Diaspora Matters

The image of a Russian plane making an emergency landing and bursting into flames at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport was disturbing. The plane on fire returned to the airport and sought the help of fire fighters on the ground but this was not enough as they took time to douse the raging flames that had engulfed the plane. An AirZimbabwe plane from OR Tambo headed for the Robert Mugabe International Airport also experienced technical problems and was forced to return to the airport and witnesses reportedly saw small fire emerging from one of its engines.

What happens when a plane encounters problems especially fire?

The pilot will seek refuge on the ground and as witnessed in Russia, the help may not be enough.

Water runways solution

A passenger plane slid off a runway in the US state of Florida on the 3rd of May , ending up in a river after landing during a thunderstorm. Twenty-one people were taken to hospital with minor injuries.The chartered Boeing 737, operated by Miami Air International, had flown from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to a military base in the city of Jacksonville.

In January 2019, a US Airways Flight 1549 was an Airbus A320 which, in the climbout after takeoff from New York City’s LaGuardia Airport struck a flock of Canada geese just northeast of the George Washington Bridge and consequently lost all engine power. Unable to reach any airport, pilots Chesley Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles glided the plane to a ditching in the Hudson River off Midtown Manhattan. All 155 people aboard were rescued by nearby boats and there were few serious injuries.

Wikipedia has a lot of case studies on water landing which helped reduce the toll of plane crash survivors.

Redesigning Airports?

Our airports can help reduce the number of fatalities of air crashes if they can also have sections of water run ways where planes can be directed to if they are on fire. Its much safer and effective rather than relying on fire fighters who can sometimes take their time to reach planes engulfed by raging fire. The planes in distress are literally fire bombs which can cause serious damage to other planes on the runway plus passengers on the ground.

Your thoughts on this Zimbos?

There are a lot of great entrepreneurship books from Rich Dad Poor Dad, Richest Man in Babylon and Capitalist Nigger just to mention a few. Well researched books that bring new schools of thoughts and perspectives. The missing link however is on local entrepreneurship books. There are few brand names that tackles this important area giving a Zimbabwean perspective.

Our forum has plugged this gap specifically focusing on opportunities available in Zimbabwe and South Africa. We have no interest in tackling what has already been covered by other books…we will be wasting our times and yours too. Instead, we focus on bringing new information not covered elsewhere and our next book is a carry on of what we did in our initial book and that is covering local and regional opportunities and crucially the interviews by Zimbabweans who are based in foreign countries. They are your contacts and point of reference should you consider to do business in foreign soil.

Today we cover one of our forum administrators, Ms Lydiah Chirewa Nyagura who is based in Russia and working as an English Teacher. We cover part of the interview we have included in our 2019 book edition.

How long have you been in Russia?

I have been in Russia twice, first between 2009-2013 and currently from 2017.

What are you doing in Russia?

Iam an English Teacher.

Are there many Zimbabweans there?

There are very few especially those formally employed. A few do exist and are students at local universities especially in science subjects and medicine.

How is the weather and food?

Winters are long and can be extremely cold, with temperatures as low as -40°C, though the average winter temperature is about -20°C. Summer time lasts for about two and half months. Traditional Russian dishes are dishes from veggies and wheat: porridges, dough dishes (bread) and all kinds of soups.

Language Barriers?

Language is a barrier here as most places use Russian as official language but the good news is that they are slowly opening up and this is one of the reasons why iam here-English Teaching!

Your thoughts on studying Russian College Programs?

I do not have sufficient knowledge on this but the language is difficult to study and i would advise prospective students to do thorough studies first.

The cost of living? Choose any 5 products and give us a breakdown.

Milk 2.5 litres=US$0.84

Cooking Oil, 750 ml =US$1.00

2kg Rice =US$0.92

Jack Daniels Whisky =US$20.00

What do you like most about Russia?

I would say the cost of living is very affordable, I live and work in a friendly environment. However it is not easy though to be too far away from home so whenever i get a vacation, i usually head straight home.

The interview continues in our book with a look at business opportunities in Russian which our members can tap into.

When you park your vehicle in the capital city, make sure that you look for EasiPark assistants and pay your ticket. Now what happens if no EasiPark officials are not around? The best strategy is to drive away or if you insist on parking then make sure you collect as much evidence as possible because there is a latest scam whereby the EasiPark officials disappear from the scene only to return when your vehicle is clamped and being required to pay a fine of $57.00.

