Diaspora Matters

Its early morning in Harare, and a truck delivering bread makes a screeching halt at Tindo Tuckshop in Mabvuku and the driver goes to the back of the truck, takes 4 crates of bread and hands them to the Tindo Tuckshop owner. The driver quickly signs a delivery note for Tindo and is back on the driving seat heading to the next tuckshop.

In exactly 2 hours or less, the delivery truck returns and collects cash for the bread sold. Now this would qualify as one of the shortest credit facilities in the world! The shortest term credit was popularized by bread companies and currently Bakers Inn is the leading brand.

Tuckshop owners do not have upfront cash flows for ordering most products, but most of them are capable of consistently moving volumes—and this is where credit providers came in to plug the hole.

It started with bread but now more products are being pushed this way and they include mealie meal, sweets and candy, snacks and others. Some deliver the products and collect their cash in the shortest period of time ranging from a few days to a week.

You have possibly witnessed a lot of vendors at traffic lights especially in Harare who will be selling various goods from brooms, sweets, snacks and biscuits. Where do they get the products? Do they pay for them? An underground distribution channel now exists with registered vendors accessing products—sell and cash the proceeds to the supplier.

On the ground opposite Rainbow Towers in Harare—a motorbike truck delivers ice-blocks to vendor cart owners. Sometimes the delivery bike comes earlier than the vendors and then just leave the ice under trees and collect funds later.

Thinking of launching new products in Zimbabwe? You may need to analyse how this credit model is being used for inspiration. Interestingly we once employed this model when we launched a Crowdfunding Company that delivered mealie meal to high density suburbs in Harare.

The trick is not to leave your cash in the hands of tuckshop owners for too long as the propensity to spend it is very high thereby increasing the risks of default.

In 2017 our adverts on Tapestry or Rugmaking accidentally went viral across SADC attracting millions of followers across the region. We definitely made digital history as the ads which we shared on Facebook were eventually shared across Whatsapp Platforms in South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana and Malawi.

An atomic explosion that earned us an award from the Zulu Kingdom for the impact of our work across South Africa and KwaZulu Natal Province in particular. What was just an experimental advert turned out to be a complete opposite as thousands responded and we could not manage the avalanche. The power of digital marketing—nobody knows what can happen to content posted!

Is it possible to do a repeat? Yes we did in 2018 with a follow on project of Hatmaking although we could not reach the benchmark we had set in 2017.

We got a firsthand insight of the link between Facebook and Whatsapp—the 2 a formidable power in triggering viral content. Whatever is covered on Facebook and if good enough, eventually goes to Whatsapp where sharing is convenient. In the past there were no restrictions on sharing on Whatsapp but restrictions—one can no longer share forwarded  messages to many groups at once—only one group allowed at a time if it’s a forwarded message.

The Share Button is one of the most powerful digital marketing tools and need more analysis. Are you developing content that is easily shared? How many times has your content been shared? Shared across all social media platforms. Do you do content share audits?

We used to have Mambos Chickens dominating social media with their content finding loyal followers. We don’t know what happened—perhaps change in management?

Others are engaging SHARING Teams—the teams share content on their behalf helping to create or trigger viral content. We will research more on this and share with the forum.

The last box for ticking in digital marketing is the SHARE BUTTON—can the content be shared? Not shared by the creator but by independent followers. Is the value in the content or graphics good enough?

For ages local tourism has been concentrated in a few areas such that when one visits them all, there is no more appetite to keep returning. Some have been to Victoria Falls right from school trips, work assignments or workshops-and even on personal tours. The same applies to Great Zimbabwe, Hwange National Park, Nyanga, Gonarezhou and a few others. The marginal utility is bound to kick in as value of consumption goes down due to familiarity,

We would like to congratulate the Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industries, Hon Barbra Rwodzi and we come with one appeal. Kindly visit the scenic Binga Beach along the Zambezi River and help promote the area by bringing investors who can spruce up the place and make it a preferred destination of choice for locals interested in our biggest local beach.

Instead of flying out to Durban or Capetown, locals could fly or drive to Binga and enjoy the little known side of Zimbabwe. The beach need ministerial endorsement and inviting locals interested in developing the place such as setting up hillside lodges, swimming pools, ablution facilities and food courts. In addition locals can benefit by selling curios to visiting tourists. In short economic development in Binga can be enhanced through investment on the Binga Beach.

