Diaspora Matters

Having introduced the carpet making programme which was oversubscribed, one area of concern has cropped up-material! We started with reliable suppliers of wool or chunky wool which is used in knitting carpets but of late they have run out due to excessive demand. Great chance for entrepreneurs to source it from China at 25 cents per ball and sell it locally at $2 per ball and not be able to meet demand. Our organisation will help you in free promotion.

We would like to thank hundreds of people who have ordered our book. Thank you for the support and because of the massive support, we are going to be sending you a free supplementary chapter on Zim Arts and Crafts. Great opportunity for you to take advantage of the talent that our country possesses. We will share where regional markets are and how to tap into them.

Muito Obrigado

Digital Marketing is a key theme for ZBIN this year. Our members and followers should be experts on digital marketing! Zimbabwe currently has a population of 15 million and half of the population is connected to the internet. The good news is that the number of people joining the internet especially digital platforms such as Social Media is increasing everyday. When the economy recovers and start improving guess what will happen? An explosion upward with many millions being added!

This helps to explain why Dr Strive Masiyiwa said the internet will be more valuable than real estate. Do you want more evidence? Look at who is now the richest person on earth? Jeff Bizos of Amazon, you want to know who occupies the second spot? It is Bill Gates and how about Zimbabwe? It is our own Dr Strive Masiyiwa! ICT is therefore where the opportunities are across the globe, so you cannot afford to ignore its growth and increased influence.

We have covered interesting basics on Digital Marketing in our book. It shows how we potentially set a regional digital marketing record which resulted in us touring the region and helping to inspire thousands of entrepreneurs from Malawi, Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and South Africa. We covered Zimbabwe last because the purpose of the project was to establish whether Zimbabweans can unlock opportunities across the region and be accepted.

Below we have posted a Digital Marketing Plan Template to assist you in your strategic planning. Assess how your strengths and weaknesses in terms of this crucial sector and then develop a plan for your organisation. Digital Marketing is the new competitive advantage!

Loading...

Taking too long?

Reload document

| Open in new tab

Download

Name: Maria Zileni Zaloumis
CEO/Founder: Tuzini Farms Ltd
Age: 33
Nationality: Zambian
Educational Background:
She has a:
▪Bachelor of science degree in Nursing from Australian Catholic University
▪Masters of science degree in Cardiology from Wesley hospital in Brisbane
▪She plans on pursuing a Degree in Agronomy
Her farm employs over 62 jobs and generates a Gross daily income of over $500

Background story:
She is the last born in a family of 3.
In 2003, she travelled to Australia to pursue a Bachelor of science degree in Nursing from Australian Catholic University. While in Australia, she worked for 12 years as a nurse and also earned her self a Masters degree in Cardiology from Wesley hospital in Brisbane. She started working when she was 18 and raised $30,000 start up capital through savings.
In 2015, she returned to Zambia from Australia to settle. She found
her father ill with an incurable disease called Alzheimer’s disease,a disease that affects the brain functions. He started farming on a small scale but couldn’t continue farming due to the condition.
In August 2016, Maria took over the farm and started with half a hectare of tomatoes and has expanded to over 13 hectares. From the 13 hectares she harvests between 250 and 400 boxes everyday giving her approximately daily revenue of $500 (Kr5000) at the lowest price of K50 per box.

Her farm Tuzini Farms LTD, is located in chisamba on the northern side of Lusaka.
When she started, she used to selling her tomatoes at Soweto market in Lusaka and has grown to become the major supplier of tomatoes to Freshmark(SHOPRITE) country wide , also supplies tomatoes to Ndola’s Masala market , Kitwe’s Chisokone market, which is one of the biggest markets in Zambia and also supplies her tomatoes as far as Kasumbalesa boarder post.
Tuzini Farm produces over 300 boxes of tomatoes per day.

How she gives back to the community:
▪On weekends, her workers enjoy the privileges of a literacy program at which many of them are taught how to read and write .
▪She also supports kids who are under the care of the Mwachikoka Baptist church in Lusaka.
▪She mentors 20 Youths at Kabwata Methodist Church once a month for free
▪She employs local youths who are on holidays from school at her farm to keep them busy and have them earn some money as they prepare to open their school .

Achievements:
▪Maria broke records when she became the youngest to sit on the Zambia national farmers union board (ZNFU), which eventually saw her becoming the youngest Director of the farmers union after she was voted into that position by the farmers .
Apart from being CEO at Tuzini Farms , she also serves as the
▪Young emerging farmers initiative ambassador ,
▪ African pride insurance Ambassador and
▪National Chairperson for Fruit and Vegetables under ZNFU.

Projects on her Farm:
▪She won a grant for a green house from MRI seed and has now expanded to build more green houses for the onion,cabbage,tomato seedlings.
▪She has 4 green houses for onion
▪She has a pilot project for MRI seed for cabbage and seedlings
▪She recently launched a new variety of tomato seedling called Naetenella from Israel
When asked what are some of the major challenges she has faced as a farmer, Maria said the fluctuation in the price of tomatoes is a major challenge.
“Fluctuation in the price of tomatoes has been a major challenge for me as you can not project the income for the coming months”
In the next 5 years,she sees herself
▪Venture into farm produce value addition by processing tomatoes and sun dried tomatoes which will be exported to the international market.