Easipark has no doubt over stayed its welcome in the city! This practice of hiding away from motorists has become rampant and this is an unsustainable way of raising income by the City Fathers. They should instead focus on raising income by attracting investment in the city, servicing new residential and commercial stands, inviting investors to key areas identified in their strategic plan. Our last forum visit to Cleveland Dam clearly showed massive investment potential for hotels, casinos and leisure centres. The mayor and his team should spend more time attracting huge investments rather than frustrating residents by extorting money from motorists!

Evidence collection

Whenever you park your vehicle in the capital and EasiPark officials are not around. Record video evidence of their absence and submit to the Harare Mayor or the council. Lets build a case for the review of operations of this firm or possibly having their contract terminated. The more Harare motorists bring the evidence, the more solid the case. Motorists should not pay for their inefficiency or scam schemes where their employees hide and facilitate clamping of vehicles by the Harare City Police.

The mayor should be business minded and look at better avenues of raising income for our beautiful capital.

As a small business operator, how do you review your financial operations? Do you prepare profit and loss financial statements, balance sheets and cashflow statements? On the ground what we have seen is few ever bother to maintain their financial records. This makes it difficult to review operations and make strategic decisions of expanding or even scaling down. Most do know the state of their finances which mostly involve how much cash or inventory they hold but when its not systematically recorded, it becomes difficult to review your operations.

One great way to review your operations is through the preparation of management accounts which is defined as;

The process of preparing management reports and accounts that provide accurate and timely financial and statistical information required by managers to make day-to-day and short-term decisions.

The Chartered institute of Management Accountants ( CIMA)  also define it as is the procedure of recognizing, gauging, gathering, studying, researching, analyzing and communicating of information utilized by the management to plan, evaluate and control within body and to ensure proper use of and liability for its resources.

Basic Components of Management Accounts

1. Profit and loss accounts
2. Balance sheet
3. Cashflow statement
4. Budget (Integrated into the above financial records with a variance analysis)
5. Risk Management reports
6. Inventory reports
7. Department or operational areas reports
8. Strategy or business plan report

Review procedure

The starting point in your business is the compilation of your business strategy. How do you intent to operate? What are your strategic goals? Expansion? Access to new markets? Acquisition of new equipment and machinery? Most small businesses lack strategic strategies and yet its crucial in guiding you the direction you would like to take.

Your strategy helps inform your budgets-budgeted sales, budgeted expenditure, budgeted growth ( balance sheet) and budgeted cashflows.

When your financial records are prepared, you will be reviewing what has transpired against your budget and taking corrective measures where there are negative variances (for instance if your budgeted sales are R500.000 but you only manage to get R100.000 then this is a cause of concern and you should investigate further on the reasons for such a huge discrepancy and take corrective measures)

Depending on the size of your business, you may need to go line by line in review or simply review major line items.

Management Accounts review also involves the review of risks. In the current environment, you may need to review the impact of forex rates fluctuations on your business. Ignoring this aspect spells doom for your operations. One massive spike in rates can result in your business going under. So you should review this major risk and assessing its impact on revenue, expenditure and operations. Other risks facing your company need to be factored in and reviewed such as tax compliance, environmental regulation compliance, risks of fraud and others.

Inventory reports are one of the lifeline of your business and you need to closely monitor performance in securing products, usage and convenience. You can design them according to your needs and monitoring opportunities and risks in the operating environment. Do you need to make strategic decisions on partnering? Are there anticipated bottlenecks in the supply chain? How do you address them?

For starters, we will not flood you with a lot of information on management accounts but the above are the basics which you should have and reviewing at least once a month.

Benchmarking

We have mentioned the importance of budgets which are aligned to your strategy but budgetary review is mostly internal and in the business world, this Is not enough. You need to review your operations against those of competitors in the industry. If your profit is US$800.000 but others are getting 50 times more then you should ask why and what strategies or business models they are using. What is your market share in the industry? Any disruptive forces in your industry? You align your business to the best practices not only in the country but the region and across the world

The big picture on management accounts

Where is the organisation going in terms of strategy?

What needs to be changed or reviewed?

Where are the opportunities or risks?

Implementing Management Accounting Systems

If you have no business strategy, get one…engage an expert to assist you in the process.

If you have no budget, then create one based on your strategy.

If you have no accountant or bookkeeper, then engage one-student interns can assist you in this regard.

Find an expert who can design your management accounts system and the development is based on industry practice and according to your needs.

