Diaspora Matters

The recent changes in visas by the American Embassy in Harare has adversely impacted thousands of Zimbabweans working on cruise ships.

Some ships have already notified Zimbabwean employees of termination and recruitment from Zimbabwe has been frozen.

At this juncture, cruise ship job recruitment by American Cruiseships of Zimbabweans has been put on ice.

The Zimbabwe Business Ideas and Network (ZBIN) is obviously concerned as we championed the recruitment of cruise ships staff and even had a chartered plane from Carnival Cruise, landing at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe Airport to pick up recruits back in June 2022.

It is difficult to come up with an accurate estimate of the number of Zimbabweans working on cruise ships, but it is important to factor in,

At least 600 recruited directly from Zimbabwe soil at job fairs held in Harare and Bulawayo by Msc Cruise in 2022 and 2023.

Thousands recruited from Job Fairs in South Africa from 2022 to 2024. Recruitments done in Joburg, Durban and Capetown.

Thousands of Zimbabweans also applied online and offered jobs from Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

From our forum ZBIN, we directly gave free advice to at least 1000 of our members who were successful from online applications and recruitments. A good number of them are still on the forum.

The US Embassy Harare Office was quoted by The Independent to have issued at least 2000 visas for cruise ship job applicants in 2023.

But the majority of visa applicants used the US Embassies in Maputo, Pretoria, Mbabane and Windhoek.

Therefore it’s safe to say up to 10,000 Zimbos impacted by the recent US Embassy Visa changes.

Earning an average annual salary of $10,000 per year. This means the country was earning an average of $100 million per year as most salaries were remitted back home.

We do not have the full facts as to why the visa tenures were reduced, but from social media reports; it seems the issue could be resolved.

We would also like to believe there is concern for the adverse impact, with high level attention given to the issue.

From our forum, most of those working on cruise ships are hard working youngsters with some helping families, raising capital for businesses and self improvement projects.

We therefore appeal for help on behalf of every Zimbabwean national, so that they keep their jobs and help the nation.

By default, collectively; they are also our investors. Some are participating in local projects banking funds in Zimbabwe.

We pray for resolution to the visas impasse as anxiety has gripped 10,000 cruise ship members, their families and dependants.

On behalf of ZBIN and Zimbabweans working on cruise ships.

Our first crowdfund to buy land is called Jangano Crowdfund and was formed last year around July and 65 Zbinites mobilized enough funds to buy land—they are almost done.

• Bank : FBC Amarounds Account
• Terms: Members contributed $30 per month x 9 months
• Membership: 65 Members from USA, UK, SA, Namibia, China and Zimbabwe
• Status: Identified a residential stand to build student hostels and almost a done deal. The project is closed from new entrants.

…………………….

Thuthuvaka Crowdfund.

Formed last month and to follow Jangano Crowdfund footsteps—eyeing land acquisition for commercial purposes.

Bank: ZB Clubs Account

Terms: Members to choose 2 options or both ($30 x 9) and ($50x 9)

Membership: So far 65 Members drawn from USA, UK, SA and Zim

Status: We got a bank account on Friday—15 August with funds deposits expected starting this week. New members welcome provided you are not completely new to ZBIN.

………………………

Where is the benefit?: We are not buying land from urban areas such as Harare where land is expensive—instead targeting small towns and rural councils with high growth potential. Areas with student accommodation deficits, fast developing gold mining areas, new areas with public schools deficits,

Risks?: Working with banks greatly reduce risks—And we witnessed this with Jangano. However currency conversions remain a key risk, and to manage this—our projects are short term. And to identify land for sale and pay deposits.

Spinoff Benefits: This is a lifetime low risks venture—however through solid business relationships built, you can start other projects such as Manufacturing, Savings Clubs or SACCOs as spinoffs. You use verified financial references and have shared land title as surety.

Interested?: If already a subscribed member, this is a benefit and to join the $30 option—it’s a commitment fee of $10, for $30 option its $15. If not subscribed—you subscribe first for $10 per year. Kindly contact on +263773055063.