Internal tourism can help keep greenbacks locally especially during holidays. Therefore Honourable Minister, our plea to you is to make Binga Beach one of your key areas by first visiting it and then develop a plan for promoting it.

Raising rabbits is not much of a problem, the process is fairly simple and many people can do it. However the biggest challenge happens to be access to markets. Despite great taste and health benefits, many shy away from rabbit meat. However, over the years more restaurants have been adding rabbit meat on the menus and the Chinese Community in the country has been one of the key drivers of demand.

Our forum has an active Rabbits Whatsapp Group where members share resources on raising rabbits. And one of our star members is Bulawayo based Trymore T Cee Nzou. Instead of complaining about markets access, he innovated and introduced Rabbits Biltong which he branded as Rabbit Bites and the response has been encouraging.

He leveraged on the 100k Active forum members and partnered with distributors such as Gwenn Chimuti and Audline Matsika in Harare who stock and push Rabbit Bites to Hararians. Massive demand for Rabbit Bites from Zbinites as the tasty rabbits gain traction.

The last time he travelled from Bulawayo to Harare for a ZBIN Sports Day, he boarded a night bus and then sold samples to fellow passengers and the response was overwhelming proving that a market does exist. Zbinite Tinashe Makuvise bought 20 Rabbit Bite packets and took them to hotels in Kariba and the response was the same-great uptake and positive reviews. Pause for a moment and calculate the distance between Bulawayo to Kariba via Harare!

The Bulawayo based youngster will soon be running out of space as demand surges. There have been inquiries from as far as UK from fellow Zbinites interested in pushing the bites.

The Power of Innovation!

There are more opportunities to be unlocked when youngsters add value and then collaborate in market development. Only the sky is the limit for those who combine thinking in other terms and hard work. Just like we helped push hybrid paw paws and cruise ship jobs-our next success story is on Rabbit Bites from Bulawayo based J&J Rabbits.

To those interested in Rabbit Bites, do contact Trymore on +263 777 988 092 or his Harare based distribution agents-Gwenn Chimuti on +263 719 224 766 and Audlin Matsika on +263 779 210332

Zimbabwe is home to the second biggest per capita informal sectors in the world according to UNDP and IMF. Over 60% of the population rely on the informal economy for survival. Therefore scholars of economics cannot avoid looking at Zimbabwe when analysing the shadow economy.

The major challenges facing small businesses include 1) Access to Markets 2) Access to Capital 3) Access to mentorship 4) Challenging Economic Environment, and 5) Other factors.

Given that this is an economy that deserves special place in the world. How has been the support to small businesses over the past years? A lot of efforts by the government, corporate sector and development partners with considerable amounts and resources poured. However given the extent of the demand—supply factors have just been a drop in the ocean.

In targeted rural communities, development partners have done commendable work in supporting livelihoods, provision of inputs (capital), trainings and market linkages. In some areas water availability has been enhanced with irrigation systems developed or resuscitated. The Government has also done exceptionally well in supporting key economic sectors such as Agriculture and Mining benefiting small holder farmers and miners.

The biggest challenge in all the interventions are urban areas.

It is easy to mobilise rural folks through use of traditional leaders and structures as communities are closely linked. However in urban set ups—this is a serious challenge.

Proposed solutions include tech hub interventions—however their reach is limited to a few hundreds or thousands per year. It is therefore difficult to derive meaningful data backed conclusions on effectiveness of such interventions. Entrepreneurs in Epworth, Makokoba, Sakubva and Mucheke may struggle to name any hub they are aware of.

Tech hubs therefore need expansion beyond the tiny few that are available as they are technically a drop in the ocean.

In our view, no one in Zimbabwe can effectively assist entrepreneurs given the scale of the need especially in urban areas where little support is reaching them. There is need for all stakeholders to form a team and these could include The Government, The Corporate Sector, Financial Institutions, The Civic Society, Universities and colleges, Urban and Rural Councils, Churches, Public Media, Telecommunication Companies and community leaders.