In conclusion management accounts helps you review operations and take advantage of opportunities whilst reducing your risk exposure in a fast paced and volatile business landscape. The key word is DECISION MAKING, you would want to make decisions based on accurate, timely and useful information.

In the past, the focus was strictly on financial information but this is no longer enough. In the past the focus was on historical performance but this is grossly inadequate-there is need for past, present and future information inorder to come up with better business decisions.

This is the basic on management accounts and in future we will build up and cover Key Performance Indicators, Balanced Scorecards, Big Data and Block Chain Technology.

Give us feedback, how are you preparing your financial statements and do they give you sufficient information?

Have you ever wondered how the parallel currency rates are determined? Is it purely market forces at play where the price is determined by the demand and supply? Ceteris paribus, this is the case purely market determined rates but deeper analysis shows this is not the case at all. There is market intervention and a few big sharks in the game who determine the parallel market rates.

We posed the question to our forum members and below cover their responses. Who determines the street rates in Zimbabwe?

Responses

Michael Muchena The Old Mutual Implied Rate.

Tonderai Chibanda Always demand and supply. In the Zim context because we import, every bond or whatever ends up looking for forex, therefore because forex is limited commodity willingness to pay at a premium is always there. Imagine two people one who is ill and wants to be treated in Singapore, or SA the other wants to by a car from Japan. Suppose seller has US$5000, those who want the Forex compete to get it. Hence the increase in prices. In RTGS money supply growth has played a crucial part. As money is created and more money goes to seek Forex, the greater it’s availability the more the price of Forex. Too much money, RTGS, chasing too few goods, USD.

Alec Farai Katsere Well said but…. I think forex dealers and cash barons are the ones causing it to happen. Remember in the time of Zim dollar they used to stash the money outside the country and this pushed the RBZ to print new notes.

Tonderai ChibandaAlec my brother, there is no-one who used to stash money outside Zimbabwe, even during the dollar era. A rational economic being will never do that, to what end would be a great question. I think it was propaganda as usual. Zim dollar was trade-able in Zim, the holding of it in an inflationary period was counter-intuitive. The printing of money was dome to finance the deficit we had. Remember the quasi fiscal operations of the RBZ, they were funded by RBZ using the printing money to buy money on the black market. Since companies were operating low, no Forex came to gvt, this is what forced them.

Zivai Mashanga This is the general explanation, but how do we get up one morning with the Rate at 5.5. Who “exactly” determines the rate?

Tonderai Chibanda Zivai my brother, the market determines that, that is why it is called the free hand. They are points of equilibrium that happens. A moving equilibrium albeit in Zimbabwe. It’s not unique to Zimbabwe too, many countries have experienced the same thing. Roadport as an example is an almost perfect market, there is not so much information asymmetry. If big buyers are buying, the general prices are readily known. It’s a willing buyer willing sellers most companies can’t survive without forex. There is noone who determines the rate but that fact that someone comes and offer a better rate and agreement is made and the information spreads across the market is the explanation. Currencies are traded around the world, who determines those rates, I might put a similar question to you?

Brian Matare: Tonderai Chibanda I feel your explanation is exactly what we all believe happens in the parallel market system but um sure almost of us have been down to 4th Street and we know the rate of the day is set… Hence the question by who… A number of times I have been told kuti call back after such such a time.. Bcoz hatisati tapiwa rate… Vanopiwa nani🙄 anenge aripo here achiita analysis kuti nhasi vanhu varikuuya nemarii? Or tine ma bond mangani in rtgs or cash?

Abel Moyo The elite in Zimbabwe control the rates coz when they plan to import a rolls royce they wipe all the usd from the street. They peg whatever rate they want.

TC Jakarasi Markets , what is markets anyway? I dont think you can separate supply and demand from the markets because thats where everything happens, it can be a world market , or our own isolated market where we categorise them as parallel or black market and the interbank , so without supply or demand we cant have a market .

Mdala Wa Rue: Great, who are the players in this market?Do they have equal power? Do we have cartels?

TC JakarasiMdala Wa Rue 1) We got Market Makers/cartels/sharks , these ones got large sums of money and can work in groups or individually to manipulate the price of the day so that they profiteer by liquidating other players who have placed orders already in the market to buy or sell. So if a large amount buys that currency increase in price because their big buying order creates demand and when other player are trying to jump into the market to catch a fast moving price- they sell at high price and the price goes down remember by that time most players will still be buying , especially NEWBIES thats how they manipulate.

