Diaspora Matters

What a week it has been for Zimbabwe! Unbelievable stuff,  we had never anticipated that what happened during the last week would ever happen during our lifetime. The rest of the world was taken by surprise and even up to now-we are still in shock.

There is no doubt that we have crossed the Rubicon, Zimbabwe will never be the same again. We wait with bated breath for a new administration in town that will work for the betterment of Zimbabwean citizens.

We choose to be optimistic and this is the momentum built up yesterday from across the country and the Diaspora too. We choose to see the light at the end of the tunnel and say Hallelujah.   At the centre of the change is the agenda on the economy. No meaningful economic development had been taking place since 2013 and this is self evident. A lot of good policies had been drafted but few got fully implemented, few improved the livelihoods of Zimbabweans.

Taking Stock

We are positive that a new team will be taking charge of business in the coming few months. A new team that will transform Zimbabwe to be the ‘Jewel of Africa’ that it once was. We hope to see a diverse team that inspires confidence, a vibrant team that takes advantage of the rich human capital that Zimbabwe posseses. We hope to see the Diaspora being recognised as a key influential constituent that not only remits funds but can assist in terms of direct investment. The sector currently remits $800m which is twice the amount of Direct Foreign Investment-this shows that the sector is a crucial sector in helping the economy. If favourable policies and an enabling environment is put in place, the sector can contribute more. Some are willing to relocate and contribute to the economic development of the country. We witnessed this with the solidarity marches carried out yesterday-they did not involve locals only as the diaspora community from all corners of the world participated in sending the message to the world-Zimbabwe needed change.

We therefore look forward to authorities taking a leaf from countries such as India where they have a standalone ministry on Diaspora affairs. A ministry that listens to this community of more than 3 million citizens helping them in terms of investment, relocation and other issues. The previous administration was not really interested in this sector, they did not see the potential that lie in this sector-the result is they lost out on funds that could have assisted the economy.

Enabling Environment

We hope to see an improvement in the enabling environment for investors-both local and foreign. It is good that a number of policies had been put in place for ‘Ease of Doing Business’ . More need to be done especially tackling corruption. A look at the Corruption Index should show where we are placed as a nation when it comes to corruption which has been hindering investment and development. We hope to see an improvement in the ranking and we can take a leaf from Rwanda where there is zero tolerance on corruption. The zero tolerance has resulted in excellent economic performance by Rwanda.

Advantage Entrepreneurship

At the centre of the economic turn- around we expect entrepreneurship to take centre stage. This is the sector that dominates the economy and therefore expect a review of policies and support systems. We hope to see an improvement in engagement, an improvement in access  to funds, markets and technology. We are looking forward to a vibrant team that inspires confidence in the sector. With millions unemployed, this sector if supported well can help to kick start the economy-it can help to solve the 2 million jobs that the nation was promised in 2013. We hope to see policies that support High Growth  SMEs which can compete on the international market.

Implication for our members

We created digital platforms to help entrepreneurs with access to information and resources. A record breaking 450 free articles over a 12 month period. Our articles help entrepreneurs with access to information on available opportunities in Zimbabwe and beyond. We linked the website platform to our Face book platform where business discussions help members to access free business information. The website and the Face book are also linked to the Whatsapp platform where business discussions go on every minute. The digital platforms enable more than 32,000 members to be well informed on business opportunities in the region.

We also provide our members with a resource centre at our regional offices located at Number 34  Quendon Road in Monavale, Harare. Members are free to walk in and access resources for free.

All of our programmes were designed with the future in mind, we designed them in preparation for the historical events that took place over the past week . We anticipated positive change, we did not know when it was going to come but ensured that our members had the skills to identify opportunities; our members were prepared for investment opportunities. We therefore welcome the positive developments in the country and look forward to our members being at the forefront of the economic development in the New Zimbabwe.

Registered members should expect refined information dissemination through our online newsletters. We hope to conduct workshops and bootcamps on taking advantage of opportunities to be ushered by the latest developments. If you miss out this time, then you have missed it for a life time…

And the last word

Economic turnaround is not going to happen overnight, it is going to take a lot of hard work by everyone from farmers in Dotito, Miners in Dorowa, Farm workers in Braamfontein, Accountants in London, Nurses in Washington DC…we all should work hard in order to make Zimbabwe the ‘Jewel of Africa’ once more and Yes its possible!

The construction sector has a potential to contribute up to 20% of Zimbabwe’s Gross Domestic Product according to construction experts. The sector used to employ 20% of the country’s labour force at its peak in 1996-it however employs about 5% according to a research paper by Ruzivo Trust.