Zimbabwe needs a solid infrastructure for supporting small businesses and unlock value. This is the greatest missing link but innovations could be introduced to harness the existing digital infrastructure of websites and social media platforms. In Japan they have a digital ecosystem for supporting entrepreneurs. It is called Mirasapo which essentially mean supporting the future needs of entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs linked to the Mirasapo have access to capital, markets, mentorship and other resources.

And on ZBIN we adopted the model that links our website to Facebook and Whatsapp Forums. Our members benefit from access to opportunities information, access to markets and access to peer to peer mentorship. This has seen us link up 100,000 Active Members which should be one of the highest in the world for countries with high informal sectors.

We haven’t fully reached our potential but believe we are in the right direction to connect over a million entrepreneurs over the next 5 years.

Our model as well as the Japanese Mirasapo model need tweaking and create a fully home grown infrastructure that support entrepreneurs. Classroom entrepreneurship teaching has been overtaken by events as only a few are reached.

We have now entered the last leg of the year with less than 7 weeks till 2023 comes to an end. Crime is expected to increase in line with increased spending and traffic around the country. Criminals usually increase their pace during this period and this week we witnessed an action packed movie style robbery in Southerton, Harare. A businessman lost a substantial amount of money but thanks to a dash board (dashcam) camera which recorded the robbery, the police swiftly moved in and arrested the culprits in hours!

Here are a list of areas our members are supposed to take great caution

Vehicle Purchases: A lot of vehicle purchase transactions do take place during the festive season. Criminals hang around garages ready to pounce. Move from one garage to the next making inquiries and you would have broadcasted to the public that you have cash.

Vehicle Sales: In a cash economy where most of it is kept at home–every vehicle sale is resulting in the cash being kept at home. And vehicle registration books in most cases provides evidence of the exact location where the cash is to be kept. Assess the costs of bank charges against the total loss of the funds including injury to you and family members. Last year many lost funds this way with sometimes hijacking taking place before the seller reaches home.

Residential Stands Transactions: Similar to the vehicle transactions noted above-avoid carrying huge amounts of cash to purchase stands or even sales. Avoid travelling long distances and be wary of sudden changes in venues for transactions. You are safer dealing with registered institutions including lawyers.

Bank Deposits and Withdrawals: Do not be predictable on your movements to banks-avoid predictable patterns that makes tracking you easier for criminals. The Southerton robbery could have been avoided had the businessman used Cash In Transit vehicle services.

Home Transactions: Avoid conducting transactions at home by inviting strangers to buy or selling to them. It makes it easy to identify targets by criminals. Rather, conduct transactions away from your home.

Advertising on social media could also send a signal that someone has cash or will soon have it. Therefor be in trusted forums and also think twice before posting. Fake Proof of Payments (POPs) expected to increase too and therefore verify, verify transactions before releasing goods. Be wary of big orders before your closing period.

We expect sophistication from criminals including targeting back to school transactions. Homes should not be left alone during the festive season and avoid night travelling.

The total export receipts for Rwanda in 2021 was US$2.1 billion and increased to US$2.9 billion in 2022. The interesting insight is in 2021, Rwandas exports equalled the Zimbabwe’s diaspora receipts for the year ended 2022! And in 2023 Zimbabwe received close to a billion dollars in the first 6 months. The expectation is to meet the US$2 billion mark by the end of 2023.

Therefore diaspora remittances do play a significant economic role in the country helping to provide liquidity and spur economic development. But as a nation do we have a solid diaspora engagement policy? Is it visible enough? What have been our key achievements over the past decades to engage and incentivise our foreign citizens to actively participate in business back home?

On this forum we do have tonnes of posts advocating for diaspora engagement but we eventually got tired of advocating for this. It is better to focus on what is controllable and that is individual businesses tapping into diaspora remittances value chain.

Judging from forum sentiments, the economy has been biting hard especially in September and October resulting in small businesses strategizing on operations with some relocating to cheaper rental premises-some in staff rationalization and other cost cutting measures. In Harare where office space had become difficult to find in recent years-in recent months the vacancy rates have shot up.

With Zimbabwe experiencing disposable income drought, businesses encouraged to diversify their risks through seriously considering how they can tap into diaspora remittances. Official estimates of the number of Zimbabweans in the diaspora difficult to establish but some put the figure at 5 million.

What are the diaspora interests in Zimbabwe?