TC Jakarasi Mdala Wa Rue 3)Retail players and newbies…… Retailers are in the market as a second option of earning or as their only way of earning either to supplement or make a living out of this market. Some are very experienced some are not but they are honest players. The inexperienced ones are the ones which can be liquidated because of insufficient experience- some of them are greedy and want to get rich quick and lose everything. Newbies are the most affected -they just heard you can make money out of the markets but oblivious that market makers are waiting for them , they dont plan their trades, they can use all their savings to get rich quick as well , they dont understand markets, at the end they lose but the marates dont stop there , other new players will come around as well.

Mdala Wa Rue: TC Jakarasi Great stuff..awesome…i knew it wasnt a simple answer of demand and supply…there has to be a few big sharks who eat small fishes entering the pool and these guys take demand and supply into consideration plus their own profit interests….question solved!

TC Jakarasi Mdala Wa Rue we still have to research this is according to my knowledge it might not be correct to others but I believe it makes sense.

Brian Matare:Mdala Wa Rue it’s a cartel with a king no wonder the new minister failed to decimate the parallel structure u can see signs that he may even be using it to balance his maths.

Interested in business partnerships from Zimbabwe? Here are a sample of our members in business who are looking for partnerships.

Frank Mzondiwa We bake pies and sausage roles and supply a supermarket chain. However some supermarkets we intend to supply want us to load them pie warmers the way Delta does with fridges so that they stock pies we supply them in the warmers. We do not have capacity to buy warmers currently. We are looking for a partner to cover that aspect.

Musenzi BM soap making. we manufacture green and blue laundry bars. currently failing to meet orders.

Abel Moyo Looking for a co-founder to set up a modern tiling business. The co founder must be currently running a business or understand business from a practical perspective. Someone of stable habits who is willing to put a lot of hours in developing the business. My contacts 0773269813.

Lor Lor We make mirrored furniture and we do get a lot of clients however a lot of people are not patient to wait for their orders as we make only per order we do not have already made furniture. Looking for someone to invest so that we can have a show room and ready made furniture. Please visit our page simply mirrors and see what we do.

Elder Peter Dzotie Doing fitted products like kitchens, bics and bathrooms. We need a showroom.

Forbes Bonzo I recently built a shop at a busy shopping centre in chitungwiza , looking for a partner to start groceries , butchery and liquor store , inbox .

Ndina Thomas I do buy clothing and machines and equipments from china. Would like those interested to buy in bulk. Whatsap me at +264813823928 .

Blessing Machiya Shumbakadzi My company is looking for someone to partner with in the food processing industry. The business has grown slowly due to being a one man band but now needs a strategic partner to take it to the next level. Potential for business growth in this region is very high but initial setup is capital intensive. I cannot go into much details on expansion plans here but will discuss further with anyone who is willing to work with me. Visit www.shumbakadzi.co.zw to get an idea of our products. Email your proposal to customercare@shumbakadzi.co.zw if you are interested. Only suitable candidates will be responded to.

Morris Mank I was working in the mining industry and motor industry( had covered areas of sales management,sales executive,spare parts consultancy,marketing and purchasing,stores management)now want a business partner who had capital and want to into business of stone crushing and screening for aggregate and concrete production which will cover areas of roads ,railways,dams construction and mining contracting and supply.Can inbox me.

Avon Lo I’m into selling clothes an shoes from South Africa but my main business I want to venture in is being a supplier of my own tailor made stuff my need partners who knows where to get sewing material good quality from outside also the one with good market or link of who to supply from school uniforms tracksuits curtains suits and many more.

Ruth Butaumocho We do chemically stabilised gravel roads, which are ideal for mining concerns (companies) and rural local authorities. We are looking.for partners who can sponsor us to enable us to carry out demos, since we have since secured local contracts.

AggiDee Mosenene-Tshabalala We export beef from Botswana to SADC region and other countries. Minimum order is 18 tons. We then supply after the customer has paid. People order stationary and come to collect.

Eddie Dzapasi In tourism industry Vic falls. Have a huge stand that I’m planning to build a lodge or a rest camp for tourists. Looking for a partner who can induce money for construction.

The best skill you need as an entrepreneur is access to information especially on opportunities. Finding out how others are doing it, networking and linking up with other entrepreneurs.

