Diaspora Matters

The reception for the forum in Lesotho last week was awesome, we found the Basotho waiting for us at the border – the journey had been postponed several times. Initially the Basotho were supposed to come to Harare for training in August for a regional training but they cancelled at the last minute- they feared human trafficking!

Someone warned the 5 nationals to be wary of human trafficking and the 5 people who had gathered to come to Zim understandably developed cold feet! Someone without enough information about the country did a good job to discourage people from travelling to Zimbabwe.

So other countries did send representatives for training in Harare except Lesotho. We had Malawi, Botswana, Swaziland, South Africa coming for training except the Mountain Kingdom. So the trip to Lesotho was a special one as they got to appreciate that the forum is a legit forum and we just love empowerment!

Hospitable treatment in Maseru and we hope to carry out more follow ups because we would like to see the success of our training. The lady in the picture has already registered a company! A great success as we influence the formation of companies in Southern Africa- we already have Mpumalanga Real Queens in Action company and this one called PCEE Tapestry becomes a Zim inspired company.

The reason of forming companies is simple- to be taken seriously, to access funding and grow! The good thing about Lesotho- is that there are a lot of funding opportunities and just like Zim the problem is most people do not know about them. We had to show trainees various funding opportunities from bodies such as BEDCO. We had more information on Opportunities than locals? The message is government should review how they communicate with citizens, few now read newspapers especially the young generation. They should critically review the effectiveness of various media platforms and ensure a consolidated strategy of communication. If people in cities fail to know of opportunities written in newspapers, how about the rural folk? This applies to all governments in Southern Africa

Platform Review
Facebook is now providing group statistics a good yardstick of measuring forum effectiveness. Our forum top posts are attracting an average of 4,000 views per day! A great achievement for the prime forum formed to discuss business opportunities. Add to this the 5,000 unique monthly visitors to our website and this is great news. We however hope to use Facebook Boosting and reach out to millions of Africans in the coming months. The buzz thing in Africa is Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship- if you have no message on Entrepreneurship then your relevance is at stake! So having succeeded on the group in Zim and expanding to the region, in the coming months expect us to go continental…..great opportunities await Zim Entreprenuers, so keep watching the space.

What’s Up?
Bitcoin, Bitcoin and more Bitcoin. We will share more information and also create a group on Bitcoin.

Wishing you a blessed week.

Ntate Victor

Val is one of the ladies we trained on making carpets a moth ago. During the training she teamed up with another lady and formed a formidable joint venture. The 2 have not looked back since starting their business and they are busy making carpet centre rugs, toilet sets and bedside rugs.

We urge you to support them and you can get in touch with Val and get in touch with her  on +971567406950/+263772662709

Master digital marketing and you would have opened doors to endless opportunities! Our forum has been debating on what is more important-start up capital or market? The winner from the debate has been market. If you get a market then getting capital is going to be easy. Take for example Dr Strive Masiyiwa, when he won a telecommunication tender in Botswana which led to the creation of MASCOM, he did not have a lot of money-not enough money to fully implement the project. His team traveled from Zimbabwe to Botswana by road-his competitors flew in private jets. After winning the tender then capital flowed in!

So the message is if you have a market then you are slightly richer than someone with a lot of capital. If you have a market then consider partnerships, joint ventures, crowdfunding etc. This forum can even connect you with members with capital if you have a market and a viable business plan.

Below we have a Digital Marketing book for download.

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A trip from Joburg to Maseru costs R250. You can choose to go directly by road with kombis or go the longer route of going to Bloemfontein and then connect to Maseru. We chose the longer route and were not disappointed. Maseru the capital city of Lesotho is located right at the border with SA, you cross the border and immidiately cross into the Capital City….its like Harare situated at Beitbridge!

One of our objectives is to ensure that our members have access to information on available opportunities in their areas. As a regional platform, we have a vibrant Basotho Community on Facebook as well as on Whatsapp and would like to share with our members some of the opportunities from BEDCO, The Basotho Entreprise Development Corporation. Below we feature an advert from BEDCO and encourage our members to apply.

We are pleased to partner with Standard Lesotho Bank in hosting expo extended sessions for SMEs at the recently launched enterprise hub. This world class hub will house at least 30 registered start-up exhibitors who will receive an intense and intimate session on various aspects of the business development including finance, marketing&branding, legal and public speaking.

Register for a fully funded stall with BEDCO to be eligible for this great opportunity. Limited stalls available. Call 22216100 to secure your stall.

We had a fabulous training in Maseru over the weekend and this must rank as one of our best Tapestry Training to date. The Basotho are serious about business and did not disappoint. It was interesting to note that knitwork is done during primary school and this gives them a competitive edge when it comes to making carpets. The country also exports wool to countries such as China. In future there will be no need for exporting raw materialsthey should export finished products such as shaggy carpets.

Training Objectives:

1. Develop successful business women
2. Facilitate the formation of registered entities such as companies and non for profit organisations
3. Creation of platforms that enable sharing of business opportunities information such as ZBIN
4. Assistance with corporate sponsorship
5. Appreciating local opportunities and promotion of networking
6. Unlocking value through digital marketing

All of the above objectives being anchored on Carpet Making or Tapestry and below we feature photos of what transpired.