Indeginisation within the construction sector

The following factors are important to note for those who are interested in entering the sector

1.The construction sector is dominated by government projects, which currently account for90% while the remainder is accounted for by private sector projects.

2.About 60% of the players in the construction sector are indigenous, most of which are small
and unable to implement big contracts, while 40% are large non-indigenous and foreign contractors

3.Competitiveness in the sector is questionable in light of low-cost technologies used for example
by the Chinese. This implies that local firms fall away in tendering processes

4. Limited opportunities for continued capacity development among existing personnel continues
to hinder the ability to deliver on projects by local engineering and construction firms.

5.Efficient procurement of high volumes of raw materials required in the sector is hampered by
weak supporting services such as transportation.

6.On the production and construction front, erratic provision and inhibitive costs of electricity delay
turnaround time.

7.Tender Board Procedures are not consistent with the requirements of Broad Based Economic
Empowerment legislation which limits meaningful participation of Zimbabweans.
Despite being indigenized, construction in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) is
not well organized and poorly capitalized.

8.High capitalization required in the sector limits participation to a few large players while
presenting barriers to entry to medium and small players.

Challenges in the Construction Sector

1.Human resources flight: the decade of economic crisis reduced skilled labour and experts in the
sector. In the short-term there is therefore limited resource pool for human resources to gap-fill

2. Slow uptake of new technology and equipment has rendered the sector less efficient compared to
regional and multinational competitors in the sector who have state of the art equipment at their
disposal

Opportunities in the sector

We urge our members to be always for a trigger that will enable favourable economic and investment conditions in the country. When the sector starts recovery, make sure you are part of the upward economic trajectory!

Opportunities include the provision of construction machinery, engineering jobs, joint venture and partnerships, subcontracting opportunities amongst  others

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The report below is essential for all entrepreneurs, scholars, practitioners and  policy makers.

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Own from one to 1000 machines depending on your investment ability. The vending business is unique in that you can start this venture part time and expand as you wish. The concept is easy; one buys for cash and sells for cash. That way you don’t have any debtors or creditors or are never waiting for someone to pay you. The vending industry has proven to be recession resistant and a typical return on investment is in the region of 36% per annum. Machines have a long life span of between 12 and 18 years. This is the perfect business for someone not wanting to risk too much or leave the safety of their existing job, yet still requires additional income.

Our organisation recently partnered with Swazi Nationals and formed a company some weeks back. Registered in Swaziland, the company will be spearheading empowerment initiatives in the Kingdom of Swaziland. The Kingdom becomes our second home and we are planning to put Swaziland on the world map in terms of entrepreneurship. The country has 1.2 million people which is roughly the size of the combined population of Bulawayo and Chitungwiza.

Today we share with you the top opportunities in the Agriculture Sector .

• Peanut Butter Production
• Processed Meat
• Baby vegetables
• Vegetable drying
• Frozen vegetables
• Tomato sauce production
• Cassava Processing and Starch
• Tobacco Growing
• Fruit, vegetable preservation and bottling
• Bottling (preservation) of pickles and chutneys
• Bottling of jams and jellies
• Processing of beans and other legumes
• Dairy products (e.g. Yoghurts, custards) and ice bottling of spring-water and flavoured spring water
• Juice squeezing (fresh juice from oranges, grapefruits

Official statistics put the figure at 1,000,000 as of July 2017 but this is a gross understatement as it excludes the diaspora where more than 3 million are estimated to be living.

Just to show that the figure of 1 m is wrong, The popular Dembare Dotcom Facebook Page has 200k members. Some Zim Wome Groups have more than 500,000 members and yet not everyone is on those pages. So the million figure has to be for locally registered numbers. Our total figure may potentially be 4 million active Facebook users across the globe!

What does this mean for business?

Huge market to sell products and services. The numbers are also increasing meaning that in future expect 70% of the population to be on Facebook! Feasible? Yes as internet spreads to all corners of the country, as smart phones become cheaper and data charges going down.

When the economy picks up expect a surge in numbers too. All my kids are being taught IT at school right from primary school…..all of these kids will eventually find themselves joining social media. You want to know the percentage of young people in the country? It is almost 70% meaning a ready market for social media.

When Strive Masiyiwa says the internet of things is the future he really means it. If you are doing business and you have no social media strategy then you risk falling by the way side! If your competitors master and develop strategies that appeal to social media users then trouble for you!

Facebook Boosting Opportunities
So what’s the market share of ZBIN on local social media users? At 32,000 our share is roughly 3% not bad for a small forum. The target is to reach 50% reach of the estimated 4 million users by end of next year.

