The Zimbabwe Business Ideas and Network was in Budiriro 5 for a business presentation at Salvation Army last Sunday. We would like to thank Startupbiz who facilitated our meeting with Major Muza who leads the Salvation Army Budiriro 5 branch. This was a great platform for the Christian Community to reawaken in terms of entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe. An opportunity too for the forum to receive blessings from the church! To date ZBIN has been to ZAOGA(twice)  and Holiness Revival Churches- Salvation Army was the third church we were visiting.

Our presentation focused on the following key issues:

1. Changing the mindset to appreciate entrepreneurship
2. Improving the free flow of entrepreneurship opportunities information
3. Enabling the church to have access to funding and opportunities information
4. Supporting businesses from the Christian community
5. Encouraging the Christian community to work together in business

We delievered one of our best presentations in Budiriro despite getting the invitation at short notice. We confirmed the lack of information on funding opportunities especially those from Government such as Cross Border, Women Fund and Horticulture Funds.

We had an awesome response engaging church members in our presentation, showcasing opportunities that exist in Zimbabwe and how to tap into these opportunities. The church community should take the lead in taking advantage of business opportunities because it is the most organised and the largest community in the country. All that is needed is a reawakening of the sector and be organised for business.

Slowly the Christian Community is slowly rising and inviting business presentations from organisations such ZBIN is a step in the right direction.

Follow Up Action

Doing presentations is not enough-it can risk becoming a talk show where people just wax lyrical without meaningful action being taken. ZBIN has promised to make follow ups with the church and we will introduce an interesting initiative on Digital Marketing.

We therefore would like to thank Major Muza and Salvation Army for the warm reception and we hope to continue to work together in the follow ups.

The ZBIN constantly gets inquiries from members about available investment opportunities in the country. Our advice to them is to consider critical issues such as the investment horizon. Do not be short sighted and only analyse available opportunities as they may only exists in the short run. Do look far ahead and have 5 year projections  an analyze current Government legislation, regional and industry trends. In short, do have a holistic approach to investment if a gap exists now, will it continue to exist in the 5-10 year period?

Below we feature one of the requests from our members and responses from the forum.

Guys ndeipi kuri sei kumabasa. Please ndodawo kubvunza something if one would invest kuZimbabwe angaite invest in which sector. Or if someone wants to invest into business kuZimbabwe anagite business in which sector. I am doing a little and humbled research kuti ndikwanise kuunganidza njere and come up to a decision. So vachabatsira nemazano ndinotenda in advance. Ndezvipi zvinhu zviri kubhadhara kuZimbabwe. For example inini I have an idea yekuti ndikawana donor funding ndogona kuvhurisa a private school kumusha kwedu nekuti haaaa mitunhu ichiri kufambwa nevana yakakurisisa. At the same time budget ngatitii its US$50K and donor need to be part of this income generating project. Thanx nevachabatsira

Justice Mungwini Getting donor funds usina chawakatanga chatove viable is very difficult…and i think donors dont get involved in business ventures BUT charity work

Ngonidzashe Musonza #Justice Mungwini point taken but the fact remains and the question unanswered. With USD$50K what investment can i do in Zimbabwe

Leonard Justin Farming pasina irrigation unonyura.Also prices on the market are not certain

Ngonidzashe Musonza Animal husbandry maybe a solution in the sense of farming considering the fact of weather pattern s being unpredictable

Leonard Justin Private school kumusha?.Have you considered disposable income of this market segment

Titus Musendo Considering the risk in Zimbabwe, with $50k don’t put your eggs in one basket, my two cents!

Vts Macd Get a commercial stand then build shops for letting out.

Tori Elles Mum Does it really have to be Zimbabwe only? Have you tried to research on Moz and Malawi? Why Zimbabwe because the reason that its home is not good enough a reason to invest back here at the moment. A pvt school in the rurals that’s not charity ummm

Tello Muzavazi a private school is too risk especially kumusha-animal husbandry may sound good but frst research about tht market movements frst

Wellins Chimusimbe Its pointless investing in Zim if you are not a politician or politically linked. Got an American friend who wanted to partner me for a venture in Zim but after doing research on nitty gritties of doing business in Zim as a foreigner coupled with current economic meltdown e.g failure to get one’s funds from the bank,she has since turned her mind to investing in Zambia

Trust Nyaguse 50 k buy a company with building non runner gear up for operations after 2017 this time unonyudza ukavaka chikoro vana vakasabhadhara hauchabvumirwa kuvadzinga chero chikoro chiri chako.