We have been engaged by one of our members who is selling gold mine claims and other minerals around Zimbabwe and if interested kindly contact us on Whatsapp +263773055063.

• *Gwanda* | _ Gold Mine_ – 50ha | US$2m

• *Gokwe North* | _Gold Mine_ – 10ha | US$350,000

• *Mashava* | _ Gold Mine_ – 35ha | US$7m

• *Nyanga* | _Gold Mine claims_ – 250ha | US$250,000

• *Nkayi* | _ Gold claims_ – 700ha | $1.6m

• *Kadoma* | _ Gold Mine_ – 224ha | US$10.5m

• *Mt Hampden* | _ Granite Prospect_ – 50ha | US$2.3m

• *Gokwe North* | _ Gold claims_ – 130ha | US$180,000

• *Matabeleland South* | _ Gold Mines_ – 2700ha | US$8m

• *Mt Darwin* | _ Gold Mine_ -110ha | US$5.6m

• *Nkayi* | _ copper claims_ – 733ha | US$900,000

• *Kwekwe* | _ Gold Mine_ – 445ha | US$12m

• *Kwekwe* | _ Gold Mine_ – 750ha | US$4m

• *Masvingo* | _ Gold Mine_ – 55ha | US$3.5m

• *Chegutu* | _Gold claims_ – 190ha | US$700,000

• *Lalapanzi* | Copper – 94ha | US$350,000

• *Kwekwe* | Gold claim – 75ha | US$350,000

• *Kwekwe* | Gold Claim – 66ha | US$330,000

• *Shangani* | Lithium claim – 1292ha | US$1.9m

• *Kwekwe* | Gold & claim – 405ha | US$1.5m

• *Kwekwe* | Gold claim – 817ha | US$3.5m

• *Gwanda* | Lithium claim – 600ha | US$2.5m

• *Gwayi* | Gold,Copper,Nickel – 146ha | US$3.5m

• *Kamativi* | Lithium claim – 450ha | US$1.2m

• *Manicaland* | Molybdenum claim | 4571ha | US$200m

• *Uzumba* | Black Granite – 88ha | US$160,000

• *Uzumba* | Black Granite – 50ha | US$120,000

• *Mt Darwin* | Black Granite – 95.5ha | US$300,000

• *Gweru* | Gold Mine – 40ha | US$1.7m

• *Shurugwi* | Gold Mine – 70ha | US$2m

• *Beitbridge* |

Gypsum & Dolomite claim – 150ha | US$250,000

• *Bikita* | Lithium claim – 87ha | US$430,000

• *Shurugwi* | Boterekwa Gold claim – 260ha | US$800,000

• *Esigodini* | Gold heap leach claim – 150ha | US$850,000

• *Shurugwi* | Gold Claim – 300ha | US$3.5m

• *Mutoko* | Lithium claim – 900ha | US$1.3m

• *Beitbridge* | Iron claim – 150ha | US$400,000

• *Bikita* | Lithium claim – 150ha | JV option 35/65

• *Kadoma* | Gold Mine – 40ha | US$3.9m

Access to finance to the informal sector remains a huge challenge in Zimbabwe and the status quo unlikely to change in the near future. First, the numbers are too huge with the informal sector slowly becoming the Real Economy.

Economic sectors where the informal sector has taken over include the Transport Sector, Gold Deliveries, Retail, Tobacco Farming and the list is long and growing every day.

When it comes to banks lending the informal sector, the challenge becomes how when most have no assets that could be used as surety? Location in some cases is not fixed. The high risks profiles makes it difficult to extend loans to the informal sector.

The good news is that we have come up with an innovation which could be used and we provide a case study below;

In November 2024, 90 members from the forum started a crowdfunding project called Jangano Crowdfund to purchase land. All the members paid $30 for 6 months into an FBC Bank Amounds Account. The FBC Amarounds Account is tailor made for the informal sector—easy to open and run.