▪Green housing over 50 hectares for growing organic ginger and avocados which will also be exported into the international market
▪She sees herself impacting and empowering Zambian farmers by establishing an outgrower scheme countrywide for export,which will boost the Zambian economy .

▪She sees herself also reducing through levels of unemployment by empowering and creating over 1000 job opportunities
She struggles with depression and is on medication.She would like to encourage someone whose depressed, to still believe they can achieve their dreams and impact lives despite the condition.
She attributes all the glory and success which have made her the youngest commercial tomato farmer in the country in less than a year of venturing into the sector to passion, hardwork and faith in GOD. She vividly remembers when she started in August 2016,she commited her plans to God and asked God to help her become the youngest commercial farmer in Zambia. Her focus was not on making money but making a difference in the lives of many through Agriculture.

What advice would you give a youth trying to pursue their dreams in Africa despite the conditions around them

“Be realistic about your Dreams. Donot be afraid to make mistakes,learn from your mistakes and look forward. Remember, to be disciplined and use the resources around you. Never give up on your dream,Never Quit. Finally, always develop your self by reading the right books, sharpening your skills and above all investing in your relationship with God”

Personal statement:

“Do not wait for opportunities,Create the opportunities. Do everything with Passion or not at all.work hard dream big.
Success depends on the second letter “u”
Success is not in the amount of money you make but in the difference you make in people’s lives

You can buy your seedlings and receive full support of your crop from team Tuzini
Cell: 0978320593.
Facebook: Tuzini Farms Ltd
Or you can visit Tuzini Farm Ltd at
Plot No. 12530,Chikumbi Road Chisamba, Lusaka.

Business can be divided into 2 areas, the art of managing money and the art of making money. the art of managing money is a simple one because you learn about it right from high school. Subjects such as Accounting, Commerce, Economics and Business Management help to prepare students in managing finances or managing money. Commercial subjects at under and post graduate levels also significantly help in producing or preparing students for life in managing well business (finances). So what is missing from most people who have done finance subjects? It is the art of making money!

The art of making money is rarely covered and one has to ‘learn by doing’ or learn by observing others. The art of making money or entrepreneurship is a practical subject which was  introduced a few years ago at most tertiary institutions as a standalone degree program from undergraduate to post graduate level. Because it is a recent subject, there are few books written about the subject by  local writers.

Our organisation has therefore compiled a book on entrepreneurship focusing on two key areas:

1. Available opportunities for Zimbabweans and covers more than 50 opportunities.
2. Analysis Skills to empower Zimbabweans to identify opportunities and take advantage of them.

We have avoided the art of managing money because this is comprehensively covered by the current curricular. It is the art of applying for tenders that the current education standards do not cover, preparing your business plan, why you should register your business, how to effectively use digital marketing with practical real examples of success, how to identify opportunities and see the forest from the trees, how to take advantage of opportunities on ‘Virtual Zimbabwe’ by using eCommerce etc

Simply listing investment opportunities by saying there are opportunities in Agriculture, Mining or Tourism is not enough, we wanted the skills so that a reader can apply the skills in other areas. The art of following the money empowers one with skills to identify where money coming into the country comes from, how it is spend and how to take advantage of opportunities coming with money flow. This is not something you will find in your usual finance or business books. We have also studied hard working entrepreneurial communities  such as Indians and the Jews in order to document traits that make them successful entrepreneurs. We also covered our own Dr Strive Masiyiwa, how he is using certain skills to expand his business empire in certain areas.

We have also included an analysis of certain areas, those expanding and providing opportunities for the future. It is therefore crucial for anyone interested in learning new skills on entrepreneurship. We compiled it with youths, women, locals, diasporans and foreign nationals interested in practical skills and opportunities in Zimbabwe.

We avoided naming it opportunities in Zimbabwe because we should be focusing beyond the borders and this is why we included Malawi, Zambia, Angola, Canada, Dubai, DRC,South Africa and Mozambique. Little is written about Mozambique opportunities and yet our organisation has conducted 3 business tours and clinching a purified water deal in the process! Why Mozambicans in Tete import vegetables from South Africa whilst our farmers in Mutoko do not benefit defied logic, why no Zimbabwean entrepreneur never thought of setting up a business in Musina inorder to ‘follow the money’ also defied logic. These are some of the challenging questions that we ask in the book and help inspire readers to think in other terms and take advantage of opportunities.

We list opportunities, we ask questions, we cover our experiences such as trainings and tours, we also cover inspirational stories from the community and above all-we cover necessary skills that we should have learnt and mastered during high school!