Tori Elles Mum By the way what are you passionate about coz whatever idea you might get if its in the field you are not passionate about you may be doomed as there are always challenges and set backs with every business venture but its your passion plus vision that will keep you pushing until you reap the rewards. I take it you are not an investor anongoinvesta in others passions and lets his money work for him but this will be your all. Dai wataura zvaunofarira first.

Dylan Jemwa Tiger They are many projects you can invest in look outside the box for instance fishfarming beekeeping etc

Mai Anashe Tagwirei Mining don’t go there , u die

Chamunorwa WeDare ReGorekore ingotenga zvigero zvako ikoko wouya woita Barber ka one.Munhu wechigayo chaiye haasi kuita mari kunge ya barber

Nyasha Nigel farming (especially tobacco), or mining . but needs you to be physically involved

Ngonidzashe Musonza Hie guys i am very pleased ne maideas enyu and ne help yenyu. Well my passion inini ndeyekutenga ma properties. Now with this money i think its a wise decision if i invest ndotenga dzimba and rent them out. I am thinking of buying dzimba in areas like Highfields, Mufakose, Kambuzuma so that mdotsvaga vagara vanoda kuroja. Hamenowo zvamunofunga. This is my passion

Dougie Douglas Construction industry most dependable in Zim

Vts Macd Business redzimba for now harisi kunyatsopa mareturns ari reasonable. The only good part of a building is that haiori zvayo kana Zim yava bhoo vanhu vouyawo kuzoshanda mumaguta vakawanda market icha picka.

Nkosi Brian Buy a little farm, invest in capital goods ipapo murizii zvenyu.ma Greenhouse, zvemushroom apo, mombe dze milk apo ne pema grains. Borehole ne tank hombe. Motenga hat seyangu ne motorbike rekutenderera pa farm. Wifi moisa yekuzotipawo ma picture acho tichiisa ma likes hedu

Nkosi Brian Plus zvoda kwamuine passion. That will compel you. Or kutsvaga ane experience ne knowledge though pachida kungwara senyoka nekupfawa senjiva cause mozviwanira tsotsi. Find a good consultant in the area yama chooser .

Mai Mrehwa you can never go wrong with real estate. buy as many properties as you can now zvichakachipa

After more than 400 business posts on this website with each day having at least a business post, ZBIN can safely be classified as a business forum which identifies opportunities! Identifying opportunities naturally runs through our blood and this is one of our key strengths. We like to share with others so as to inspire a lot of entrepreneurs who could be clueless of what to invest in. The lack of awareness on opportunities often lead to most people flooding a few sectors resulting in over flooding. ZBIN does share information for free to the general public but we have certain classified information that we do not share, we have certain information that is only available to subscribed members only.

This afternoon, we would like to tackle the importance of protecting your business ideas especially when you want to start a business idea. It is important to protect information because if information leaks, chances are high that someone will grab the information and run away with it.

Who is  vulnerable to business idea theft?

• Young entrepreneurs without capital
• Talkative people
• People who like to show off
• Inexperienced people

A young entrepreneur is likely to approach a lot of people looking for funding, demonstrating that their idea works and is viable. Approaching the wrong people for funding can prove fatal-your idea can be hijacked! We even have certain prominent companies that  thrive on poaching business ideas from young people without giving due credit.

Some youngsters send unsolicited business proposals to companies thinking that their innovations will be acknowledged. This rarely happens infact most get shocked when they see their business idea implemented without due recognition to the inventor. Here is a warning to you-the world of business is infested with sharks!

A new trick in town is simply to invite applications for funding where the best idea gets funding. Be careful of most of these adverts or competitions- some are just there to harvest business ideas for free. I once came across someone unscrupulous who advertised commercial premises for rental at Zindoga in Harare. He would interview each prospective lessee asking what sort of business they wanted to run.

He interviewed a total of 10 people and now wait for what he did-he implemented the best idea that came from one of the people who wanted to lease his building. The whole interview process was a fraud meant to harvest business ideas!

On another business post by a prominent business man, followers were invited to post details of their organisations with the winner being chosen. Thousands of young entrepreneurs posted their business details, some even went a step further and posted their business plans. Readers of the post should have been left wondering what is wrong in Africa as people were posting confidential business information.

So becareful with your business ideas, protect them as if your life depends on them. Carry out due diligence and study who the person is, their history on business ethics before giving away your business ideas as you seek funding.

Entering online competitions opens your doors to investment and being profiled but the question is…should you give out all information on a site where information is accessed by millions of people?

You should judge what information to give away especially to strangers. Be careful of competitions that harvest business ideas. Another big problem with young people is to talk too much in trying to impress rich people. Some of these rich people got rich by harvesting information for free! They know that young people love to talk, they love to show-off their knowledge and business opportunities.