• Now Jangano Crowdfund has a record of performance with FBC Bank Account.
• Each member’s deposits are captured on a monthly basis—who has been depositing on time and who has been missing deadlines?
• The bank account also shows who has paid up front.

Members of Jangano Crowdfund are dotted across the country and also includes some from the diaspora such as UK, USA, SA and Mozambique.

Could this record be used as a credit score? Well its too short a period—just 6 months. But over 12 months to 36 months, performance could be used to judge how much each member is able to deposit.

The fact that someone is part of a team(First as a registered member of ZBIN) and secondly as a member of a Crowdfunding and lastly with own deposit performance record. The bank can be able to assess the financial risk of loans up to a certain amount. And the good news is that this applies to diasporans.

Message to informal sector: Yes its convenient to have cash in a cash economy—but try and open bank accounts for your crowdfunding projects. Have a performance record for the projects and individual members. This could become your credit scores in future.

Project capture is one of the most complicated areas where seasoned experts can struggle with. Capture science is rarely studied and only a few get to feel it through experience. Project capture happens at many boards, projects within companies, and in the open environment in areas such as start-ups and partnerships and community projects.

Where no legal documentation such as constitutions exist—capture is a breeze. Where new projects with no tried and tested systems exist—again capture is like slicing  cheese with a hot knife.

The first mistake most make is to focus on your project and failing to appreciate who could be interested—outside and within and what their plans could be.

Lets share some shield tactics for community owned projects.

Leadership Committee: Some leaders could be founders who may not have gone through elections. If the projects succeeds beyond expectations—there could be resentment and underhand tactics to join the leadership or expel the whole lot with a new capture team coming in. To curb this—have a constitution with limited tenure and elections. This is easy on paper as some could end up clinging on to power and not creating room for others. And this creates resentment and fuel strategies for capture.

Protecting Leadership: A leadership could be doing a sterling job but someone wants to be part of the leadership. Some of the strategies to barge in includes capturing the treasurer especially where cash is involved. Cash goes missing and chaos is automatic. The whole leadership is booted out creating room for new capture team. The treasurer is the easiest link where cash handling takes place. Innocent parties in the leadership in most cases get caught in the crossfire.

Therefore to protect innocent members of the leadership committee—in cases where the whole lot is booted out—the Risks and Management Committee should automatically come in—and this should be captured in the constitution. They do investigations—present to members with recommendations and if fresh elections are required, they do so. This singles out the guilty parties and not the entire leadership.

Still its complex as the new elected committee member could have done enough canvassing and yet guilty of triggering chaos.

Who moves in after chaos—a tricky and complex matter but at all costs move with caution when kicking out the entire committee.

2 Committees to find before capture: Having a leadership committee running solo makes them sitting ducks for capture. Those interested in turfing them out only have one collective target. Push them out using unorthodox tactics—and come in as Rescue Team. But if there is a constitutionally mandated team, this means capturers have 2 stairs to climb. In capture, they often move with speed and using speed to kick out one committee—and the second committee without detection or raising eyebrows–no stroll in the park.

You could reflect on projects you have been part of and reflecting on tricks and games employed by capture teams—there was a second in charge team that was the missing link, Missiles shot straight to one team and it was over.

The value of assets held by Kenyan Saccos (Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations is estimated at US$10 Billion or roughly 10% of the country’s GDP. Applying this to Zimbabwe—the value of Saccos assets should be US$3,5 Billion. But where are the local Saccos?

Can you list the top 10 Saccos in Zimbabwe? Which Sacco has assets above a million dollars? Possibly a few which are under ground—how about those +$10 million?

The target should be a collective $3,5 billion and showing exponential growth. Yes millions of dollars flowing amongst diasporas and locals. But where is the evidence? How many high rise buildings in Harare or Bulawayo are owned by Saccos?

So Zbinites—here is your challenge to lay the foundation for the next generation. In your circles start serious discussions on what Kenyans are doing and steps you are taking to follow in their footsteps.

