Diaspora Matters

You witnessed it during the last holiday. All hotels in Victoria Falls were fully booked from the 24th to the 4th of January! Give credit to the new administration which is working hard to attract investment and project the country in good light. We expect the next holidays to have record number of tourists ever.

So you would also like to be on Africa’s rich list? You are going to need numbers and if you are not in Nigeria then you should think global and ensure you have numbers on your side! You will need to be tech-savvy too and the good news is there are a lot of opportunities for those who adopt technology to drive their businesses. Below we look at the latest Forbes Magazine list of South Africa’s richest list and pay close attention to the sectors that gave us our top 5 Billionaires. We benchmark the results with Nigeria and Southern Africa.

1.Nicky Oppenheimer: Diamond Mining.

Oppenheimer is on top of the list with a net worth of $7,6 billion. The 72-year-old made his money off the diamond business. He was previously the chairman of diamond mining company, De Beers.

2. Johann Rupert : Luxury Goods

At 67 years-old, Rubert has a net worth of $6,8 billion. He is the chairman of Swiss luxury goods firm Compagnie Financiere Richemont, a company known for brands such as Cartier and Montblanc.

3. Koos Bekker: Media

Chairman of Naspers, Koos Bekker makes billions of rands from businesses which include DStv, Multichoice, MNet, and online stores – OLX and Takealot. Bekker has acquired most of his wealth from his media businesses and investments. Bekker is 64 years old and has a net worth of $2,6 billion.

4. Patrice Motsepe: Mining

Motsepe is the youngest person in the top 5, at 55 years old. The billionaire’s source of his income is primarily mining – Patrice is Africa’s first billionaire. He is the founder of African Rainbow Minerals and the owner and president of soccer club Mamelodi Sundowns. Motsepe has a net worth of $1,9 billion.

5. Allan Gray: Consulting

Gray’s source of income is money management. He founded investment management firm, Allan Gray Limited in 1973. Gray has a net worth of $1,7 billion.

Key Points:

1. Mining dominates the rich list

2. You may need to know, so who provided consultancy to the mining sector in various investment work? Possibly helps t explain the presence of Allan Gray at No 5.

3. The future Is Technology driven- Future billionaires will come from the internet of doing things-closely watch the gentleman on No 3, Mr Koos Bekker. Does Amazon and Facebook ring a bell?

4. If the Zimbabwean Tycoon Mr Strive Masiyiwa was South African-he would have been the third richest man. Interestingly ahead of DSTV owner Mr Koos Bekker. The Zimbabwean with a networth of $2.8bn should be benchmarked with Mr Koos to find who performs better.

5. Mr Motsepe is the richest Black South African but does not come close to Mr Masiyiwa and so when it comes to Southern Africa, the richest person is Mr Masiyiwa.

6. You are not likely to be a billionaire if you concentrate operations in your country of birth only. SA mining operations have been across Africa, DSTV is an African household name, Strive has expanded his business empire across the continent. The richest man in Africa, Mr Dangote has numbers on his side with Nigeria having an estimated total population of 190 million. If you would like to make into the billionaires league then closely look at some of the biggest markets such as West Africa (Nigeria), East Africa (Kenya), North Africa (Ethiopia, Egypt and Tunisia).

For youngsters entering the entrepreneurship route, the future billions are not in diamond mining, the new diamonds for Africa are going to be found in technology–the internet of doing things! E-Commerce is the new diamond and you have to critically look at  the big markets explained on point 6. The population of Africa is growing and E-commerce is slowly picking up providing gaps for start ups and you too can enter the field! The fact that Strive has moved to Kwese Tv clearly shows the direction the continent is headed….revise your strategies towards the future.

Asante Sana

ZBIN is on a drive to create as many companies as possible. We like formalisation-in business you open more opportunities when you are formal. We have assisted the formation of companies across the region…Botswana, Malawi, Lesotho, Swaziland and South Africa. The drive in 2018 is to make them a success!

