Diaspora Matters

An entrepreneur should know all the sources of income in your country, province and district. How do people in your area get money? Where does it flow from? You also need to be knowledgeable of spending patterns and habits. What are the top areas the government is prioritizing in terms of expenditure? What are the top priorities of NGOs or NPOs in your area? What are companies prioritizing in your area. This is a simply study which helps you to effectively plan and strategically place your business. You cannot be expanding or borrowing funds to invest in an area where the major source of income such as a mine is  planning to close down. At the same time if the government intends to open up new projects in your area, then green light for you to follow the money and be the first one to establish business before others.

We are compiling our second book and we believe this will be one of the best entrepreneurship book for South Africans. The book has a lot of interesting analysis and key insights and also provide a good number of opportunities and resources which will help entrepreneurs in Mzantsi.

One of the areas we have covered is ‘Opportunity Identification Skills for South Africans’ . An entrepreneur need to have more than 10 universal skills for identifying opportunities and one of the skills is ‘following the money‘ or following the spending habits of people in your area. You need to check how priorities are changing and what is causing the change. You reduce your risk of failure by investing in top priorities for most consumers. Information comes courtesy of Statistics South Africa and is for the last survey carried out in 2016.

When it comes to investment in Zimbabwe, rural district council opportunities are the most underrated! What make investment difficult with rural district councils is the absence of online presence. A lot of them have a lot of commercial and residential stands which are available but finding no buyers! Our rural district councils are not ‘Open for Business‘ despite having plenty of opportunities available. ZBIN is playing a small role to bring you a few opportunities and the hope is that in future someone will create a platform that helps to showcase investment opportunities that abound in our rural areas.

Below we feature investment opportunities from Mutasa Rural District Council which has the following:

Investment in sustainable tourism enterprises

Mining of precious stones

Investment in gravity fed irrigation schemes

Investment in wind and solar energy projects

Investment in agro-processing industries

investment in value addition and beneficiation initiatives

For inquiries contact the council on the following details:

Telephone : 0772 136925/0772136926

Email:info@mutasardc.org.zw

Did you know that you can actually make your own paint for sale to local hardware shops? Paint production is a profitable business venture you should consider as an option. You just need to look at the demand for real estate or the number of new buildings or homes coming up. So how does one start a paint making business? Read more about this business below from the information we found from Nigeria where Paint Making is BIG BUSINESS:

Paint product is in three major category: We have emulsion, Textcoat and Satin (Nylon paint).You can start your home-based paint production with as little as $600. The raw materials are readily available in the local market. You don’t need any expensive equipment to produce paint; you only need some buckets and your two hands to do the mixing.What is left for you to do is to penetrate and capture the market by producing good quality paints and marketing it very well.

Hence, for a small scale business, it might require you to have at least a half plot of land for the production environment after a successful registration of your business name and the approvals from Standard Boards. With a minimum number of five employees you can fairly begin the production.Though, with just two people paint production can be done based on the scale of production within a room space environment especially for a very small beginner.

In order to survive the choking dominance of the market leaders in the industry, new start-ups can map out their self-sustaining marketing strategy. While some could afford to distribute in the open markets to compete amongst others, some may solely depend on personal contacts and placing of orders before embarking on production.

Here are some of the essential chemicals that must be in place to achieve a desired high quality paint:
1. Water
2. Titherni (used only for the production of white paint)
3. Calcium carbonate (calcium)
4. Colourite
5. P.V.A
6. Formalin
7. Nitrosol
8. Ammonia
9. Hydrosol
10. Marble dust
11.Geniple
12.Bama cork
13. Buffa Solution

Steps to making Emulsion Paints
Emulsions are those ordinary paints that are not roughened with sand-like objects but plain. It could come out in different beautiful colours.

Step 1.
Mix Calcuim Carbonate in water for one bucket production (hence we shall be referring to bucket i.e. normal — 20 litres of paint as drum), pour water in the bucket up to half (10 litres of water) you can always increase the volume of water at any stage if necessary. Add less than half bag of Calcuim (add until the mixture rises to about 17 liters in the bucket) by now the drum will be quarter empty.
NOTE: if you are producing white paint, you will mix titherni in water before adding calcium. Few spoons of titherni are enough. Mix very well.

Step 2:
Add your colour. It is assumed that by now you must have diluted the colours as required with water if they are oxide. Now put colour in small rations and keep turning until you get your desired result. You can always add more if you like. Suppose you added more yellow for example, than you need, you can correct it by adding more calcium (but not after this stage) Bear in mind that the colour may be deeper when wet and lighter when the paint is dried.

