Diaspora Matters

Last year around this time, few people around the world knew of the novel pandemic Covid-19. Only China was doing its best tying to manage the pandemic that broke out in the Wuhan Province but failed to contain it leading to a viral infection across the globe that has claimed nearly 2 million people with more than 90 million infected.

What will the situation look like in a years time? With an average of 500,000 new infactions on a daily basis worldwide, its anybody’s guess how many millions would be infected. We are obviously looking at more than 500m infected in 2 years time.

The good news is the discovery of several vaccines from the leading pharmaceutical companies but its still early days yet as the impact is still to be felt with infection numbers infact skyrocketing instead of stagnating.

What happens before the vaccines effectively manage the spread of Covid-19?

We have to keep to WHO guidelines of social distancing, masking up and other hyegiene practices!

The biggest question mark of the pandemic is how have millions of people infected been recovering? Why are there no headlines coverage of recoveries? Why is the world speaking in hushed tones when it comes to recoveries?

If we stick to Zimbabwe, we are going to find underground use of local herbs—Zumbani, Mufandichimuka, Garlic, Onions,  Guava leaves and more.

A new value chain has been created of managing Covid-19 infections with local herbs all of a sudden finding immense value.

Some are packaging the freely available Zumbani and Mufandichimukas and selling them at premium prices! Some entrepreneurs quick to the game have found a way to package and sell them in retail shops. For a packet of 100g of Zumbani team, prices started at US$2 rising to US$6 in some selected retail giants.

Mind you no one has a farm of growing these herbs! Noone is incurring planting, fertilising, labour and herbicide costs. Only collecting and transportation costs…dear reader, welcome to the most profitable agricultural opportunity in the country!

Despite just plucking the herbs from forests, demand keeps spiralling upwards with supplies unable to match the excess demand!

Are authorities going to come and wield an axe over Zumbani, Mufandichimuka and related products like what happened with the quail birds? In the middle of the pandemic—looks highly unlikely unless there is an accident of herbs use that kills many people.

So till vaccines effectively deal with the pandemic  which is going to take several years, then advantage to local herbs!

Our forum members have also been monitoring developments and have created a group which will lead to the formation of a Zumbani Crowdfunding Company.

We wish them the best in helping solve the pandemic and also unlocking opportunities for themselves.

The year just ended 2020 was horrible year in many aspects—millions of lives lost, millions infected, many businesses in the grave yard and the few which survived still struggling to get back on feet. However there are a few exceptions like local manufacturers who enjoyed brisk business as borders were closed leading to focus and support of locally manufactured products!

For our forum, we can safely say this is the year members came to the party!

We witnessed a great spirit of support with well attended meetings and events. All the behind the scenes hard work finally paid off in 2020 with the forum also witnessing rapid growth from 50,000 members in January 2020 to 92,000 in December 2020.

The number of views for our Facebook Forum also shot up from a monthly 400k to end at 700k providing a rich market place for entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe.

This is also the year Crowdfunding peaked in Zimbabwe with a record 6 companies registered (Agri-volution, Nutricio, Big Ideas Galore, Patsime, Global Runners and Ziglobal Runner). We are looking at adding a record 10 more companies in 2021 starting with a Stock Exchange Consortium.

The performance record of the ZSE in 2020 is featured below:

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2019 Closing Value=US$1.8 Billion

2020 Closing Value =US$3.8 Billion

Net gain +115%

Using Parallel Market Rates

2019 value $1.17 Billion

2020 value $2.7 Billion

Net gain +130%

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Stock Exchange Investment literacy is very low in the country leading to many easily falling prey to ponzi schemes. We witnessed the collapse of many ponzi schemes in 2020 which is really regrettable. A lot of our members also lost out despite an avalanche of advice we posted interminably.

So in 2021 we are looking at pooling resources into a trust and then exploring opportunities on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and the Victoria Falls Stock Exchanges. This is a trial run and only for those who are patient enough to invest small amounts—watch closely performance and make decisions to withdraw, remain or invest more.

The forum will engage a reputable stock broker who will assist with all logistics so that we get professional advice. We sold the idea to the forum yesterday (last year) and there has been an overwhelming response—we would like to thank everyone for the interest and input.

To those with little or no financial knowledge on stock exchange investment—this is your perfect learning platform and the knowledge will assist you to invest on your own.

We are going to form the Whatsapp group on the 15^th of January 2021 and we will widely share the group links on the forum for those interested in the initiative.

So mark 15 January 2021 on your calendar.

We would like to thank you all for the support in 2020. This could be termed the year the forum made the greatest impact since formation 6 years ago. We had well attended events starting in February and March before lockdown–our online trainings also had record attendants, our Seke Tour probably the biggest tour by locals and we wrapped the year with a well attended Awards Ceremony.

Our list of winners;

Youth Entrepreneur : Davidzo Chizhengeni

Crowd funding: Nutricio

Diaspora: BIG (Big Ideas Galore)

Green company: Odilo Linzi

Farming: Arthur Garande

Overall Company of Year: Solar Power Systems

Rural Entrepreneur: Reliance Hamandishe

Woman Entrepreneur: Blessing Machiya

Selfless: Archie Musonza

Suburb: Chitungwiza

Client Service: Charity Mabika

Brand of Year: Solar Power Systems

Correspondent: Emmanuel Dube

Admin of Year: Catherine Shava

Networking: Pastor Webster Gatsi

Company Registration: Kudzi Mafuta

Manufacturer: Obey Nzira Diaspora Impact: Pmb

Community Leadership: Gwendoline Chikofi

Fintech: Cornelius Chibvongodze

Promising brand: Ultrabrite

Arts & Crafts: Burts Consortium

Runner of Year: Mai Munya

Special Recognition: Mr Low (Peter Machakwa)

Digital Marketing: Tofara Online

Business Partner: Capitalk FM

Credit goes to our sponsors: Solar Power Systems, Amplivolt, Agro Aid Trust, Major Murombedzi & Fadzai Katandika

With financial literacy missing from the formal educational system, the missing link creates a rich platform for ponzi fraudsters! Apart from a few who study finance and risk management, how do you explain the proliferation of ponzi schemes in the country?

We have compiled a very short handbook on ponzi schemes which we hope will help a few people. We have witnessed a lot of ponzi schemes landing on our shores–warning people against them but with the advice falling on deaf ears.

We hope to do more researches and add depth to the book and formally publish a full book late next year. For now do read the short handbook compiled by the forum.

Tears-and-Ponzi

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.