In Zimbabwe, we are converting all ZBIN WhatsApp Groups into separate companies. Most of these groups have been in existence for more than 3 years, most of the members know each other-some have met and they are always talking to each other in the groups.
Rather than continuing to be mere discussion platforms, we have a drive to make these groups formal. Members come together and register companies. Companies that help employ some of them, help create an extra income for some of them. Companies that are formed as a result of seeing gaps on the markets.

The Rabbit Company
Take for example the rabbit industry-It is made up mostly of scattered individual farmers rearing rabbits for sale. The farming model can be described as subsistence and few are willing to expand into commercial farming due to market limitations. So the GAP here is Access to Markets! This is our third forum objective and we are very passionate about Access to Markets.

To solve the Access to Markets issue, farmers have come together to form a company that will help to market rabbits. Retail shops and hotels are not willing to work with individual farmers who bring small quantities of rabbits. They want a constant supply and what is more? They want to work with registered companies with track records of constant delivery of rabbits.
Therefore working as a group will bring economies of scale benefits, it will specifically mean farmers negotiating formally as a registered entity. Come together agree on quantity and quality standards and help to promote rabbit meat, rabbit rearing and improve incomes of members and the society at large.

ZBIN Conducts a meeting
So yesterday we coordinated the company registration meeting at our nice offices in Monavale. We had already shared in the group the vision and operational steps we need to take inorder to move forward.
The meeting went well, members contributing to discussions carrying out a SWOT and PESTEL Analysis…bottom line being huge opportunities exist for the rabbit industry and there is room for more players to come. Typical of the SME sector, there is no leading national brand on Rabbits. How will members benefit? We listed down on the board what had already been discussed, expanding the points already discussed on the group and adding a few more.

In comes the youth
One of the members had earlier indicated that he was running late and he indeed came late after we had deliberated on most of the issues on our agenda.

Now this young member is a recent university graduate and had done extensive research, had a database of rabbit farmers and he had interesting points which took us by surprise. Of course we had discussed E-commerce and regional expansion opportunities. You all know ZBIN isn’t it? We rarely design products with Zimbabwe in mind only. Our global thinking outlook forces us to design products or programmes with South Africa, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, Lesotho, Botswana in mind.
Lets get back to what the youngster did-So this youngster surprised everyone with some brilliant innovations we had not included on the agenda. Amazing stuff from him! Of course we are an innovative forum, our members are innovative too but what the youngster brought completely over turned the tables!

Lessons learnt
Our youngsters are brimming with innovations, if you do not include youths in the design of programmes then you are missing the mark. If the design team of your project is not diverse then you are not going to come with the best design.
These youths do not have experience but they are not short on innovation! They just need support and guidance and they will do wonders. Youths need to be given space and innovate with the older generation providing mentorship and this is a lesson to most companies or organisations.

Are you giving youths a voice? On your board do you have youths? On your management team…do youths provide input? On your current strategy, did you allow youths to have a say or review? If you did not, then those that do will have a competitive advantage over you.

In future analysis of competitors and designing strategies to outwit competitors is going to be easy. Analyse the team at the top….does the team include youths? If the company does not have any youths at the top then its likely to be thinking of old models, there is likely to be little innovation or resistance to innovation. Therefore to the small company in Makokoba, to the medium scale company in Rimuka and the big corporate in Southerton here is free message-ignore youths at your own peril!

So ZBIN Rabbit company is going to be headed by this young graduate. He has a lot of energy, a lot of innovations but lacks experience -the good thing though is the forum has a lot of professionals right from the board. We draw a lot of expertise from locals, the diaspora and foreign nationals as well. We will give him ample support and allow him to shine and showcase what Zimbabwean youths have to offer. The verdict will be out by end of year.

The problem of school furniture availability is a big one in Africa especially in poor rural schools. School students are therefore forced to sit on the ground and this affects their morale and teachers as well. To help solve this problems, Africa need to use bamboo trees to develop school furniture. Schools or local communities can grow the bamboo trees which are easy to grow. Local communities need to be taught how to make simple school furniture and they can even build classrooms as well.