Below we feature a similar issue which was discussed on one of our groups

Hello guys… Please I need your advice … I just shared with a friend … I told her that I’m saving some cash to buy myself a caravan to sell food… I thought she was happy for me …but then she was over excited she told everyone about it …I’m scared that she will overtake me..should I be worried?

Elizabeth: People steal ideas that’s one thing you should always be wary of  whom you share your business ideas with.The very reason people patent their intellectual property is the same reason u should use to safeguard your ideas.

Samukhele; Never ever tell people your plans cc, they will steal your ideas. But yaz the one thing i love about trusting in God when he blesses you he blesses you indeed. Even if your friend buys the caravan she cannot do what you do the same way you do it. Pray over your plans, hush your mouth from now on and continue with your business plan.shes is not you and never will be you are original

Vee: while shes still waiting to see if you will really buy the caravan or not wena go and register a company.if youre in SA R400 should be enough including a Nedbank business account

Jesca: I’m in a same situation but for me its my husband who is discouraging me that my business will fail.

Vee:Remember what i said in my earlier posts? Do not listen to the negativity of family and friends they will hold you back.. It is possible that your husband sees your potential and know you’re capable of making your business a success and he fears how independent you might become.God says we must remember and hold on to our dreams for they will come to pass. I have failed a million times in business and im still failing even now cos theres so much to learn. Dont let people’s discouragements phase you. Your goals your will to succeed.

The Zimbabwe Business Ideas and Network Offices are located in Monavale which is near Mabelreign Shopping Centre. For most of our small scale procurements, we go to this centre instead of Avondale Shopping Centre. The close proximity provides us with an opportunity to analyse changes and business opportunities at this busy business centre.

An analysis of this centre shows that most businesses are there such as Retail Shops, Hardwares, a Post Office, Service Station, Boutiques, Pubs, and Service Stations. There is a lot of duplication of business especially in the area of sports bars.

New businesses to open include a renovated Econet Shop, Profeeds shop and a Bata Shoe shop. All the three opened shops do show brisk business if we are to believe the number of customers who are always in these shops. The Profeeds shop is an interesting one and shows that they had done enough market survey-they know that most people are involved in income generating activities such as poultry, pig and rabbit rearing. Some do the projects in Mabelreign and surrounding surbubs but the majority should be people with farms in areas such as Nyabira. We do not expect Profeeds to close shop any time soon-infact we expect an expansion to bigger premises in the nearby future. The Econet shop is not surprising, this is a growing business sector in Africa. Most people want to communicate and all shops that sell phones are enjoying brisk business in the country.

What is missing?

It is interesting to note that no one has set up a bookshop at this centre! We are not sure whether this is an oversight on the part of business people or not. Our last survey of areas where Zimbabweans are spending money on showed that Education was number one. We are all spending money sending our children to school, clothing them and buying school related materials such as books. There are at least 4 schools near this busy centre and they are Mabelreign Girls High, Elis Robins, Alfred Beit and Reekworth Primary School. There are a lot of other scattered private colleges and crèches in this surbub. All of these schools need stationery, they need books and there is no one to cater for them. The small OK and SPAR shops can argue that they also sell stationery but this is not enough.

So to anyone interested in setting up a shop at this centre, do not ‘sweat the technique’ by copying what others are already doing. We encourage you to try other areas such as a Bookshop. Microfinance institutions also have a good chance of making it at this centre as there is none.

When it comes to customer service, Thailand comes second to none in the world! If you would want to learn or experience unparalleled  customer service then book the next flight to Thailand. The level of customer service in Thailand will shock and surprise you-they are simply in a world of their own and this helps to explain why it is a tourist destination of choice in the world.

Here is my story

I had a sponsored risk management workshop a few years ago in Bangkok Thailand and this meant that i had to go there for a week. I  booked my accommodation at Okura Hotel which is located in the heart of Bangkok. My travel to this country involved a flight from Harare to Dubai and then connecting from Dubai to Thailand. This was my first time to the East Asia Region and i had applied for a visa online whilst in Harare- their embassy is based in South Africa.

The Shock

When i arrived at this beautiful and massive hotel, i was warmly greeted by the receptionist who took me to a visitors room whilst she recorded my details. Upon seating down on a visitors chair something i will never forget happened! The receptionist came with a book to confirm my booking and then knelt down. Receptionist akatyora muzura!

In shock, i thought the receptionist had stumbled upon the ground and wanted to help her back to her knees! Some uick thinking from me helped to serve the situation, reality sank in-the lady was kneeling down as a sign of respect. She was kneeling down as a sign of supreme customer service!