The 10 Best SACCOs in Kenya

Are you considering investing in or borrowing from a Savings and Credit Cooperative organization? Here’s a run-down of the 15 best performing SACCOs in Kenya.

1. Mwalimu National SACCO

With an asset base of 66.43 Billion shillings, Mwalimu National SACCO ranks among the largest Saccos in Kenya. The Sacco focuses on giving teachers access to affordable financial services. Just like its name ‘Mwalimu”, the Sacco majorly targets teachers of all calibers, from primary to tertiary level. Also included are TSC secretariat members and children or spouses of members who aren’t formally employed.

The Mwalimu National Sacco services include welfare services, business loan products, FOSA and BOSA products. The FOSA (Front Office Services Activities) provides banking services such as loans, salary advances, and instant credits. Business loans offered include asset financing, insurance premium financing, mortgage financing, and collateral-based loans.

Business loans

Besides savings, Mwalimu National Sacco provides welfare services to its members, including risk funds, last expense benefits, and burial benevolent funds. The BOSA (Back Office Services Activities) offers members different loan products against the deposits they’ve made. 

The head office of Mwalimu National Sacco is located at Mwalimu Towers, situated along Mara Road, in Uperrhill, Nairobi. This Sacco was founded in 1974 with just 9 members. Currently, it has 18 branches and over 123,000 members. 

2. Stima SACCO

Stima SACCO started operations in 1974 with a mandate of serving the formerly known East African Power & Lighting Company employees. It has since evolved to be among Kenya’s top saccos thanks to its broad coverage of members from different sectors including corporations, groups and business persons. The Sacco also ranks second in terms of asset base and thus has a high stability ratio.

Stima Sacco has many firsts; it was the first to be licensed by SASRA, the first to induct mobile banking, and the first to launch ATM services. It was also the first to unveil Sharia-compliant product services and the first to issue cheque books. The Sacco offers various services like savings options, investment options, credit facilities, insurance, mortgage, and diaspora services.

Stima Sacco embraces its core values of teamwork, innovation, integrity, and professionalism to fulfill its objectives. The Sacco currently has over 200,000 members which includes both residents and non-residents. Finally, Stima Sacco has 14 branches, and its head offices are at the Stima Sacco Plaza, Mushembi Road, in Parklands, Nairobi.

3. Kenya National Police SACCO

The Kenya National Police Sacco started in 1972 with a total of 690 members and has since grown to host over 73,000 members. This Sacco employs its core values of quality, integrity, teamwork and innovation to dispense its mission of providing members with competitive financial solutions.

Some of the services offered by the Kenya National Police Sacco include credit, savings, loans and investment services. The members who are drawn majorly from the police service enjoy low loan interest rates, interest on deposits, high annual dividends, instant loans, etc. However, the sacco membership isn’t limited to the police service as civil servants and individuals from business communities can join.

As part of its achievements, the Kenya National Police Sacco was recently awarded the “Best Managed Sacco in Kenya” at the Ushirika Gala Awards 2024. The Sacco has 7 branches in Kenya’s major towns, and its head office is at the Kenya Police Sacco Plaza situated along Ngara Road, Nairobi. 

4. Harambee SACCO

Harambee was Kenya’s first president Jomo Kenyatta’s favorite slogan which means “Pooling together.” The history of Harambee Sacco dates back to 1969 when members drawn from the then Office Of the President(OPP) joined to form a merry-go-round. Their vision was to encourage members to have a savings plan to help them access short-term loans.

The need for growth saw the merry-go-round transform into a full sacco-society under the name Harambee DT SACCO Society, which was formed in 1970. Despite its humble beginnings, Harambee Sacco now ranks among Kenya’s best and largest saccos. It boasts an asset base of 38.57 Billion and over 80,000 members.

The sacco’s members come from diverse backgrounds, including civil servants, corporates, groups or chamas, and CBOs (Community Based Organizations). This sacco offers its members different services ranging from savings and loans to investment opportunities. Harambee Sacco has 5 branches, and its head offices are at the Harambee Plaza, Heile Sellasie Avenue, Nairobi. 