So opportunities exist for schools, clinics, libraries, churches and homes. Below we show you some of the innovations that can be done by bamboo trees as well as a manual for growing bamboo trees.

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Originally from Africa and bred in South America, Brachiaria grass is gaining popularity among cattle farmers in Kenya. The grass is credited with helping to revolutionalize the Brazilian beef industry. The grass has found its way to Africa, and a ready home in Kenya.
Sustainable fodder production is a constant problem facing dairy and beef farmers in Kenya. This is particularly severe in the dry season when traditional fodder grasses, like Napier cannot cope and farmers are left with no fodder for their animals. Hence, there has been continuous search for fodder grasses to ensure farmers have a consistent supply of high quality fodder for their animals, even during the dry season. Brachiaria is a grass native to Africa and other tropical regions. Now, the grass has returned to Africa, including Kenya. Two varieties of Brachiaria known as Mulato and Mulato II, are tolerant to drought, recover fast after grazing, show high plant vigour, give good quality forage and are tasty to the animals.
About Mulato
Brachiaria cv. Mulato and Mulato II are a result of breeding by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). According to Dr. Brigitte Maass, a forage scientist with CIAT in Kenya, Brachiaria cv. Mulato and cv. Mulato II are hybrids which have resulted from crosses involving 3 species; Brachiaria brizantha, B. decumbens and B. ruziziensis. The last one is used as a bridge. The result is a hybrid that is apomictic, meaning that the seeds produced are true breeds (their genes do not change). In reality, they are like clones of mother plant. This is an ideal situation that is not common with many crops and forages because farmers will not lose the vigor of the plant.
Growing Mulato
Mulato grows in well-drained soils of medium to high fertility with pH 5-8. Like Napier grass, it responds well to well-matured manure. It is drought tolerant and has potential to grow well in relatively drier areas of Western Kenya with mean annual rainfall of not less than 700 mm and mean daily temperatures higher than 30ᵒC. Trials conducted by KARI-Marigat show that the grass does well under irrigation in arid and semi arid areas, and under rain-fed conditions in the transitional zones.
Mulato Brachiaria is best propagated by seeds, though it can also be planted from vegetative material. Seed is the most appropriate mode of establishment for farmers who want to plant large plots of the grass. At the moment, since the seed is not yet readily available locally, farmers are advised to use vegetative propagation by cuttings. When using seed, a farmer needs 2.5-3kgs per acre. Seed is sown at the onset of rains in well-tilled seedbeds. An important feature of the Mulato Brachiaria is that its stems are capable of rooting when they come into contact with moist soil especially cause by trampling of animals. Mulato II performs very well not only in grazed systems, but also in cut and carry system.
Farmers are advised to carry out routine top dressing after every cutting or grazing; using well-matured compost, farm yard manure and rock phosphate. The grass has thick leaves, which makes it difficult for weeds to thrive.
Use of Brachiaria grass
Mulato Brachiaria can be grazed or cut and fed to animals in stalls and feedlots. Where animals graze, the duration depends on the number of animals. Sufficient time must be given to a pasture to grow back after intensive grazing. Rotational grazing will give grass time to re-grow. Where farmers cut and carry to feed the animals, the grass is ready for the next cut in about 45-50 days during the rainy season. At this stage, the grass has higher nutrient content, especially protein, than Napier.
Mulato Brachiaria has high production capacity for biomass; therefore, it is a good alternative for making silage and hay for use during the dry season. Its production and nutrient content depend on soil fertility and its management, as well as the stage of harvesting.
Farmers who have planted and used this fodder grass are impressed by its performance. Research at KARI-Kakamega and KARI-Marigat indicates that the grass holds huge potential for the dairy and beef industry in Kenya, especially in the drier areas where Napier grass does not do very well and in areas affected by the Napier stunt disease. CIAT, ICIPE and partners are exploring private partnerships to make the seed commercially available in Kenya, at an affordable price for farmers.
Brachiaria finds a home in the Push-pull system
Scientists at ICIPE, led by Prof. Zeyaur R. Khan developed Push-Pull to respond to the problem of stem borers and Striga weed in maize. The push-pull system uses Desmodium (Desmodium uncinatum), planted between rows of maize, to push the stemborer moths out of the maize field. Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) is planted around the maize plot to ensure that the stem borers are not able to develop to maturity. After repeated trials with different kinds of legumes ICIPE scientists found that Desmodium is more effective than other legumes in reducing striga and increasing maize yields, because it has the specific phytochemical that prevents Striga from growing longer into the maize plant.
Apart from helping farmers deal with pests, the system provides a source of fodder for cows, goats and sheep, particularly Desmodium as a protein supplement.
Wider adaptation
As the uptake of push-pull continues to increase and spread to different agro-ecologies, particularly drier areas where sorghum and finger millet thrive, a drought tolerant trap alternative to Napier grass and intercrop alternative to Desmodium is needed. This is where Brachiaria finds its place in the push-pull system. Trials conducted by ICIPE and partners show that Brachiaria cv. Mulato is tolerant to drought conditions of up to 3 months and temperatures of more than 30ᵒC. To accommodate Brachiaria, slight adjustments are made onto the system. Four rows of Mulato II are planted instead of 3 rows of Napier grass. Farmers involved in the trials get Mulato II seeds from ICIPE.