Our forum probably has the biggest online community of entrepreneurs in the region who actively participate sharing business ideas and other resources. We have over 8.000 members in Whatsapp and they complement the 42.000 members on our ZBIN group and another 41.000 members on our SABN group. All the groups are manned by full time 2 administrators who ensure order and mature discussions.

We have a number of regional groups for Malawian , Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland groups.

Below is a sample of some of the groups you can join.

ZBIN App Links
Rabbits:https://chat.whatsapp.com/BMpzoYpoOFF3fPEL1rjTSM
Fashion
https://chat.whatsapp.com/LtSAcwrOUny7AQT6GqW7b6
Dog breeders
https://chat.whatsapp.com/HA1hhEn0fAtFe3PhYyX5WG

Paw paws
https://chat.whatsapp.com/Ijki5K4A9fdH1zB7ULCUM2
Poultry
https://chat.whatsapp.com/CMchA3D8nzh5HuyBPIpYz1
Education
https://chat.whatsapp.com/HGYH3i82CbsHExKXmuona5
Malawi
https://chat.whatsapp.com/5oCq2XzPOBhCYgKr7UV7Li
Real estate
https://chat.whatsapp.com/LnNjkpYMBY71LmS7N8TQEt
Tapestry
https://chat.whatsapp.com/H1OFoGEyZ4YHtzdcC7vSJc
Lesotho
https://chat.whatsapp.com/HW5z7Pxj0rSFF137JPa6pR
Shipping
https://chat.whatsapp.com/D4FOvpyZkFVDPg4VMbGLmi
Livestock
https://chat.whatsapp.com/EXtXrm8s0QOB0CYuyDYKXT
RSA
https://chat.whatsapp.com/DExPPf8Oo50GoeEdhk8Jaz
Social
https://chat.whatsapp.com/FNUo6SGDAIAIUM7ObCJfEo

She is the winner of the Econet Entrepreneur Challenge that saw millions from across the continent participating in the challenge with only 2 winners emerging. Her name is Blessing Machiya Shumbakadzi.

Our team met her some time back when we participated at a business seminar at a local church based in Chitungwiza. We were struck by her professionalism and presentation on branding and marketing. This was before the Econet Challenge and little did we know she was on her way to winning one of the greatest prize monies for entrepreneurs on the continent.

So how do you benefit from agriculture? According to the value chain, some provide inputs such as fertilisers, seeds and others. Some are involved in the production side of farming such as tobacco farming and poultry, some are in distribution and marketing such as transporters of farm produce or tobacco merchants, abattoirs and butcheries.

Agriculture is a big tent which fits a lot of people. Even those invisible on the field such as insurance companies also benefit from the sector. One innovative Zimbabwean is making money through the processing and distribution of dried fruits and veges. An innovative concept that caught the eye of Dr Strive Masiyiwa. The Bulawayo based lady agreed on a short interview and answered the following questions.

What is the name of your business?

Business Name: Shumbakadzi Investments Pvt Ltd. Located in Byo ( with plans to expand to major agricultural areas soon)

Current priorities

Our major focus is on finding ways to work with small scale farmers to alleviate post harvest losses by value addition to their produce!

Are you registered?

We are a registered company since November 2017 and registration makes it easy to work with major companies.

Your view on government support for entrepreneurs

Our aim is to open export markets for locally grown produce but our growth is being hampered by lack of capital to expand the business to its fullest capacity. If government was more supportive of companies with export potential foreign currency reserves would start building up in this country.

Advice to young entrepreneurs

Young entrepreneurs should know that starting a legitimate business is not an overnight thing and sometimes you will face major setbacks but the important thing is to have a vision of where you want to take your business and keep working on it until you get there! There comes a time in every business where you now need to grow your brand and you find that you cant do this alone and so its important to set up business networks with people whose services can assist you to grow your business.  

Your views on digital marketing

Digital marketing is now the biggest way to attract customers and is very crucial in the development of your product and growth of customer base. Every entrepreneur needs to be  able to understand the importance of digital marketing and how to drive traffic to your product! Personally I’m still working on my understanding of digital marketing.

We will have a full length interview with her when she comes to Harare at the end of April. So to first time farmers, the agriculture sector is one big tent and look closely at the value chain for opportunities. The dried fruits and vegetables is one huge untapped avenue and helps to assist farmers who are throwing their crops away when they fail to sell them.

With transport costs on the increase, one great opportunity for entrepreneurs is to visit areas such as Mutoko, Honde Valley and Rusape and buying agricultural produce for processing and selling locally and abroad. One key lesson we learnt from Shumbakadzi is branding and access to markets is key in the agro-processing industry.