What is Facebook Boosting?
Open your Facebook page and u will see posts written Sponsored, from Strive Masiyiwa, from Stanbic, from all over the world. Facebook just forces these adverts onto your page whether you like it or not. You have no option but to view- if it’s good enough u can read and join.

Implications
The implication of these stats is that the future is Digital! Whilst some are old school and concentrating on Fabook as a place for socialisation, some are eying money and markets!

For some who see the big picture like Strive Masiyiwa, he is leveraging Facebook to promote entrepreneurship and his Kwese TV project! He has amassed 3 million viewers in a few months. By end of next year expect the numbers to reach more than 20 million

This is what helped to shape the direction of the forum when we formed it back in 2015. If you would like to find information about business opportunities in Zimbabwe, where are you going to go? If you would like to download information or resources on small businesses in the country-which site or forum do you visit? If you do not have sufficient funds for consultancy fees, where will you get free information?

The questions became tougher for instance if you are i the diaspora and would like to invest back home, who is going to give you up to date information on opportunities? So an attempt to answer the questions above gave rise to a fledging digital platform which helps to assist small businesses in Zimbabwe-The Zimbabwe Business Ideas and Network!

A community and a platform that constantly discuss business –a close community that networks and share information on opportunities. A capacity building platform where members access information and resources to help improve their businesses.

Our model is structured as follows:

Website: Our website is our central place for filing information and resources. Contains a lot of downloads and articles that helps small businesses. It helps with free and easily accessible information. The website established  at the end of November 2016 has been viewed more than 250,000 and is linked to our Facebook Page.

Facebook Platform: Acts as a link between the website and our popular whatsapp groups.  Information flows from the Facebook page of 32,000 to the website or vice versa. Information is cascaded to the Whatspp platform or comes from the Whatsapp platform.

The Whatsapp Platform: With over 8,000 members and managed by trained Whatsapp Admins, the forums include Poultry, Mining, Bitcoin, Online Forex, Agriculture, Rabbits, Mozambique Opportunities, Baking, Entrepreneurship, Tapestry etc. It also has business forums for regional countries such as Lesotho, Zambia, Swaziland, Zambia, Botswana and Malawi. Information flows from the Whatsapp platforms to Facebook or straight to the website.

So with information flowing from different directions on our platforms-the result is a closely knit and well informed community of 32,000 and more. The model ensures that at any given point in time there are tens of people on our website. Every minute a discussion is going on in the more than 20 groups that we have on our platforms.

When we investigated whether such a model exists in the world, we realised that a similar model model exists in Japan and its called Mirasapo. Whilst the Mirasapo does not exactly follow the Whatsapp and Facebook linkages it however achieves one major objective and that is to support the needs of the SME sector in Japan.

Out is the traditional class type of capacity building and workshops and in is the future with use of IT in creating engaging platforms where members can access information from experts. This has worked well in Japan as it enables everyone from all the corners of the country to access information at the click of a button. This is what we are using as we connect the Diaspora and locals-connect entrepreneurs in remote areas with others in cities. The message is the same-access to information and resources at little cost.

Model Adjustment

The existing model has worked well for us in creating a solid and closely knit community. The next stage is expanding the model by ensuring that it reaches to members beyond the current 32,000  to more than a million members as we expand beyond Southern Africa. We will be sharing with you more information as we have already done a test which reached out to hundred thousands members.

The Good News

By now you must have received the good news of our project in a Southern Africa country. More to come as we prepare for an innovative program that we hope will be used as a model for entrepreneurship in Africa. Current models of business hubs which have been introduced are fine but need to be refined so that they can suit local conditions-what do locals want? If they enjoy singing whilst they do their job, are you incorporating that into your business models? If locals enjoy handiwork are you incorporating that into business models or you are just bringing business school environment to rural area based entrepreneurs? Lets wait and see what comes out from pilot phase coming up in the next few weeks.

Bitcoin and More Bitcoin

Last week we formed  groups-India-Zim group for collaboration between Zim and Indian entrepreneurs. A great platform where information is freely shared between Zimbos and Indian entrepreneurs.  We however failed to create a Bitcoin group due to time constraints-we promise to create it this week.

Office Closure

The ZBIN offices will be closed for renovations as from Monday to Tuesday this week-we reopen on Wednesday.

So wishing you all a fabulous week-do not forget to  go and register to vote.

Wa Mdala

We encourage our members to uphold high ethical values in business. Ethics help in the sustainability of your business. Try and cut corners, try and engage in corruption and your business will only survive in the short run.