Growing popularity
Unlike Napier grass, Mulato Brachiaria does not have stinging hairs, making it easy to cut and carry. This is a quality that makes the grass attractive to farmers who use the push-pull technology to control stem borer and Striga and as a way of growing fodder for their animals.

You can expect ZBIN to come up with a number of great initiatives this year and the first one is the promotion of business amongst members. The forum has 33.000 followers on Facebook and 8.000 members on our Whatsapp platforms. Most of our whatsapp platform members are registered and are a closely networked community.

Promotion of Business
Members now have an incentive to support one another. For every purchase you do on the ZBIN forum, you now earn points which will put your name on the top. The forum will help promote businesses from people who have earned top points by supporting others. If you by chickens from our ZBIN forum members then you become eligible to also benefit if say you run a legal firm. ZBIN will help promote you through our newsletters, website and our Facebook. On a monthly basis, we will cover a free promotion as a thank you to members who support others.

How will this work?
After you have done business, you have purchased a product or a service from a group member, do app the forum admin on +263774081808 and app the following details:
Bought goods from x number on this date
No need to put the amount of the purchase

Advantages
Members are encouraged to offer a small forum discount when selling within the forum to members. If you are selling a watch for $160, there is no harm in reducing it to $155 and offer a $5 discount to a fellow member who will help to promote your business. If you are selling chickens for $6 then there is no harm in offering a discount to a member buying chickens in bulk from 10 upwards.
When you buy chickens or school uniforms from lets say Nakumatt, there is likely to be further benefit to you in promoting your business. If you are a recent law graduate, when you buy goods from a local shop-no benefit will accrue to you after purchase but if you buy from a ZBIN member then you are likely to benefit by promoting your recently established legal firm.
You are going to promote your business faster by participating on this free platform. You may not necessarily need to buy goods yourself but can also refer friends and relatives. This means a Diasporan based in Ontario can refer a relative in Mtoko to buy goods from a ZBIN member’s shop and earn marks.

Our more than 33.000 members have diverse business interests which cover Poultry, Baking, Real Estate, Rabbits, Agriculture, Consultancy, IT Products, General Buying and Selling, Bitcoin, Mining, Tapestry, Paw Paw Growing, Transport, Fast Foods, Education, Bitcoin, Online Forex Trading, Mozambique Opportunities, Zim-India, Buying and Selling Malawi, Buying and Selling Zambia, Buying and Selling Namibia, Buying and Selling Lesotho, Buying and Selling Swaziland, Buying and Selling Trinidad and Tobago.

