This makes sense as no one wants to invest in growing a crop and then at harvest the land is disputed and the contractor losses out financially and reputation wise with their market as they would have failed to deliver as promised.

• Infrastructure

A reliable water source such as a Dam or boreholes. This must be a clean water source; the water samples will be tested to see if they meet the minimum EU requirements for safe use in crop production. This makes sense as these days a lot of water pollution occurs especially in gold panning areas were harmful chemicals such as cyanide are used by illegal miners and water is discarded into the water ways. If contaminated water is used such chemicals can be taken up by the plants and may affect the final consumer of the product. The most ideal type of irrigation is drip irrigation, yes you may get away with the now very popular centre pivot, but disease incidence tends to be much higher when using this type of irrigation. Also most people have the misconception that for one to do intensive horticulture you need a green house, most horticultural crops do very well in open fields especially those not susceptible to frost.

• Certifications

GGAP

This is arguably the most important requirement. When exporting into Europe the basic requirement is the Global Good Agricultural Practice certification (GGAP). Most if not all markets in the EU require every fresh produce produced outside of Europe to have the GGAP certification. What is GGAP certification? This is a certification issued out to a producer (Farm) to signify that they are producing their crop according to international standards. An audit is done by an external auditor usually from South Africa by international organisations such as SGS or NSF among other auditing companies. Auditor will come to your farm and inspect things such as safe chemical storage, health and safety issues of the farm workers etc. Because of the work involved it is always best to higher a consultant who can help you set up and prepare for the audit. You do it once and you do it correctly.

SMETA

In addition to the GGAP certification most markets now also require the producer to be SMETA certified.SMETA stands for Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit. It combines the best practices in the field of corporate social responsibility. SMETA focuseson labour conditions and occupational safety as on environmental standards and ethical business practices. This will give the farmer a competitive edge among other suppliers if they have this certification. NB these are renewed annually.

• Quality…. Quality

Quality is king, Usually I recommend farmers to grow a small hectarage and manage it well in order to produce a high-quality crop. There is no point in growing a large hectarage and produce poor quality which is not exportable or fetches poor prices on the market. Remember farming is a business.

• Consistency

This is were most farmers drop the ball. Most contractors will already have a buyer for your produce before you even put seed into the ground hence the need to be consistent in supply. Reliability is very important, in this business do what ever you can to meet contractual obligations in terms of supply.

• Diversification

A carefully planned out cropping system on your farm will guarantee a constant flow of income. One can also grow for the local market when export windows are closed. Also chose the right crop for your area.

• Labour and capital

Horticulture is labour intensive, if you do not have access to an adequate labour pool consider a small hectarage. To give you an idea when growing fine beans (green beans) you will need approximately 30 -50 people per hectare per day at peak to harvest the crop at the right exportable size. If you miss a day of peaking your crop becomes overgrown and not exportable.

• Market

Getting direct access to the market as an individual is a daunting task and most markets will only deal with suppliers, they have a history with. The best way to get around this is getting all the certifications, capital and a contracting company and grow. Contractor takes care of all the air freight, handlings delivery to market which will all be factored into the price which your product is bought from the farmer, good deal right.

It may seem like a tedious process when looking at the above list, but it is a worthy investment when done properly. The returns are very lucrative especially in this Zimbabwean economy were forex seems to retain value more. Make sure to read the next article covering the different crops that can be grown for the export market and the numbers (capital break down) that are involved as well as the different organisations involved in contract farming for export.

Emmanuel is a qualified Agronomist and development practitionerwith 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

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Crowdfarming presents Africa with a lot of opportunities in agriculture. The concept is gaining momentum across the continent especially in Nigera, South Africa and Kenya. The concept involves a lot of people pooling resources and investing in identified projects of common interest. Mot of the people(crowd) usually meet online through digital platforms and follow the following steps;

1. Formation of a company or association
2. Election of leaders or a management body
3. Identifying farming opportunities lease of agreement
4. Identifying land and obtaining
5. Carrying out detailed investment appraisals
6. Contributing funds for projects with a positive net present value
7. Project management and monitoring progress
8. Sharing of profits or losses

Investing in the first project

Members should not try and invest huge sums of money in a project they are doing for the first time because they do not have experience in running a crowdfarming project. Invest large sums, the project fails and this will be the end of it. A short project with a short life span is highly recommended. Try a project with a maximum capital injection of US$2,000 –showcase you ability to manage the project, showcase your ability manage ad get a positive return on investment. This is the litmus test and if it fails…exit the project.