Edited by Fungai Mauchi Furusa, an Entrepreneurship Lecturer at  Bindura University of Science, we would like to thank everyone who has supported the compilation of the book. It was not easy to compile a book in a format never done before but we are happy that finally it is out and we hope it will reshape how we view and appreciate entrepreneurship across the region.

The book will be uploaded on the site for ease of purchase. Before uploading, you can get a copy for $25 for soft copies and $35 for hard copies and our contact numbers are +2634339454+263774081808 or +263773055063. You can access hard copies from No 34 Quendon Road, Monavale, Harare Zimbabwe.

Summary of Chapters

Finally the book you have been waiting for will be out tomorrow and available for sale during the weekend! It is a collection of some of our best business discussion and stories plus a lot of new material to inspire you to start a business. It covers some of our researches, business tours, trainings and observations. We have uploaded a snap shot of the book for your view. Costing $25, the book has been discounted so that it can be affordable to most people.

Targets groups include the diaspora, youth in business, sisters in business and locals. The book is also useful to someof our members across the region.

We thank you for your patience, finally the book is here after promising you in December 2017.

Loading...

Taking too long?

Reload document

| Open in new tab

Download

Liquor shops are popular in the developed world. In Africa, South Africa comes top with some of the best liquor shops on the continent. In Zimbabwe they have been accepted too and every liquor shop in town is always busy with customers especially towards the end of the working week and weekends.

Have you ever paused and analysed why they are popular? Well there is a lot of science behind it…it is the experience of getting into a shop and choosing the drink one wants, walking around and comparing new brands and making a decision on quantities. This experience is not found with purchase of ‘off the counter’ drinks. The experience is amazing especially the ‘freedom’ to buy what you want. You can test the temperature too and you can even choose to return a drink before purchase if you see other shoppers buying or inquiring about a new brand that is in town. Here is the added good news-drinkers buy more beer from liquor shops than any other place such as pubs, supermarkets or bottle stores.

The designer of the Liquor Shop concept had thoroughly studied consumer behaviour in a concept called Design Thinking which was borrowed from the engineering field.

Hararians and Liquor Shops

We have had them for a while and they have been doing well. The one at Montagu competes with the one at Newlands. Another popular one is at Pendennis and at Zindoga the Munava one is also popular. Two years ago another one opened its doors to members of the public at Longchen.

Where else can you open them?

We carried out studies in Durban, Johannesburg, East London, Maseru , Musina and found out interesting trends. Do not miss out our book on investment opportunities which come out this Wednesday. We have developed the book with everyone in mind. There is however special focus on Diasporans because there are a lot of trends happening on the ground which you will never read about in newspapers or online. It includes an interesting chapter on digital marketing, opportunities in Agriculture, Services Sector, Star Investments, Mining, Guides on how to do business in China, South Africa and Malawi. Interviews of diasporans in Angola, Canada, Dubai, Mozambique, India and DRC. Priced at $25, the book is an interesting journey meant to equip you with knowledge and skills of taking advantage of business opportunities offered by the coming in of a new dispensation.

Do come back to this site on Wednesday evening  and grab a copy of investment opportunities, how to invest, inspiring stories of entrepreneurs and more.

Fraudsters are back in town! This time they are targeting the mobile money transfer system leaving a lot of small business owners to count heavy losses. How is this happening? We detail below in simple terms;

Normal mobile money transactions process involve one being given a merchant code and entering the code on one’s own phone and then showing the business owner a message that confirms money transfer.

The owner of the business checks with own phone to verify and confirm receipt before handing over goods to complete a sale.

How the system is being rigged

Fraudsters have developed an app that generates a fake mobile money transfer message which they keep in their phones. They produce and show the message to unsuspecting business owners purporting to have transferred money to purchase goods.

Business owners who are not alert may handover goods and complete a sale without checking whether they have received a confirmation message. Failure to check the message is resulting in a large number of business owners falling prey to fraudsters. Those targeted are small tuck-shop owners and small shops. Yesterday we heard a story of someone who lost goods valued at $500 and various stories of others falling for the same trick. For a small business, this kind of loss can throw the whole business under a bus!

Be vigilant

Confirm receipt of money transfer from customers by checking your phone. Do not be in a rush and sell goods before you have received money through transfer. In case of network problems, it is better to suspend sales than to lose goods to fraudsters.

Mobile Money Companies

This is not the first time for members of the public to lose funds to fraudsters. You have a moral responsibility to protect the integrity of the money transfer system and one way to do this is through publicity campaigns warning members of the public of unscrupulous elements using the system and putting in place monitoring systems. You should work hand n glove with the police because many businesses are folding due to these fraudsters who in most cases buy goods in bulk. Imagine the damage to peri-urban and rural business owners?

ZBIN will therefore be creating an online petition on our Facebook Page  to mobile companies to take corrective action to protect the integrity of the mobile money system. They should monitor their systems and help sensitize members of the public of risks coming from those abusing their systems. A monthly message to all subscribers warning them of fraudsters on the prowl will not cost them a fortune but will help save thousands of dollars for small business owners.