Step 3
Add 1kg of P.V.A to the mixture. After turning, add half glass cup of nitrosol. Nitrosol is always in powdery form so you must dilute it in small water before adding it to your mixture.
Next in the process is to add about 10 centilitre of formalin and about same volume for ammonia and hydrosol sequentially. Turn very well at any addition of a new chemical.

When you have completed the above steps, make sure you turn the above mixture very well. As you are turning it you might be a little fidgeted that you have wasted your resources. You don’t need to be afraid. Just add acrytext to the mixture and turn. Add it in small quantity until you get the thickness you desire. However if you add excess you might spoil your mixture. When you finally arrived at the desired thickness, then, the adventure has come to an end and a product called Emulsion paint is produced and ready to be used.
Warning: Please the chemicals must be added in the order it`s stated above. If not, you may have problem; for example, if you put ammonia before Nitrosol, the paint will get blocked or coagulate. And if ammonia drops in Nitrosol, the Nitrosol will get blocked as well. More so, when formalin is poured into ammonia it will explode. The only time you can add ammonia before Nitrosol is when you are turning on machine speed. Just be careful.

Production of Textcoat
Step 1:
Pour about 10 liters of water into the bucket, add 1 bag of Calcuim (or less) then add your colours as it is supposed to be.
Step 2:
After turning the mixture above, you will need to add marble dust. You will notice that some textcoat paints have a kind of lining and some have only rough surface. And there are those that are called designer textcoat, such are the ones that are used with the aid of a special roller to design houses so that its end effect will be something like flowers or blocks made of paint in houses. It is called artwork in the painting industry. All these are textcoat but it is the mode of application of this chemical that brings out the artwork variation.
For rough textcoats, use only rough marble dust in your production. For lining textcoats, use a combination of rough and smooth marble dust in equal ratio. For artwork textcoats, use only smooth marble dust in production.
In adding the marble dust, you will notice that the volume of your mixture is increasing. Just add according to your own discretion because there is no specific measurement. If you are confused on the quantity to add, just keep adding until the drum is half empty. Use your initiative. Please do not use only smooth marble dust for production unless you are producing artwork that needs a designer roller.
Step 3: When you are through with turning of this mixture (turn very well), you will now add your P.V.A. and other chemicals like we said in emulsion. However, you will need to increase their volume a little. For example you will need full glass cup of Nitrosol and increase the volume of other chemicals a little. When you have finished adding all the other chemicals up to Hydrosol, you may need the gym in order to activate your muscle for turning the paint as you add Acrytext. On the addition of acrytext the paint will become strong.
Now to know if the Acrytext you added is enough, take a small portion of the paint and paste it on the wall. If the teething is not falling, congratulations but if it is falling, add more. The journey to this end could deliver to you a ready- to- be –used Textcoat paint.
Satin (nylon paint)
This is called nylon paint because it is washable (Water can be used to wash it off when it`s dirty). Use About 10litres of water. Add calcium in a small quantity to make the paint light. What I mean is that the thickness of the paint at this stage will be less than the thickness it has when we are producing emulsion.

Now add your favorite colour.
You do NOT use P.V.A.
Add 1kg of buffa solution and 1kg of Nitro sol (just enough to make the paint thicker and drawing)
Add ammonia and formalin as usual and finally add1kg of hydrosol. With this simple process, you are sure to have a satin paint occupying a market space.

Do not miss out our Business Opportunities for South Africans book which is coming out in two weeks time.

We are now polishing the ‘2018 Opportunities for South Africans Book’  which is going to be published by end of month. No doubt one of the best ever about small business opportunities for South Africans. The book features an analysis of the South African economies, key sectors for growth and opportunities for small businesses. How to start a business in South Africa and where to get help on registration, business plans and funding. How to invest through various mechanisms such as bank loans, available government grants, pooling of resources, franchises and partnerships.

The book in detail covers how to identify opportunities and the skills you need to be able to differentiate the forest from the trees. Opportunities covered include Agriculture, Retail, Education, Construction, Tourism, E-commerce, Women and Youths owned businesses and a bonus chapter on Digital Marketing.

There is a lot more information that has never been covered before and should be the best resource guide for entrepreneurs in South Africa. The book revolutionaries the way entrepreneurship is covered in Mzantsi.

Below we feature one of the areas in the book which is a checklist important before you start a business. Many start-ups simply prepare business plans for funding and after that no follow ups on issues covered in the plan. This checklist is an important step in getting the big idea of what you intend to do and ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks. Information comes courtesy of  www.bplans.com

Starting your own business may sound like an undertaking of epic proportions. The truth is, with our Business Startup Checklist, it doesn’t have to be.