Below we showcase some of the high profile cases of Fraud and Corruption and what happened.

Case 1.
In the UK in 2014, a small limited company
specialising in printing security documents,
together with its chairman and its sales and
marketing manager, were convicted of corruptly
agreeing to make payments totalling nearly half
a million pounds. These payments were used to
influence the award of business contracts in
Kenya and Mauritania. This was the first Serious
Fraud Office (SFO) trial resulting in conviction
of a corporate for foreign bribery.

Case 2
In 2011, Japanese giant Olympus became engulfed
in a $1.7 billion accounting scandal after its former
Chief Executive was dismissed for questioning
company accounts and brought the issue to global
attention. As a result of the scandal, the Board
resigned and the company together with three
former executives pleaded guilty in Japan to
charges related to a cover-up. The scandal had a
devastating impact on the value of the company at
the time and the company was fined ¥700 million
(£3.8 million).

Case 3
In South Africa in 2016, a businessman was
sentenced for 20 years for using a multimillion
South African rand fishing business as a front
for false VAT returns, using the proceeds to fund
an excessive luxury lifestyle and losing the
country’s revenue service over R250 million.

Case 4
Satyam Computer Services, an Indian global IT
company, was brought down and joined the ranks
of Enron and WorldCom on the scale of fraudulent
financial activity, after the CEO in 2009 admitted
the company had misrepresented its accounts
to its board, the stock exchanges, the regulators,
its investors and all other stakeholders. The
company’s revenues and profits were overstated,
and it also reported a cash holding of
approximately $1.04 billion that simply did not
exist. The CEO, together with others involved in
the fraud, were convicted in 2015.

Case 5
Volkswagen (VW) Diesel Fraud:Running on empty

In 2015, the United States’ Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) found that many VW cars being sold in
America had a “defeat device” – or software – in diesel
engines that could detect when they were being tested,
changing the performance accordingly to improve
results. At the time, VW was positioning its diesel cars in
the markets, backed by a huge marketing campaign,
highlighting its cars low emissions. The resultant scandal
impacted on VW globally at every level of the company.
In early 2017, several VW executives were charged over
their alleged roles in the emissions scandal.

The US Attorney General stated that “These individuals all held
positions of significant responsibility at VW, including
overseeing the company’s engine development division
and serving on the company’s management board.
Over the course of a conspiracy that lasted for nearly
a decade, they seriously abused those positions,
and today, they are being charged with a range of
crimes, including conspiracy to defraud the United
States, violations of the Clean Air Act, and wire fraud.”
Investigations into their conduct are ongoing and followed
a requirement concluded in 2016 for VW to pay $4.3
billion in criminal and civil penalties and to take specific
measures to prevent future violations. These sanctions
are in addition to more than $15 billion in settlements with
VW that have previously announced and do not take
into account other worldwide actions, including civil class
actions, against the company.

One of our mandate is to ensure that our members are well informed. A well informed member is an empowered member who has a competitive advantage over those without enough information! So for our members in Lesotho, the hope is that you do not miss any opportunities especially those that are publicly known.

Below we feature an advert from the Basotho Enterprise Development Corporation (BEDCO).

In an attempt to facilitate establishment and development of Basotho owned businesses by locals who posses technical and operational skills in textile and aspire to improve their businesses but lack the necessary entrepreneurial and business management skills, the Basotho Enterprise Development Corporation (BEDCO), calls for applications from interested people to join our business incubation programme Qhotsiso project. The project is intended to assist young people who are self -employed in the textile industry to become employers and drivers of economic growth. The project will assist by providing working space, necessary machinery, technical advisor and business advisor to the beneficiaries. The incubation centre is based at BEDCO TY and each intake takes 12 months.

Who is eligible?

The project targets young Basotho Aged 18-35 years who posses operational skills in textile, whose small businesses struggle to access machines and workspace, and those who are in the process of starting business. Companies owned by more than one person have an added advantage.

Candidates will only be selected based on viability of the business and its potential to create new jobs for other people. All qualifying individuals in all ten districts of the country are eligible to submit their completed application forms. However all candidates should note that BEDCO will not cater for their travel and living expenses for the duration of the incubation in TY. They should be able to sustain themselves financially.

Selection and adjudication process

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for interview. Interview will consist of oral and practial tests.

Submission and deadline

Application forms are available at all BEDCO offices and can be submitted there.

FINAL DATE FOR SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION FORMS IS ON THE 10TH NOVEMBER, 2017. Enquiries can be made via telephone on the following numbers: +266 2221 6100 contact person ‘M’ e Koronti Ntsasa Masiloane