The lady with a smile took down my details, offered me Thai Tea and was soon out of the reception room. The kneeling down is an act i had not anticipated-it was a shocker! I smiled and could not believe that this was real. Iam not sure whether this happens to visitor but this lady had done enough homework. She knows what African tourists want and she delivered in 2 minutes whilst confirming my booking details.

After booking, i was to start my workshop at a nearby hotel which is located directly opposite to the Okura Hotel. On the second day another shocker was to come my way-it was my birthday and i had actually forgotten about it as i was busy after hours with work.

On coming from the workshop, I saw this amazing cake and birthday card! This fruitcake will compete for my best ever birthday cake, it was complete with a birthday card which had been signed by the Chief Executive Officer of Okura Hotel together with his entire management team.What an honour for a nonentity coming from Zimbabwe. What a suprise and honour for someone in foreign land?

In the next article i do hope to go an extra mile in explaining the hospitality of the Thais but for now allow me to write about a  few lessons to those work in customer service.

Customer Service as a Competitive Advantage

I saw a lot of tourists in Thailand and most of them were from the developed world. There were flocking to this beautiful city and the reason was simple-attracted by the beautiful holiday destinations PLUS the hospitality of the Thais! This hospitality has led to every visitor telling others to visit this country. All people who visit Thailand inspire others to visit Thailand and this has worked well for them. They view customer service as a competitive advantage.

Shock your customer

Iam not advocating for receptionists to kneel down for customers, this may not work in certain countries but the point is- Shock your customers with excellent customer service. Get to know them better, research about them, find out what interests them. Go the extra mile in delivering world class experience. Here is the good news-it does not cost a lot of money….delivering top notch customer service does not need a lot of money-it just need a right culture and right people.

Getting a small cake possibly costed less than $5 for the hotel, getting a customised birthday card could have costed less than $2 for them. However to me the $7 spend on the card is probably worth a million dollars in value. It is the experience that matters, the warmth of the people of Thailand, the professionalism that is more important.

So in your business are you shocking your customers or you are doing what everyone is doing? Are your customers talking positively about your company? If you are not delivering the Thai Experience then you haven’t started being serious about customer service.

I see many companies and individuals getting recognition and being awared certificates for customer service in the country and often wonder what these awards are for. Noone should get an award for customer service until we learn to shock customers or clients. We need to go back to the drawing board and set benchmarks on customer service. If the benchmark is not Thailand then you are setting it very low.

As i left the beautiful Okura Hotel at the end of my weeklong workshop, I met another Zimbabwean who had come to Thailand for an HIV and Aids workshop. The lady, Ms Martha Tholanah is the Board Chair of ZBIN. At the busy airport whilst waiting for our flight to Dubai, we got to talk about exceptional customer service in Thailand. She had also encountered a similar experience at her hotel and we both agreed that in Thailand they go the extra mile on customer service-They pamper tourists!

So food for thought to every entrepreneur, are you giving your customer the Thai Treatment? Are you kneeling down for your customers even those who are nonentities?If yes then keep it up but if not then watch your back and take corrective action because one day a competitor will introduce a Thai Treatment and grab all of your customers within a short period of time.

What intrapreneurs in established firms must do to succeed.

Based on insights from Mark Achler

Want to shake up the status quo? Use psychology to your advantage.

Based on insights from Loran Nordgren

The Zimbabwe Business Ideas and Network has adopted Mozambique as our second country. We did this because the nation has a lot of potential and a lot of resources that are still to be discovered. Little is known about this country by the majority of Zimbabweans and the reason could be due to the language barrier! As a forum we therefore adopted this country inorder to track developments in the country located to the East of Zimbabwe. We mostly concentrate on the good stories of Mozambique especially business opportunities!

We have done a number of business tours to this wonderful country and they covered Tete and our next trip will be to Beira. Below we feature an interview with a ZBIN member who is based in Maputo and working as an English teacher.

How is it for a Zimbo to live in Moz? Weather, language, food,cost of living

Zimbos living in Maputo face hot weather challenges but you get used to it with time. The other challenge is language-it is very difficult to be here if you can’t speak Portuguese because they don’t speak English. In terms of their food, it is slightly different from home. The cost of living here is cheaper on rent and transport. A room that would cost between 50-80 dollars in Zim, here you can pay 20-30 dollars. For public transport, we pay an equivalent of what you pay in Zim-50 cents.

Is the Zimbo community big? How about other nationalities?

Zimbo are increasing in number and some bring their families. There are different nationalities but the largest number is that of Nigerians who own 70% of shops in residential areas.