The purpose of the specific groups above is to help promote business from members. Now you have an incentive to go and buy from a ZBIN member and expect a return. There is going to be no better forum that helps to support entrepreneurs than ZBIN! We are initially targeting our 8.000 strong Whatsapp groups before moving to our Facebook Platform of 33.000.
You want to join our Whatsapp platforms? Feel free to indicate the your group preference and app the admin on +263774081808. This offer applies to all countries in Southern Africa where we have groups and outside Africa we have India and Trinidad and Tobago. The facility is absolutely free, no joining fee.

Kea Leboga

Your favourite business forum is busy compiling a book on investment opportunities and as a result few free articles will be published in January 2018. Do expect the situation to return to normalcy in February 2018 when we resume full operations. We are also busy recruiting additional staff to cater for increased volume of work.

One of the things we encourage our members to do is to think globally. Thinking about your local community limits your success rate because your local community is likely to be a small market! Your local community is likely to face economic challenges which can negatively affect your business. We therefore encourage you to think globally when it comes to business and one way to do so is to analyse markets across the region. When our forum launched the highly successful program, we covered Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Whilst the programme got a lot of support and being over subscribed in neighbouring countries, when it came to Zimbabwe the response was lukewarm! The good thing is that we launched the program in Zimbabwe last otherwise if we had launched it in Zimbabwe first, then chances are high that we would have reached a wrong business conclusion. We would have concluded that there is no demand for the programme whereas across the borders, thousands were in need of the programme.

Now our second money making idea of the year is Freezits Making Machines. In Zimbabwe they are called freezits after the pioneer brand, in Malawi and South Africa they know it as Ice lolo. The good news is that there is heavy demand for the small drinks across the region. Our studies in Malawi shows that none exist in the beautiful city of Blantyre, in Mozambique, the Cidade de Maputo does not have suppliers.

The drinks are affordable and suits adults and school kids as well. Hot temperatures in Mozambique makes the drinks ideal in places such as Tete, Beira and Maputo.

Want to try?

The source of the machines used to make the drinks is South Africa and Zimbabwe. The business potential is to manufacture drinks for wholesale or even supplying the machinery for sale. This suits someone who is willing to properly manufacture and market the products. The marketing side needs to be done well especially if you are launching it in new markets.

Great potential, if you are in Malawi, you may need to visit Zimbabwe and study how this thriving industry works before launching it in your country.

Iam just back from Mbare Musika where I wanted to confirm the availability of paw paw fruits. The bad news is there are no paw paw fruits for sale. Managed to witness only 6 small paw paws and given the state they are in, the sellers should jus throw them away! So technically the biggest fruit and veges market in Zimbabwe does not have paw paws for sale. The only few paw paws available in the country can be found in supermarkets and they are mostly imported.

What does this mean for farmers?

Great opportunity for you to grow paw paws and supply them to your local markets. This applies to our members and followers in Malawi, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, South Africa, Zambia  and Zimbabwe. There is an acute shortage of paw paws according to the information shared on our ZBIN Paw Paw Groups.

Time Period?

The time period required from planting seeds and growing fruits is 7 months. This is for the hybrid IPB9 which is easy to grow and has a life span of between 3 and 4 years. This means you can plant seeds now and expect to harvest crops around July/August period.

Seeds Availability

In Zimbabwe the seeds are available on this Phone No +263774081808. Found in packs of 50 which cost $20 or a pack with 250 seeds costing $70. Due to high demand, you have to book for orders 2 days in advance. In Malawi do contact  Bravo Horticulture Nursery on 0999255898

Suitability of Project

You need access to water and land and for those in rural areas kumagarden kunogona kuita, in cities consider your backyards-you can get a few seeds and try your hand at paw paw growing.

Nursery Project

You can also grow seedlings for sale that means buying the seeds at $20 and selling each plant at $3-$4 giving you total revenue of $150-$200.