Buying decisions: They are playing a crucial role in what products or services need to be procured such as meeting basic needs. Reaching out to the diaspora helps them make decisions and its easy for local companies to reach out to Zimbabweans in the SADC region. Digital marketing comes to the rescue.

Real Estate: One of the top needs of the diasporan community-property acquisitions or constructing own homes. From our forum, we have some who have mastered diaspora engagement in meeting their needs. If you are into the construction value chain-ignore diaspora at your own peril.

Entrepreneurship Projects: There is an increasing interest by the diaspora community in undertaking entrepreneurial projects back home. This is done as a safeguard especially due to insecurities around the ZEP permits for Zimbabweans in South Africa. Some are also supporting relatives back home involved in entrepreneurial projects.

Schooling: Some diasporas especially those around the region such as Mozambique and South Africa are opting for Zimbabwean education for their children. In the process they have direct involvement and interest in choosing schools for their children. Schools that reach out to the diaspora community therefore enjoy a competitive advantage over those that do not.

Funeral and Medical Insurance: Do we have local insurance companies reaching out to the diaspora as decision makers? Due to local laws, provision of insurance cover to the diaspora could be a challenge-but are they advertising their services to the diaspora community in Cape Town so that they could insure their relatives back home?

There is more that local companies need to do as a huge percentage of forex circulating in the economy can be traced back to the diaspora. Over the next 5 years the nation is expecting more than US$10 billion and more could come if incentives are put in place. Perhaps time for strategy rethink for local companies and be in the direct path of diaspora remittances.

I have read several times that no single entity dominates 2 Industrial Revolutions. And I have been trying to find out why without much success as I did not experience in real time the changes at a single entity. However finally over a week, I have been fortunate to observe how disruption happens and how the corporate sector responds.

So Whatsapp Channels introduced a week ago in Zimbabwe and Whatsapp has an estimated population of +6 million Zimbabweans and numbers should be higher when the diaspora population is factored in. Every serious business needs a strong presence on Whatsapp but its not an easy exercise—just a Whatsapp Number is good for now and Chatboxes for client experience. Much easier to be on Facebook, X(Formerly Twitter) and a couple of others.

Whatsapp Channels likely to be the anchor of the 4^th Industrialization E-Commerce Opportunities as it connects communities with business. Technically a new Search Engine under development and this will revolutionarize the way future business is conducted. We are expecting video streaming features creating a Youtube replica. Chat boxes to be introduced, Sponsored Adverts and Payment Platforms.

Do not rule out the eventual merging of Facebook and Whatsapp in the not too distant future. A lot of features to be borrowed from The  Chinese WeChat mobile app.

Crunch Time

A popular artist with nearly a million followers on Facebook has created a Whatsapp Channel and has had to start from zero followers and rising to 600 followers in a week. Starting from zero followers not easy when elsewhere you have millions of followers. Fortunately for him, his team had been helping to mobilise followers for him.

A fast rising Man of God with nearly half million followers on Facebook has created a Whatsapp Channel and currently has 15 followers. From 500,000 to 15? Psychologically this has serious impact as this could dent his brand.

How about a big well established Financial Institution? What sort of image will they potray when they start from 10 followers on Whatsapp Channel? No serious management will allow such an initiative as this will reflect badly on their performance. CBZ cannot start from 10 followers and grow over time. The start is definitely embarrassing and ego issues will play a part.

Therefore Whatsapp Channels discussions likely to be swept under the carpet. After all this has no direct relationship with current performance results.

Dear Zbinite, now you have the answer on why disruption often take behemoths by surprise! It’s not surprise as such as many internal stakeholders would have seen it—but personal reasons such as ego come into play. For small businesses—there are no ego issues—not afraid to start from the bottom and implementation speedily done. For big corporates, new innovations have to go through a long red tape and at each stage—reviews silently carrying ego risks. ‘What will stakeholders say?’ ‘We are too big to start from the bottom’

Our advice to small businesses is—move with speed on Whatsapp Channels and dominate the space. Join our subscribed forum where we are vigorously pushing for Whatsapp Channels adoption. Be first time adopters and enjoy the benefits. The corporate sector will eventually come when it becomes fashionable to do so and they will pour huge resources to grab market share. However some will fall by the wayside with new small businesses emerging and replacing them.