5. Tower SACCO

Tower SACCO was formed in 1976 by a group of primary teachers in Ol’Kalou, Nyandarua County. The Sacco’s membership has since expanded to cover the police service, farmers, parastatals, business community, county government employees, etc. It currently has over 250,000 members and a 23.23 billion asset base.

Tower Sacco offers members different financial services, including investment products, loans, savings and insurance. They’ve adopted innovative measures like mobile banking, internet banking, visa-branded ATMS, and Tower Sacco agents to make service delivery easy. Finally, the Sacco has 25 branches, and its head office is at the Tower Sacco Plaza in Ol’Kalou.

6. Afya SACCO

If you’ve ever been to Nairobi, you are probably aware of the iconic green Afya Center Building located along Tom Mboya Street. This building houses the Afya Sacco head office. Afya Sacco was founded in 1971 by a group of 20 people but has since grown to host over 38,000 members. 

The Afya Co-op Sacco Society services include FOSA, investments, land acquisition and loan services. This sacco has embraced technology by introducing E-services like the tender portal, dividends portal, recruitment portal and customer inquiries for better service delivery. 

7. UNAITAS SACCO

This deposit-taking Sacco was registered in 1993 and was then known as Murang’a Tea Growers cooperative society. It comprised a group of like-minded farmers who combined to encourage the spirit of saving and getting loans at affordable rates. 

However, the Sacco later changed its name to Muramati in 2007 hence expanding operations beyond Murang’a and opening doors for other entrepreneurs. Muramati later changed its name to the currently called Unaitas Sacco in 2012 by incorporating members form different sectors and developing client-tailored products.

Unaitas has 31 branches in Kenya’s major towns, and its head office is at the Cardinal Otunga Plaza, Kaunda Street, Nairobi. The services offered by Unaitas include savings, investments, and loans. 

8. Imarisha SACCO

With only 14 branches, Imarisha Sacco has an asset base of 21.78 billion and over 160,000 members. This broad membership is attributed to Imarisha Sacco’s commitment to providing effective yet efficient financial services through accountability, integrity, equity and transparency. The incorporated services include savings, loans, digital banking and diaspora services.

Imarisha Sacco Society opened its doors in 1978 under the name Kipsigis Teachers Sacco, which was formed by a group of 100 teachers. In 2014, the Sacco rebranded to its current name, Imarisha Sacco and began to accept non-teaching members. The Sacco has 14 branches, and its headquarters are at the Imarisha Sacco Building, in Kericho town.

9. United Nations SACCO

The United Nations Sacco was formed in 1975 with only 131 members and aimed to provide financial services to UN (United Nations) employees. Nonetheless, the Sacco has since expanded its membership to include United Nations-related agencies, staff and selected international organizations.

This Sacco has since grown to be home to over 6900 members and an asset base of 18.21 billion. The United Nations Sacco services include mobile banking, savings, money transfer, safe custody, loans and investments. Its offices are located at the UN SACCO Building, United Nations Complex, Gigiri, and Nairobi. 

10. Ukulima SACCO

Ukulima Sacco was formed in 1972 when employees of the Ministry of Agriculture pooled funds to help empower themselves financially. This Sacco doesn’t put restrictions on membership. For instance, formerly employed or self-employed Kenyans can join the sacco, no matter their country of residence, as long as they are Kenyan citizens. Thus, it accepts membership from individuals, corporations, chamas/groups, etc. 

Members of Ukulima Sacco can access different services, such as borrowing, saving, or investing. With only 8 branches and over 58,000 members, this is more than enough proof of the trust that Kenyans have in the sacco. The head offices of Ukulima Sacco are at the Ukulima Cooperative House, Haile Selassie Avenue, Nairobi.