More information on growing Hybrid Paw Paws  or Papaye is covered below:

They are easy to grow (once you know how to!), they are quick to fruit and they fruit all year round. You can use them to feed rabbits and chickens too.

Growing Papaya
Papaya originated in the lowland tropics of South America, but today you find papayas growing everywhere in the tropics and subtropics. It often grows wild, and every tropical food garden has several papaya trees.
To grow good papayas you need a frost free climate, lots of sunlight, lots of water and very good soil.
If you can supply all of the above you can pretty much stick some papaya seeds in the ground at any time of the year, and six to ten months later they will start fruiting.

Ok, admittedly this sounds easier than it is for most beginner gardeners. There are some hurdles and traps to watch out for when growing papayas. But if you are aware of the possible problems then there is no reason why your first attempt at growing papayas shouldn’t be a smashing success. Let’s look at the details…

What Do Papayas Look Like?
Here are some pictures of papayas, for those who have never seen papaya plants.

Papayas are fast growing, single stem plants. The trunk is soft and does not have a bark, and papayas don’t have branches.

The leaves are huge and don’t last long. Usually you have a tall trunk with a crown of leaves at the top of it. The overall appearance is a bit like a palm tree.
If a papaya loses the growing tip or is cut back it can develop multiple trunks.
The fruit grows on the trunk, and since papayas continue to grow up and up the fruit is harder and harder to get to as the papaya plant gets older…

How To Grow Papaya From Seed

Papaya trees are very, very hungry. That means they need very good soil, rich in organic matter and nutrients.

If you don’t have fabulous soil, make some. Dig a hole half a meter across and fill it with a mix of good compost and soil. Actually, make at least two or three such planting beds in different locations.

Now sprinkle on some of your seeds. A couple of dozen per bed is a good amount. I usually use even more… Cover the seeds lightly with more compost, and then mulch the patch well. The seeds usually take about a couple of weeks to germinate, and may take longer.
Soon you will notice that your seedlings are very different in size and vigor. That’s why we planted so many. Start culling the weaker ones. Pull them out while still small, or cut bigger ones down to the ground. Only keep the very best.

At this stage you should keep about half a dozen plants. Papaya plants can be male, female, or bisexual, and you want to make sure that you have some females or bisexual plants amongst your seedlings. The male papayas don’t bear fruit.

Papayas start flowering when they are about one metre tall. The males flower first. Male flowers have long, thin stalks with several small blooms. Female flowers are usually single blooms, bigger, and very close to the trunk. See the papaya pictures above.
Cull most of the male plants. You only need one male for every ten to fifteen female plants to ensure good pollination.

And that’s it. You should end up with one very strong and healthy female plant per bed. (And a male plant somewhere…) If the weather is warm enough, and if you are growing your papayas in full sun and in good soil, then you could be picking the first ripe fruit within 10 months.
How much water?
Papayas have large soft leaves. They evaporate a lot of water in warm weather, so they need a lot of water. But unfortunately papayas are very susceptible to root rot, especially in cool weather. Overwatering is the most common reason for problems when growing papayas. It depends on the temperature and on the overall health and vigor of the plant. A healthier plant will cope better, but in general you should be careful not to overwater during periods of cool weather.

How much plant food?
As much as you can spare. Papayas need a lot of fertilizing. They are particularly greedy for nitrogen. Fertilize them regularly. You can use a complete fertilizer, or something like chicken manure. Papayas handle strong or fresh manures fairly well. You should also be generous with compost, and just keep piling on the mulch as the plants grow bigger.

How much sun?
As much as possible. It’s ok if the leaves wilt a little bit in hot weather. Papayas love heat and sunlight. You can get them to grow in partial shade, but you just end up with a spindly, sickly tree, and if you ever get any fruit it will be several metres up in the air and taste insipid.