To strategic planning teams—this is a good case study on AI Competitive Advantage. Tech innovations, Ego Resistance and Disruptions. AI will be considered Suitable, Feasible but in the early days—Not Acceptable according to the SAF Matrix.

Whatsapp Channels were rolled out Zimbabwe on the 20th of October 2023 with Zimbabwe joining the rest of the world in connectivity. A revolutionary development from Meta which is essentially creating a new search engine on Whatsapp as Channels. It could take several months before millions of Zimbabweans warm up to the new initiative but our forum with a 100,000 active membership has latched on to the innovation with hundreds signing up.

We have been leveraging on solid relationships and networking to get everyone onboard and the good news is we have registered considerable progress. And what is more? We have gone the extra mile of creating a Whatsapp Channels Directory. Have other countries moved as fast? Are there business forums across the world that now have such kind of a directory? We would like to think we could possibly be the first country to create such a directory.

The intention is brand visibility for our members and unlock access to market opportunities. Credit goes to our Tech Administrator for sterling efforts in developing the directory through a vigorous 2 day campaign encouraging members to register and follow each other.

ZBIN To The World!

Thanks to our Tech Admin Darlington Letala, who updated us on the launch of Whatsapp Channels in Zimbabwe! Sometime back we once discussed about this on the forum and some of you can relate.

Typical of most tech innovations—there will be early adopters, late followers and outright laggards. For competitive advantage we have opted for early adopters and are on a vigorous campaign to get our Subscribed Members to create Channels and also follow each other.

The intention is by next year each and every subscribed member has at least 500 followers. Following the next person is almost mandatory.

But what are the benefits of Whatsapp Channels? Zvinopei?

Brand Visibility: How many people view videos on Youtube with 3 views? This is why some go to the extent of buying views. Whatsapp Channels to rise in prominence over the coming years and the benchmark will be number of followers. Of course not all as the content posted will add value and attract more followers.

• Market Place: In the not so distant future, you will be able to search for books for sale, cars for sale, vacancies…practically anything. Those with more followers will stand out. The Algorithms will propel those with high number of followers to the top. With more than 4 billion Whatsapp users across the globe and an estimated 6 million Whatsapp users in Zimbabwe. And in Zimbabwe Whatsapp being the preferred social media app….opportunities abound for early adopters.
• Your Shop & Website: First we had Whatsapp Business Accounts coming with catalogue feature facilities enabling clients to view your products. The problem was these accounts were not searcheable—therefore Whatsapp Channels essentially connects individual Business Accounts and making them searcheable across the globe. You can now search BBC, CNN and follow on Whatsapp—BIG ADVANTAGE! Whatsapp has replicated Facebook ….although not fully yet but we can see the direction.
• Small Businesses Advantage:  When Whatsapp was introduced, many corporate viewed them as social groups that add little value. Small businesses joined and benefited when Business Groups and Business Accounts were opened. Companies cannot participate in Whatsapp discussions—they cannot laugh, share jokes or be human….a Competitive Advantage for small businesses where the owners are intertwined with their businesses.

This is a disruption that is going to confuse many corporate boards as its going to be tough to ask for followers or even being followed unless they do vigorous promotions and this comes at a cost. The corporate sector likely to come as laggards and will have to rely on sponsored chatboxes. As of today—most corporates at zero followers on Whatsapp Channels—and small businesses urged to move with speed!

• Future Payment Platforms: The evolution of Whatsapp shows Individual accounts opened, Groups opened, Business accounts opened, Communities opened, Channels opened—and surely predicting the future should be easy. Expect payment platforms to be integrated into Whatsapp. Visa cards on Whatsapp? Western Union, Mukuru and Sendittoo on Whatsapp? RTGs system on Whatsapp? Of course local payment systems could take more time just like Starlink. But by as early as 2025, we could see payment systems incorporated.

As ZBIN we are super excited—This is Manna from Heaven for small businesses and we know there are few spaces where this is being discussed. Some could even go for years oblivious to the recent tech advancement.

And being a closely networked forum of an active 100k members now paying dividends as we are encouraging our 20,000 Whatsapp communities to speedily embrace Whatsapp Channels and following each other too.

The starting point is our Subscribed Forum and we are set to have the biggest community signed up with a lot of activity already underway.