Yes, you’re going to have to work hard, and commit to working on it at all hours of the day, but actually getting set up is simply down to making sure you’ve “checked all the boxes,” which is exactly what this business startup checklist aims to help you do.

We’ve broken the tasks down into manageable categories and included links that will help you complete each stage of getting started. If you’d like to put yourself through a fast-paced version of the Business Startup Checklist.

You can read the steps within the checklist below, and you can download it for free by submitting the form on the right side of this page.

Steps in the Business Startup Checklist:

Every one of the tasks in our business startup checklist belongs to one of the following overarching steps:

1. Find a good business idea
2. Test your business idea and do market research
3. Write a formal business plan (if you’re seeking funding)
4. Brand your business
5. Make it legal
6. Get funded (only if you need it)
7. Set up shop
8. Market and launch your business
9. Find a good business idea

A good business idea isn’t just one that turns a profit. It’s one that’s a good fit for you personally, for your target market, and for your location. You’re going to be in business for the long haul, so you really should pick something you can live and breathe.

• Identify your strengths and weaknesses
  • Conduct a SWOT analysison yourself
• Come up with a business idea that caters to your strengths
• How to start inventing things (or how to find something to invent)
• Define what success looks like for you
• Do your research: What are popular businesses today?

2. Test your business idea and do market research*

The adage goes, “ideas are a dime a dozen”—but what about good ideas? How do you really know you’ve hit upon something that’s going to work on all levels?

We use the lean planning methodology to figure this out. Of course, you may also want to start by getting out and talking to real people—do they reallywant a fancy Basque restaurant in their neighborhood or is another donut shop going to be more to their taste?

• Define the “problem” your business is solving
• Summarize the “solution” your business offers
  • How urgently do people need what you are selling?
  • Will your business continue to be relevant as time passes?How will you adapt?
• Define your target market
  • Define your ideal customer
  • What’s your market size?
  • How easy is it to acquire a customer, and how much will it cost?
  • Figure out the best place to set up shop
• What advantages does your solution have over your competitors?
  • How much money and effort will it cost to deliver value?
  • Do you know your industry?
• Outline the team that will help you execute your idea
  • What key responsibilities will each team member have?
  • Will team members share ownership of the business?
• Create a basic financial plan
  • What up-front investment will you need before you can begin?
  • Estimate your basic expensesand forecast sales to ensure that you can make a profit with your business
• Map out business milestones or goalsand when you plan to achieve them
  • How long will it take to get to market?
• Validate your idea
  • Interview potential customers to ensure that they have the problem you are trying to solve
  • Interview potential customers to validate that your solution is something your customers will pay for
  • Determine if your initial price pointswill work for your customers

* While we advise students and new entrepreneurs to do market research before they start, we’d like to clarify that you should not let “doing market research” hold you up if you already know your market. The reality is, the vast majority of real startups are driven by people who know their market from experience and who are ready to bet the farm on it! Market research does not have to be a part of the business planning process. According to Tim Berry, “If you know your market, move on!”

3. If you’re seeking funding, you may need a formal business plan

While you don’t need a 40-page business plan in order to get your business up and running, if you’re seeking funding, institutions like banks may ask for one.

In this case, you can ask if a “one-page pitch” (also known as a one-page business plan) will suffice, or if they’d like a traditional business plan with a detailed financial section (this is the part they pay most attention to).

Complete each of the plan’s sections, as listed below:

• Write your executive summary
• Write the company overview
• List your products and services and the problems they are solving or needs they are fulfilling
• Flesh out your target market details
• Create a marketing and sales plan
• Outline key milestones and metrics
• List your management team
• Create a financial plan
• Include an appendix
• Create an elevator pitch

If you need a jump start on your plan, you can download our free business plan template or check out our library of business plan examples.

4. Brand your business

A strong brand is the key to customer loyalty and higher sales. If you think it’s just for big business, think again; a brand is critical for businesses of all shapes and sizes.

This is where all the hard work pays off. Now you know a bit more about your target audience, you’ve got the opportunity—through your brand—to grab their attention. And of course, to have fun doing it!

• Choose a name for your businessor choose a brand name you know you can trademark
• Decide on your “brand message,” also known as your unique selling proposition or value proposition
  • Develop a tagline
  • Identify your brand’s “tone of voice”—the heart and soul of all your written communication, your voice is what you say and how you say it
• Define what your brand looks like
  • Choose a color scheme
  • Choose your fonts
• Create a logo

5. Make it legal

Before you can open shop and comfortably start doing business, you’ve got to make sure you’ve checked all the necessary boxes. Have you registered your business name? Applied for local and state licenses? Obtained an Employer Identification Number? You are going to have to do some things “by the book.”