When do papayas fruit and how much?
Papayas fruit all year round, as long as the weather is warm enough. Keep them happy and they will keep fruiting. (If the temperatures drop too much they stop flowering. They will flower again as it warms up.)
Young papayas are the most productive. The older a papaya plant gets, the weaker it becomes. It will produce less and smaller fruit, and it may get problems with diseases. Also, because the plants keep growing taller it gets harder to reach the fruit.
I think it’s best to just keep planting more. Put in another patch every few months. That way you always have some healthy and productive plants around, and you don’t need a ladder to pick the fruit.

How long do papayas live?
That can vary greatly, but most papaya plants are short lived. As they get older they get more susceptible to all kinds of diseases. Most of mine die some time in their second or third year. We get big storms here and usually my papayas just blow over once they get too tall. But I also have some trees that seem indestructible. Rather than blowing over they snap off, and grow multiple new trunks. I once saw a photo of a forty year old papaya!

Common Problems When Growing Papayas
I already addressed the most common problem: root rot due to overwatering. If you get cool weather keep you papaya plants dry.
If you live in an area that gets torrential tropical rains, like I do, then there is not much you can do about it. Every wet season I lose many of my mature papaya plants. It’s not a problem for me, since I regularly start new plants. The young ones survive ok, and I always have some papayas fruiting somewhere.

Strong winds are another common cause of papaya disaster. Papaya plants have a very shallow root system, they get very top heavy as they grow older, and they blow over easily. Again, the solution is to replant in time.
Then there are birds, fruit bats, possums… Everybody loves papayas. The only solution here is to pick the fruit as soon as it starts to change colour. It will ripen ok on the kitchen bench.

I don’t mind sharing my papaya crop anyway. I pick what I can reach and I don’t worry about the fruit that’s higher up. The birds can have the rest until the plant falls over and dies.

That is unless I get an exceptionally productive or nice flavoured papaya. I’m too lazy to climb ladders to pick papayas, so if a tree gets too tall I just cut it down, about two feet of the ground. Sometimes it kills them, but sometimes they grow back with several trunks. I get more fruit and it grows where I can reach it.

The best time to cut a papaya back is during dry weather. The trunk is hollow. If it fills with water it will rot. You can protect it by covering it with an upside down plastic pot or or a bag. Hot, humid weather can encourage rot.
Papayas get a whole slew of viruses and diseases, transmitted by sucking insects. Those problems are greatest during times when the plants are stressed already, for example because they have wet feet.

I don’t think it’s worth worrying about diseases, or trying to treat them. Just plant more.
Young, vigorous papayas are least affected by insects or diseases. Just keep planting lots of them, and always keep just the best. The planting method outlined above, and regular replanting, are the best way to ensure a regular supply of papaya.

Save your own seeds from your healthiest and tastiest plants, and over time you will breed the perfect papaya for your garden

We would like to thank everyone who responded to our advert. We are sending you the Pdf Files as promised and adding you to our groups. To join the groups kindly click the link below.

Asante Sana

https://chat.whatsapp.com/invite/Fzlw1QIL8lbKAXlMo2WZLg

In business appearance unfortunately matters…rather unfortunate isn’t it? Whether you have offices plays a huge part in your business. If you are a first timer or a novice entrepreneur then you have to invest heavily in a professional presence…an office, a landline, a bank account…all of these are silent issues that helps to project your business as someone who is professional and can therefore be trusted with business.

Business and Trust.
The word business goes hand in glove with trust. Where there is no trust there is no business, where there is business it means someone somewhere has trust in it. The most important aspect in business after registration is where are you based? It can be a debatable issue with some arguing that what is more important is your business idea but the other side of the argument is as you start your business, the issue of credibility is of utmost importance. Bank application forms need the address of the business, clients want a physical presence, suppliers are not willing to supply goods on credit to someone with no physical address.

When you are new in business-you have the world against you and you have to prove your worth. You see—the world of business is highly competitive and when you mention that you operate at home, then clients move to your next competitors.