Here is good news for Hararians interested in exploring business opportunities in the coastal city of Beira. There is now a direct bus that leaves Harare every morning and arriving in Beira in the evening. The bus is mostly used by business people-those into exports and imports.

The bus is Trip Trans and operates on all days except Saturday. Their details are as follows:

Harare: 773986769/0733 019 550

Beira : +258 847387470/+258 844860711

The Bus Fare is $20 from the Capital to the Indian Ocean.

ZBIN witnessed some entreprising Hararians loading the bus with Zimbabwean made goods which also included carrots-witnessed 7 bags of carrots in the bus.

Do not miss our group tour of the coastal city which is coming in early December. We would like to explore opportunities that exist in Mozambique as a group and now that buses are available, this increases are travelling options.

Three years ago I met someone selling paw paw plants, he convinced me to buy  plants for $5 each. He said the plants would take 3 years to grow and provide good returns. I grudgingly parted with my $15 and not convinced that the small plants would grow and let alone produce produce good fruits.

A few months later i was to regret not buying more paw paw trees. The ones i had bought went on to do so well that i regretted not following instructions because i had been told to apply fertilizer to them and ensure that they are watered on a regular basis. Despite not paying close attention to them-the plants defied the the odds and did extremely well. Iam now on the hunt for more trees but regretting why i did not buy at least 50 trees. Iam sure by now i should be filling lorries with paw paws for sale.

So you too can try the paw paw business.You can buy plants or seeds of paw paws at the next nursery that you come across in town.If you are buying seeds, germination takes 15 days with flowering happening in 3 months and harvesting in 7 months. The plants have a life span of 3 years provided you take good care such as watering and applying fertilizer.

Wilfred Mugeyi was voted the Best Foreign Striker by the Kickoff Magazine. A prolific goal poacher in his hey days who spend the greater part of his foreign days at Umtata Bucks in Mthatha. A former warrior who scored great goals for our national team. He is best remembered for  an infamous miss at the AFCON finals, when it was easy to tap the ball into the nets he chose the skies!

So we were in Mthatha last week, the place where the Mugeyi’s made a mark and he is more popular than the local mayor. When folks heard that we had come into town as promised, one dominant story was the exploits of the Mugeyi brothers William and Wilfred-the most popular Zimbos in this sleepy town which resembles Rusape or Chegutu.

Dr Yemukani Jojosi

We were in the town for a tapestry training that involved a big section of entrepreneurship. We did not disappoint, the town out was encouraging and we also trained our first Medical Doctor, Dr Yemukani  Jojosi. The Doc provided us with premises for the training and also took time to participate in the training. We thank her for the support and know that she will drive the initiative  in the town and beyond.

We then headed to East London where the support was phenomenal, not suprising because it is a big coastal city. We enjoyed working with pensioners who are hard working. We have a lot of follow ups to ensure that they form and register companies and NPOs. It is the beginning of a dream and we are proud to be part of their lives and business dreams.

Pietermaritzburg

PMB was our last port of call and this marks our last training in Kwazulu Natal having previously covered Durban. The good thing about this training is that it was done by locals with ZBIN providing virtual support. This is the ultimate objective of the project-locals should be empowered to carry out own successful projects.

What is up this week?

We have a project on mining that is coming up, we will shed more light once it is complete. We also have a poultry group meeting coming up. Mushroom growing farmers should look forward to a ZBIN facilitated training.

Volunteers

The forum is in need of volunteers, please inbox. Your chance to work for a regional organisation that is making a difference in more than 8 countries. A great working environment where there are no limitations to innovation. Do get in touch and help your forum to grow.

Wishing you a blessed week

Wa Mdala

The debate in Harare is that the shortlist of candidates for the post of town clerk is not impressive. The list shortened to 3 is said not to be good enough as the search for the next town clerk intensifies. Here is a our piece of advice-go to Murewa and find out what it means to run a council. It should be one of the best run councils, very neat and organised. They say first impressions count and for sure a first time visitor to this place will testify that they are organised in Murewa! Perhaps those in search of the next town clerk for the capital city need not go further-do pay a visit to Murewa and find out for yourself!

Back to the purpose of the post, The Sunday Mail has an advert of residential and commercial stands for sale and details are below:

High Density Residential Stands-Murewa: 8.33 per square metre (sizes 300sqm)

Commercial Stands-Murewa: $15/square metre (sizes 180 sqm)

Macheke Township

Low density $5 per sqm for stand sizes of 1200 sqm

Commercial stands-$15 sqm for average sizes of 1500 sqm

Payment Terms and Conditions 

60% of the total cost to be paid through bank transfers, electronic transfer or swipe. First preference to be given to those with full payment. Balance to be paid within a period of 2 months.

Contact Details:

The Chief Executive Officer, Private Bag 601, Murewa

Phone 0772 369 383

• We would like to advise Murewa District Council to revamp their website, a lot needs to be done. We however give them top marks for a well run and up to date  Facebook Page.