• Decide on a legal structure or business structure
• Register your business name
• Register for a domain name that matches your business name
• File for trademark protection if you will use your business name to identify a product or service
• Obtain any federal and state licenses or permits that you need
• Obtain your federal business tax ID number(also called your Employer Identification Number)
• Find an attorney if you think you may need help

6. Get financed (only if you need it)*

While not every startup needs outside funding, most businesses do require some help, at least at the beginning. If you’ve worked through your business plan and have a sound handle on your financials, pitching for funding should be a breeze, whether it’s to a banker, a VC, or your family.

• Estimate your startup costs
• Decide whether you will use personal finances, loans,investor money, money from friends and family, crowd-sourced finances, or perhaps something alternative…
• Prepare the relevant financial statements
  • Sales forecast
  • Profit and loss statement
  • Cash flow statement
  • Balance sheet
• Refine your elevator pitchfor investors
• Apply for financing
• Open a business bank account
• Set up an accounting system
• Know your exit strategy

* It’s worth noting at the point that not all startups need financing. The vast majority of service startups can use planning to stay on track, but don’t really need funding. If you’re a freelance writer, a designer, a management consultant, a business plan writer, or anyone else making use of a skill that doesn’t need a lot of money behind it, just get started.

7. Set up shop

You’re almost ready to go; just a few more details to work though. Once you’ve found your business location, or set up an office, and set the hiring motions in process, you’ll be ready to begin marketing.

• Find a business location
• Decide whether or not to extend credit to your customers
  • If you plan to do so, establish a credit policy
• Purchase insurance(the type of insurance you’ll need will vary depending on your business)
  • Workers’ compensation insurance
  • General liability insurance
  • Property or casualty coverage
  • Life insurance
  • Disability insurance
  • Healthcare insurance
• Define your staffing needs
  • Do you need full-time, part-time, or freelance employees?
  • Draft job descriptions
  • Post advertisements for the jobs
• Interview employees
• Hire employees
• Set up your technology
  • Point of sale (POS) systems
  • CRM
  • Billing and payment systems
  • Accounting
  • Email
  • Phone systems

8. Market and launch your business

It’s time to start getting people hyped up about your opening day. This is your opportunity to get things going with a bang! If you give yourself enough time, the press may ask to run a story on you, and of course, you’ll be able to spread the word yourself, as well as ask others to do their bit getting word out.

• Create a marketing plan
• Market your business
  • Network, network, network (talk to people!)
  • Create your marketing materials
    • Shop signs
    • Stationery, invoices, and PowerPoints
    • Brochures and flyers
    • Create a website
      • Register a domain name (if you didn’t do this when you first registered your business name)
      • Purchase hosting
      • Build your site
      • Get your site listed on key directories
    • Get set up on social media platforms
    • If necessary, create t-shirts or uniforms
  • Let the press know when you’re opening
  • Organize an opening day

A week ago the parallel market rates for the USD against the Bond Transfer rate was 1:43-45. The highest rate was 1:48 but a week later rates have taken the biggest downfall to date of 1:30 up to 1:35. Our forum has been trying to analyse the sudden drop and we got the following facts:

1.Easter Holiday and the returning Diaspora impact

2. Tobacco selling season means that more forex  coming into the country

3. Increased local production and exports

4. Government efforts on externalisation

We do not have scientific evidence to back up the sudden plunge in rates but we believe this is good for the economy and hoping that the downward trend continues.

Our organisation helps the Christian Community with entrepreneurship training once in a while. Our trainings or presentations are always well attended and yesterday we found ourselves in Chitungwiza, a dormitory town located 30 kilometres to the South East of Harare. Invited by a leading Pentecostal church called Miracles and Deliverance Ministries International (MDMI) we delivered our sixth business training having already done others for ZAOGA (thrice), Holiness Revival (Chitungwiza), United Methodist Church (Sunningdale) and Salvation Army (Budiriro).

We are sharing with you the business presentation so that you can compare and contrast with what you are doing at your own church and hopefully get inspired.

Imagine changing from 9-5 job to being an entrepreneur? What will be the changes? The first change is all of a sudden you wear many hats! If you were used to being in ICT or Marketing now here is the bad news…we are adding an additional 8 portfolios to your resume!

We are adding- Human resources, Finance, Operations, Sales, Marketing, Administration, IT; Systems, Personal Development and Strategic Planning in addition to family life.