Visitors to your office will be subconsciously assessing your offices and making a judgement whether they want to do business with you or not. Some inorder to check on your credibility may decide to phone you on your landline…Yes a landline shows that someone is serious about business. TelOne hardly gives land lines to fly by night business people. So some conduct the landline credibility test, follow this by a physical premises verification and then ask for your bank account inorder to pay monies. Coming up with excuses to say you do not have a company bank account but you are using a personal account does not earn you credibility marks.

So how do you get offices or Premises?

Not easy to get offices, they are in most cases expensive…it may be an extra cost you cannot afford. As a start up entrepreneur your costs are likely to be higher during the first months and an extra burden of rental costs can be too much.

Various options exist such as office sharing with peers, a number of hubs exist in town where you can pay on rent as you use basis. So get a physical presence this year…brainstorm on how to cut on rental costs. Operating from your home will not grow your business. Tu office twekuti unopfuura nekuseri kwevanhu varikugerwa not too good either.

Get registered, get an office, get a landline, get business cards, get a website, get a professional email address and then excel at your line of business.

Congratulations for making it into 2018! The year 2017 was no doubt a difficult year and we look forward to better times in 2018. Have you made any new year resolutions yet? Some go for fasting for the first few days of each year, some jot down what they intend to achieve and some simply do not write down anything at all. Our recommendation is just do what works best for you. As good corporate practice, we however encourage our members to have a strategic plan in place which you must follow A strategic plan will give you guidance on what you need to do during the year. It keeps you focused and whilst success is not guaranteed, but at least you will be working towards a goal…you keep your eyes on the ball.

So what did the forum achieve during the year? We closely look at progress made since the inception of the forum:I

In February 2015, ZBIN is formed by a group of online friends becoming Zimbabwe’s first start up business forum.

In November 2016, ZBIN launches a website, www.zbinworld.

in December 2016, ZBIN gets a Board of Directors (Made up of 60% Diasporans)

In March 2017, ZBIN gets formally Registered.

In May 2017, ZBIN hires staff members.

In June 2017, ZBIN Opens Offices in Monavale, Harare.

In July 2017, ZBIN launches a highly successful regional carpet making course that results in the forum travelling to almost every major city in Southern Africa. The influence of the program sees thousands of women indirectly benefiting the program. The Malawi Government adopts the program, the course gets accreditation in South Africa. By far the most successful Zimbabwe training that affected the region in 2017.

In December 2017, ZBIN advises His Excellency to make follow ups with the SA Business Forum for another meeting on investment. Advice written on his page and surprisingly is taken up and results in the most over subscribed business forum ever by Diasporans. Not surprising as we had been advocating for Diaspora participation in business.

Our website provided Zimbabweans with over 470 free articles, they were viewed more than 300.000 times and helped foreign nationals too as we covered regional country specific issues. We became the most known Zimbabweans business forum beyond the borders through use of Social Media. The number of regional nationals stand at more than 1.000.

Failures:
Our objectives are as follows:
1. Help members with access to opportunities information.
2. Help members with access to finance.
3. Help members with access to markets.
4. Capacity Building, Advocacy and Promotion of Networking.

We have done quite well on 3 of the above objectives except Access to Finance! Noone can say I accessed funding from ZBIN in 2017. We did help a number of our tapestry programme trainees with funding proposals but this is a secondary objective….the primary one is $s,$s,$s….members should be able to say we got so much, we should confidently say we disbursed so much in figures. This is going to be one of our major objectives in 2018. Access to dollars and successful implementation of projects.

Do not miss out the book we are compiling for 2018, a collection of some of our best published stories, a critical analysis of the business environment and prediction of what the future will be like.

Asante Sana.

Please make sure you get your name into our database for possible funding and assistance opportunities.

Submit the following details about your business venture:

Name of Business:

Name of Business Contact :

Business Contact No:

Registered or Not Registered:

Business Sector:

Hundreds of people have already send us their details, it only takes 5 minutes but opens a lot of business opportunities for you at no additional cost. Send your details to vicmunemo@yahoo.com and copy victor@zbinworld.com