Success factors

• Be wary of unnecessary personality clashes. This can be easily dealt with if there is a constitution
• Engage a consultant to draft corporate governance documents such as constitutions or company registrations.
• If more than 10, an association registration is highly recommended-it’s faster than registering a company.
• Initial funds contributions should go towards the hire of consultants who should prepare documents or registrations within a specified period. Failure to meet deadines should attract penalties or rehire of consultants.
• The longer the registration process takes, the more many will lose interest. The founders of a crowdfarming project should already have draft documents of vision and corporate governance before inviting others.
• Land tenure is tricky especially when there is no documentation. This needs to be secured as fast as possible before commencement. The location of the farm or plot should be close to where members are based.
• Who will be the project manager? Allocating roles to several members is fine but be wary of lack of progress due to no one being accountable for results. This can delay the project or lead to some using own resources. Agree on a contribution that will help motivate the project manager who will report to the management committee. If you can afford a full time manager, the better.
• In all farming ventures, engage experts especially Agronomists. Pay them for researches and advice to reduce risks.
• Communication can be a huge challenge. Reliance of online platforms can take lead to a lot of miscommunication issues. Speak less on Whatsapp groups and arrange for more face to face meetings on a scheduled basis.
• The diaspora highly recommended not to invest funds in less established crowdfarming ventures. Crowdfarming ventures with no experience are high risk-wait and see results first before pouring funds into a new project.

Members Contributions

The concept of crowdfarming is to recruit as many members as possible. Every dollar counts!

If members are leaving the project-this is contrary to the spirit of crowdfarming. Therefore identify several projects and let members choose projects of their interest. At first choose a mix of projects such as animal husbandry and crop farming . For instance broiler rearing, rabbits rearing and crops such as vegetables or maize,

Manage the different interests of members. Some can contribute US$5 per month and some US$100 per month. Identify projects where the lower end and the high end can all fit. If its cattle purchase a cow can have 10 people with each person having a different contribution.

For example 5 people can contribute $400 as follows;

1. John $100
2. Jane $50
3. Peter $30
4. Mary $120
5. Kenneth $100

Profit or losses shared as per individual contribution. This approach ensures the participation of many but is administratively more challenging.

Another option is to have each person buying a cow but the high contributions mean few people will partake in such ventures. The fewer the people, the lesser the effectiveness of crowdfarming.

History to date of crowdfarming in Zimbabwe

A maize farming project in Banket was a disaster. A lot of funds totalling US$100,000 were lost due to funds misappropriation and poor management. UK Diasporans were the biggest losers with some losing up to GBP10.000. Crowdfarming can be a cheap access to funds for fraudsters. Be wary of some who benefit by purchase of inputs and storage. Chibage chakazodyiwa nemombe! A recent case of cattle poisoning is raising question marks on possible funds misuse.

In Manicaland, another crowdfarming project resulted in heavy losses for members. Its important for members to tighten risk management. Come up with budgets in USD but contribute funds when needed, avoid large sums of money being handled by individuals. For instance, if buying fertilisers, contribute funds and purchase them on the same day. Utilise the fertiliser on the same day and avoid storage risks.

Opportunities abound in this multimillion dollar industry but the KEY WORD is transparency! Go for short term projects, give investors their returns back, let them choose to continue and gradually the project will gain prominence and many others will join.

We expect more than a thousand companies to emerge in the coming years. They will be competing to recruit members as well as to showcase who is the most profitable. Who can return the highest per dollar investment?

In Nigeria, their Reserve Bank had to intervene after a lot of financial scandals. Give us feedback on your experience with crowdfarming to date.

Local financial institutions should innovate and come up with schemes that help in crowdfarming. Enabling members to contribute funds and ensuring safe keeping. In South Africa they have facilities for Stokvel initiatives and at the end of 2019, a total of R50 Billion was held in all Stokvel accounts.

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The Zim Business Ideas and Network forum has a total membership of 55,000 as of March 2020 and we have attached a document that analysis forum activity for the month of February 2020.

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