Are you a Rabbit Farmer based in Zimbabwe? If your answer is Yes then we have excellent news for you. Our group of farmers have established a company that seeks to develop the rabbit meat market. The company Rabbits International already has 250 members which it helps with rabbit rearing and marketing. Farmers pool their rabbits and sell them in bulk to regular clients.

We are currently registering farmers who are already into rabbit rearing but facing marketing challenges. If interested then visit our offices at No 34 Quendon Road in Monavale, Harare. Our contact Phone is +2634339454 or +263774081808.

Thank You

Our forum is well known for writing about investment opportunities in Zimbabwe. We have covered over 500 free articles on investment in the country and we capped this with a book compilation of investment opportunities. We are also getting a high number of investors inquiring about investment opportunities in the country.

So do you have an opportunity you would like to be featured? Do you want to be visible? Then get in touch and we will freely capture your investment story and details.

In Malawi they have the tasty Kilombero which is in high demand but Malawians only taking advantage of less than 0.5 percent of the market. Wake up call to our cousins from the Warm Heart of Africa-do more to market your rice beyond the Malawian borders. Set up distribution centres across Southern Africa, deliver the rice in an efficient manner. Your potential is unlimited in Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa and Lesotho.

We focus on this article on Zimbabwe looking at top products where entrepreneurs are not doing enough in order to benefit.

The Mazoe Orange Drink: Unlimited demand for this natural flavoured drink. It is the best drink in Southern Afrsca and demand is high in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Botswana and South Africa. Demand is from Zimbabweans who have migrated to other countries across the region as well as foreign nationals. The history of the drink in Malawi is rather interesting as the first migrants who emigrated to Zimbabwe working in mines often took the drink back home as a sign of success. It is like Zimbabweans or Malawians working in South Africa-coming back home with a Gauteng Province (GP) Number plated vehicle is viewed as a great sign of someone doing well in Mzantsi. This is how the Mighty Mazoe gained influence in Malawi in the 1960s and beyond and up to now it still commands a lot of respect and demand.

Arts and Crafts: Zimbabweans are masters of arts and crafts in Southern Africa. In South Africa, women introduced hand knitted clothing in the early nineties known as Doilies or Madhoiri. This is how Zimbabweans entered South Africa with stone sculptures following suit in the late nineties. Our organisation last year introduced tapestry which was well received across the region. We were simply building on a reputation build over the past 30 years. We added entrepreneurship training and took advantage of Digital Marketing inorder to create a wave that took the region by storm.

Opportunities exist especially in the tourism sector with our crafts selling well in Durban, Cape Town, Walvis Bay and Maputo. We however need to learn from our tapestry programme on marketing and reach out to more clients from the region and beyond.

The next big thing from Zimbabwe is Maputi(Roasted corn)! Already a lot of maputi is being transported to neighboring countries such as South Africa. Initially targeting the Zim population, the maputi has also been accepted by other migrants in South Africa such as Mozambicans and Malawians. The competitive advantage of the maputi is its very low price. Other enterprising Zimbos have been buying maputi guns and making maputi for sale in South Africa, evidence shows instant success! Needed are Zimbabweans who can taior make the maputi for South African consumers and help market or promote this proudly Zimbo product.

In Zimbabwe these pre-cast walls are called ‘Dura Walls’ after the name of the company that introduced them in the  90s. They help beautify most homes that you find in Zimbabwe as fences. They are also used to build homes, churches and offices. The advantages of pre-cast walls are as follows:

1. Very cheap to make (You use cement, sand, corrugated steel and water)
2. You can create a long lasting structure within a few hours.
3. Easy to transport finished materials.

So dear reader, Zimbabwe has an instant solution to housing woes in Southern Africa through the ‘Durawall concept’. This is much better than container homes, much better than shacks. This concept can help a lot of entrepreneurs from Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and South Africa who are interested in the provision of innovative housing solutions. It is cheap and fast and produces beautiful homes. Interested in learning about this? Then whatsapp +263774081808 or contact us.

In South Africa its called an ‘Ice Lolo’ but in Zimbabwe we call them Freezits after the name of the company that created these flavoured cool drinks. What makes them a hit is their prices, very low prices retailing at 10-20 cents and thus ideal for school kids. We have heard a lot of inquiries from across the region when we advertised ‘freezit making machines’. Demand unlimited in Mozambique due to high temperatures and also South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Malawi. Our market survey in Malawi showed that a lot of people are interested in the product especially in Blantyre.

So there you have it, there is a lot to learn from Zim and you too can implement some of the products we covered in your own country and make a difference.