Diaspora Matters

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

It is one of the largest shopping malls in the country and possesses great potential. A visit to this place will shows that more than 60% of the commercial space is unoccupied. Business is mostly concentrated on the two supermarkets which are Bon Marche and Pick and Pay. The little business that happens at this place is taken up by a few commercial banks, hardwares, boutiques and pharmacies.

There is no cinema, no leisure and entertainment shops, no fruit and vegetables shops. What is worse is there is not even a single pub? Megga 2 is the last pub to be located at the mall and since location to Hatfield more than 5 years ago, no one has come up to set up a pub at the place.

Potential

Suburbs surrounding the shopping mall show growth, new suburbs coming up as Zvimba Rural District Council extends its influence towards harare with a new middle density suburb called Sandton. The proposed new parliament building will be built in Mt Hampden which will add to more business in this area.

A new massive embassy is also being built adjacent to the shopping mall. One of the biggest embassies in South Africa, when complete -will add more business to the shopping mall. So if you are coming to Zimbabwe we urge you to take a tour of the shopping mall and appreciate the potential that it possesses. A time will come when all shopping spaces will be filled up, a time will come when it will become almost impossible to get renting space at this mall….do not be a spectator, let this happen when you have a business plan in place.

ZBIN is taking a break and we will be back in 2018 with new ideas and strategies to help our members with better information and services. We would like to thank you for visiting this forum 400.000 times over the past 12 months. We will be compiling the various articles we published and put them into a book which will be available for your reading in 2018.

Business discussions will continue on our popular Facebook Page and our Whatsapp platforms as well.

Wishing you a blessed festive season

Asante Sana 

All hotel rooms are fully booked from the 21st of December 2017 to the 4th of January 2018! This is according to the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation news today. No doubt a vote of confidence for the tourism sectors of Zimbabwe and Zambia. The numbers of tourists  visiting the area has been on an upward trajectory with a more than 9% increase when compared to the previous period last year. So what is contributing to this increase in arrivals? Its a combination of factors but the biggest one has to be the opening of a bigger airport and the increase in the number of foreign flights to the airport. Remember tourists from Kenya are now able to fly directly to Victoria Falls….so its all good for Zimbabwe and Zambia business and the question is what will happen next year when more tourists are expected to flood in? We have covered before tourist growth projections on this site and the numbers are expected to continue rising..so the question is what will happen to more tourists when accommodation is running out?

The answer of what will happen is solved by increased investment at Victoria Falls especially in terms of hotel and accommodation. One of the best areas to visit used to be Detema Safari Lodge which is located in Dete which is located 172 kilometres from Victoria Falls. Visited the place in year 2000 and was charmed-it used to have a lot of game and lovely thatched tree lodges. The place used to rival Mana Pools in terms of leisure activities and beautiful scenery. An airport in Dete helped to connect it with Victoria Falls, Bulawayo and Harare. Sadly standards deteriorated over the years and now little is known about this little paradise. For serious investors in the tourism sector we urge them to look at not only Victoria Falls but surrounding areas such as Hwange and Dete.

Young Entrepreneurs Advice:

You too can benefit from the tourism sector and you may not need a lot of capital to start benefiting from the sector. You can look at starting your own Travel Agent Business. We recently assisted one of our members to improve operations of her business in the sector and she has been doing well. We helped her with Digital Marketing which is a key requisite in the area as you have to deal with tourists from many countries whose mode of communication is mostly digital.

Below we feature basic advice to help you in starting your own business and tap into the increased business expected in the next few years.

Specific Advice: How to Start a Travel Agent Business

The Zimbabwe Business Ideas and Network has a lot of talented writers who are members of the forum. We are always encouraging members to bring articles and books for publication. Today we feature a free book on solving the unemployment problem and the book was written by King Bee or Blessing Mashapa.

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As Zimbabwe starts the economic turn around journey there is one area we recommend for our members. The area used to give returns of 12 for every dollar invested. You want to do a guess work of the area? Well the area is Dairy Farming this is according to research studies carried out by the Zimbabwe Association of Dairy Farmers or ZADF. Their website is www.zadf.co.zw and contains a lot of good information on dairy farming in Zimbabwe. We recommend that you visit the site and read a lot of useful information.

This weekend we are not in dairy farming but we zero in on a lucrative sector or energy. The demand for energy keeps going up. This week we covered the expansion of urban areas in Zimbabwe, the urbanisation process is growing at a faster rate than ZESA can cope with. As a result the gap is filled with alternative energy of which solar is a good option.

Solar has been in demand and those who made big monies did not supply individual households. They targeted Government, NGO and Big Corporates. Even local authorities participated on the tender market with Murewa RDC and lately Rusape Town Council flighting tenders. The trend for local authorities is likely to keep going upwards.

This is the sector where the money is, an improvement in the economy means more demand for energy especially in the farming and peri urban areas. All the new suburbs coming up will have to temporarily rely on solar energy before ZESA connects them. We therefore urge our members to do a detailed study of this sector with a view to invest in it in the nearby future.

There are a few major construction projects going on in the country but we encourage our members to be on the look out for major government construction projects in the pipeline. If you want big monies in Zimbabwe then the construction sector is a crucial sector you need not miss.

When the economy finally opens up to investors one sector that is likely to benefit most is the construction industry. We expect to see new buildings coming up, new construction projects by new investors or Government funded. We are going to be tracking these for the benefit of our members. You need investment information at the tip of your fingures.

One area you need to track is that of tenders, who is tendering what and where and this morning we share with you a wonderful site that tracks construction tenders in Zimbabwe. The link for the site is below:

http://www.cwctenders.com/construction_tenders_zimbabwe.htm