Despite Zimbabwe and South Africa being neighbours, there are some stark contrasts in culture divided by the Limpopo River. Take for instance in South Africa—passengers can calmly wait for taxis (kombis) and when they arrive—you board and greet everyone. In Zimbabwe you just board and greetings not necessary.

In South Africa, a stationary taxi can easily fill out with passengers before the driver revs the engine and driving off. In Zimbabwe a stationary bus or kombi is likely to face huge challenges in attracting passengers. A stationary bus resembles a broken down or dead bus.

So we can safely trace the culture of revving engines in Zimbabwe. Go to any bus rank and a lot of fuel is wasted as buses rev engines interminably. At major bus ranks such as in Dulibadzimu in  Beitbridge—a bus can have a running engine for hours before departure.

This has forced buses plying the Harare-Bulawayo route to pick up passengers headed to Bulawayo and pretending to be going to Bulawayo and only to perform u-turns and return to pick up more passengers till they have filled out the bus.

Remaining stationary is technically suicide as no one will board the bus. Revving the bus now not enough—pretend to be finally driving to the destination and in the process fooling passengers.

In vernacular—Hatikwire Bhazi Risati Rofamba (We do not board stationary buses).

And this culture permeates across the country and business strategists can study and implement innovations in business.

• Market Entry—have sufficient numbers of influencers to help in launch of products. Show ACTION.
• Selling Vehicles—post images of vehicles on roads (shows it is a runner), including video footage.
• Travel Agents—show evidence of clients who have benefited.
• Whatsapp Group—you will need a good number in your group before others join.The fewer the numbers, the harder it is for new members to join.
• New app launch—have a good number of downloads before launch. Show ACTION.
• A business seminar—have a core team that attends first and showcase to those with questions. In most cases those who miss the first event, will attend the next one.

A lot to be learnt from the streets—do take your time to analyze developments and they help you  in appreciating consumer behaviour. You want to reboot your business strategies? Take a short trip to Mbare Musika Bus Terminus, spend a few hours observing the environment and asking yourselves a lot of critical questions, and return to the boardroom.

This is an area you are not taught in auditing at colleges or professional studies. An area that leaves experienced risk management professionals with an egg on their faces. This also applies to those who enter the partnership route. It could be equated to The Art Of War and everyone should take an interest taking notes for future implementation.

The textbook highly recommends having constitutions in place to safeguard interests. However disputes abound where constitutions exist. The underlying cause will be greed.

Greed is in most cases hidden but resurfaces at critical periods such as winning a big tender or a big contract. And you don’t need to go far—just study the hunting styles of lions. Great team work and strategy in following prey—then the coordinated hunt and if lucky, dinner time. You may need to check out videos on Youtube for lessons.

Let’s share a case study;

Our first project: We pooled funds for a farming project with land secured, inputs secured under contract, soil tests done. With a week to go before tilling of land and planting—the following took place;

One member profusely protested about farming sesame and not maize? This took place despite a business plan developed and endorsed by everyone—he was part of it. Sudden change at the critical period of farming and changing crops to be planted.

The methodology involved an avalanche of complaints coming thick and fast—endless phone calls, and messages. This will tire everyone and the weak will pull out and this often results in leadership changes.

A sudden last minute change proposal followed by huge coordinated traffic often achieves changes. It’s a tiring game and often succeeds. Some in frustration can exit leaving their funds.

After achieving the change in stopping the original crop for farming— A change in crop followed, and also a change in place for operations. A distance of over 150 kilometres.

A series of changes took place resulting in a change from crops to livestock.

Financial & Risk Management Advice did not yield results—it never does. Those trying to bring light often end up leaving—which would be the objective anyway.

The new sheriff working in cahoots with a clique eventually took over promising great returns. This was before increasing share prices to eject those who could not afford and replacing them with new investors who paid huge sums.

The value of the project shot up by 500%. Later the same script was played to the remaining members till the project ended up as a family affair. Yes it ends up with these words; Iyi I company yemhuri yedu!