Anyone can farm and this is an over populated sector-the major challenge is branding and markets and if you can crack the code then you have unlimited business on your hands.

Prices have once more gone up in local currency. Many private schools are fighting with parents over dollarisation. Some schools which used to get between US$1500 and $4.000 per child a few years back now want the USD equivalent of those previous amounts!

In an inflationary environment everything keeps going in one direction…UP!

With no significant forex inflows, we can expect no change in the pricing systems. Everyone is charging in forex or forex equivalent.

So its a battle the government is not going to win in the short to medium term….the business sector chasing the rate and the rate running away. The government on the other side trying its best but without massive forex injection, its a tough battle.

Stop Gap Measure
Most of the goods you are finding in shops are imports anyway…even the oranges going for RTGS 75 per pack are all imports, we have few orange farms around. When we were in Malawi, we witnessed cross borders buying agricultural produce for sale at Mbare Musika.

Beitbridge receives more than 40 buses everyday and they leave loaded with imported goods. Musina has become one big warehouse for Zim goods….20 years ago the town resembled a growth point but now its a fully grown town and if Zim keeps sourcing its goods from there-it will soon become a major city.

So we have discussed this solution before…and we come back again. Some of the prices we have especially in Harare are unreasonable…yes we are dollarising but the profit margins even go as far as 100%…it makes no sense at all.

So our solution is transfer Musina into Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare or Gweru..

Create special zones whereby foreigners set up their businesses-they sell in forex at low prices and on exit, customers pay duty like they do at borders.

In SA prices are more or less uniform even when goods are transported by road from Joburg to Capetown. The Game Store in Zambia has prices similar to SA despite the goods passing through Zim.

The distance between Joburg and Cape town is similar to Joburg to Harare.

Local industry protection
We should ramp up local production, protect our own industries for job creation and economic development…however they too are not immune to forex shortages and the economic environment, their cost of production is going up everyday and making their products noncompetitive.

So in the short run, bring the SA manufacturers and they will take the offer with both hands…more revenue growth. They are doing it anyway through Musina and Joburg.

They will sell products at a fraction of what we are witnessing around town. They will enjoy economies of scale through importing in bulk( without paying duty)…remember the duty is paid by customers when they exit the established EPZ premises.

Who will cry the loudest?
Cross border traders,
Local manufacturers and retailers,
Buses that ferry cross borders,

Who will smile the widest?
Consumers enjoying a wide variety of goods at low prices,
ZIMRA as there will be less smuggling,
Employees employed at such facilities,
SA companies seeing opportunities,

This can be a great entry route of foreign investment as innovative local companies can partner with South Africans. More foreign companies can be excited by the opportunities and set up here. As long as they can bring products, sell in forex and able to remit it….they will flock to the new opportunities.

Of course there will be an uproar from the local business community who stand to lose out as customers will even be able to buy and resell at cheaper prices than most local shops. They will have to innovate and adapt or die….

A lot of people are venturing into gold mining for the first time and our group has a well knit community of miners. We have over 8.000 members on our whatsapp platforms in various groups such as mining, poultry, real estate, agriculture, education, dog breeding, cross border opportunities, paw paw growing, education, contruction, digital marketing and more.

The free flow of information makes our platform rich in terms of information and opportunities. Few opportunities emerge  from Zim without our members discussing about them first. From our mining group we have various people who have lost various amounts of money ranging from US$600-$800 by engaging a bogus geologist for mine surveys.

The gentleman has survey equipment and actually visits your mine with a team of ‘experts’who will do surveys with equipment but after leaving no meaningful report ever comes your way. Those who press him for reports either get fake reports or he can be rude to you.

As a result, we have advised our members to make a police report and take the bogus geologist to court. Have you also been scammed? Kindly get in touch with our forum and you can discuss with other miners who lost funds.

For future engagement of geologists do take the following steps;

Ask for a consultant’s cv and references.

Go to the underground and check with at least 4 references. Be careful of fake references though.

Ask from our group whether a consultant is genuine or not and hundreds of our members will assist.

If you are in the diaspora, we urge you not to put monies in the mining sector unless you are on the ground!

Scammers are no longer those who ask for money upfront in dubious investment deals. They are now sophisticated with some coming as service providers! Do check the latest post on how poultry farmers are losing chickens to voice cloning scammers. We have covered this on our Facebook Page.