Where cash is involved-capture is extremely easy. The target is the treasurer—infiltrate the treasurer and it’s a done deal.

The project was not captured at inception, instead; the capturer waited for enough funds to be pooled, and  final decision to plant crops reached—then changed goal posts because if the planting had succeeded, it was going to be extremely difficult to convert it into own empire.

To you scholars and lawyers—there is a critical period at which a project is captured. Do revise your drafting of constitutions. (1) Funds Pooled + (2) Critical Action Point About to Take Place.

Stop Stage 2 by all means necessary—wreck havoc, increase the noise volume, leave everyone disoriented till some exit. Win by all means necessary. If there is a constitution—shred it into pieces!

Change amounts, change venues, change periods, change terms, change leadership, change everything to suit the needs of the capturer or a small clique of capturers. And the script is almost the same across the country including the diaspora.

Now did you study this at school? If an auditor—was this part of the risk management module?

Plan for this if planning to enter into a partnership or crowdfunding project. There is a stage 2 to navigate—succeed and there lies your success. You need to include this in project planning under risk management.

A journey that started with just 3 bean seeds back in late 2023, how is progress 21 months later? The good news is that we have exponentially grown our seedbank with thousands of our members involved in seed multiplication at their backyard gardens. A few members managed to extend to big spaces such as plots and rural areas.

Big plots farming has come with its own challenges such as irrigation and poor soils. But we keep pushing and we are also inviting small investors or sponsors interested in the scale up phase.

As we enter June, we expect frost to impact the beans thereby derailing progress till end of July.

On a positive note more varieties have been discovered varying in shapes, sizes and colours. Another new variety emerged due to cross pollination. If you are interested in buying seeds, we could link you to various members dotted across the country and the contact number is +263773055063

Thousands have been benefited from cruise ships jobs since 2021 and more continue to search for opportunities 4 years down the line. Our forum helped to champion or kickstart cruise ships and we are proud for the role we played. Initially there was resistance but with time more embraced cruise ships jobs.

When did cruise ships jobs start?

Way back from as far back as 2010—Zimbos were already working on cruise ships—but there were a tiny few. Requirements to join cruise ships jobs were extremely tough. In South Africa one needed to part with no less than US$600 to get a placement.

So what happened?

Cruise ships faced serious challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic as there were fatalities—and on reopening some opted not to return, so a very serious gap opened in late 2021. Bottom line is cruise ships were very desperate for staff members. A change in immigration laws resulted in  mass recruitment from Southern Africa region with Zimbos and South Africans dominating.

How many were recruited?

It’s difficult to come up with numbers, but directly from the forum—around a thousand were recruited. Outside of the forum—the numbers could run above 10,000.

 Are recruitments going on in May 2025?

Yes but very limited—just last week, a Zbinite who had waited for 3 years finally got an offer letter from Msc Cruise, I also assisted on interview coaching someone who had an interview for a laundry assistant position. Just be patient—don’t give up but the numbers of recruitment had drastically gone down. We however do expect more ships to be added and this will result in more recruitment—wait for the next BOOM in recruitment.

What are the requirements?

Qualified professionals from all areas are recruited—from culinary services, to support services such as Accounting, Digital Marketing, House-keeping, Laundry, butchers. The list is long. Look for posts on the forum.

Are there any scammers?

Yes there are plenty with some guaranteeing jobs—but there is no recruitment agency for cruise ships in Zimbabwe. It’s a Do It Yourself Process. You apply (using relevant resume templates), get interviews(there are tricks for winning), and if successful—an offer letter given which you use to obtain an American Visa (You have to physically go to the Embassy—no middlemen), you also need to pass medicals, and obtain a Police Clearance.

Final Advice

Be extremely patient—cruise ships still recruiting but in drips and drops—no longer enmasse recruitments. Be innovative in applications and wait for the next BOOM. Also consider job fairs which regularly take place in South Africa—some have been successful after travelling all the way from Zim to SA. Regular posts and updates found on our subscribed members forum for cruise ship jobs.