What are the growing or expanding industries?

Construction industry is the fastest growing so you can start small with hardware or cement bricks making. The real estate sector is rapidly expanding especially a suburb called Matola.

What business do cross borders do in  Maputo?

Cross borders have been coming here for more than a decade, most sell bed sheets and duvets. They bring them from Zimbabwe and South Africa. Maputo is a hot region and people here prefer bed sheets and duvets to blankets.

We have heard of stories of the Bond being sold there.Is it true? Are there large amounts being traded? Who buys and who sells?

In Maputo, money changers sell bond notes to 2 types of clients. The first one is cross boarder traders who buy and sell goods in Maputo. The second group includes Zimbabweans working in Maputo who want to change money to send home. We prefer dealing with bond notes because it is cheaper than USD. For instance the street rate of exchange today for USD : Meticals is 1:63, for the Bond it is 1:58.

How do you Zimbos in Maputo remit money back home?

Sending money back home is a challenge. I would not like to generalise but allow me to talk of my own experience.If you have an account, vanhu vekumba vanotogara ne card rako rekubank to withdraw kuZim or ukanochinja unototumira nemunhu wekuziva but munongoziva mari inonetsa.

How about using Western Union to remit funds?

Western Union is here but expensive and with what most people earn, this is not an option. Mukuru.com promised a service last year but we are still waiting.

Are Zimbos starting or running businesses there?

Yes,  I know some Zimbos who have companies here example one Elder from our church has an IT company it operates from Maputo to Chimoio.

Is there a Zimbo Association for Zimbos in Maputo?

I haven’t heard about an association, will find out but the major problem is Zimbos don’t like to share ideas and help fellow Zimbos. Most prefer to keep to themselves and not associate with others- a huge problem that the Zimbo community here need to tackle.

Advice for any first time visitor to Maputo

When coming to Maputo first time just learn basic Portuguese it’s difficult to come across anyone who understands English and also move around with your passport police in order to avoid problems with the Police.

There are some businesses that are closing shop in Harare and we can link the closure to the tough operating environment which is characterised by the current cash shortage challenges and the unavailability of forex on the formal market. You can add to this the high cost of rentals where property owners are not willing to reduce rates down in line with the tough operating conditions.

Now it does not mean everyone is closing down, far from it….some are infact thriving The recent 800% increase in profits by OK Stores should be a world record! Most banks posted good profits, some businesses are being opened up and occupying vacant spaces left by other businesses.

Below we summarise our observations:

Clothing Sector: A number of boutiques in town have closed shop. A good case study can be found along first street in the capital. Chiedza House or formerly Southampton House witnessed the closure of Topics, a sad development as this shop had been around for decades. Visitors to Harare should find the space vacant and this applies to all boutiques which were on the ground floor of this building. You do not need to study Chiedza House in isolation, the trend is the same for all shopping malls except Sam Levy. A look at Avondale Shopping Centre, Westgate and Highglen shows that all is not well with the boutique sector. Some are retreating to their homes and some completely stopping to sell clothes and shoes.

Micro Finance Sector: One of the spaces that was occupied by a popular boutique at Chiedza house has a new owner..a microfinance house! It is not surprising to see this micro finance institution-the challenging times we are experiencing means that more individuals and companies will be borrowing. Most of the microfinance institutions are targeting civil servants and so we expect an upsurge in the number of microfinance institutions being set up around town and also in other parts of the country. If you are interested in investing in the short to medium term, then join the bandwagon. Your reference point is the published financial statements by all commercial banks during the mid year.

Hardware: A new hardware has been opened at Avondale near Bon Marche. The opening of this hardware did not ‘make sense’ to me in the first place. I got curious as to why this hardware is being set up when we already have other hardware shops at the shopping mall. A visit to this hardware several times has confirmed that the owners had done a good research! The shop is always busy and this applies to all hardwares in town. There is still demand for hard ware shops and investors are advised to look at new surburbs where demand for products is high and established suburbs where some are renovating their homes. Take an interest in hardware shops this weekend and find out for yourself.

Hairsalons: When we were looking for potential office for ZBIN, we went to Southerton Shopping Centre where we found vacant offices which have not been occupied for 2 years. Next to the vacant offices is a thriving hairsalon. We then got interest in finding out why the salon did not close whilst next door they closed shop. This was to be the start of analysis of salons and to our surprise, no salon has closed shop to date in town.

Car Parts Shops: Our brothers from Nigeria dominate this sector in Harare and there is none that have closed shop! Kaguvi Street or ‘Lagos’ is full of small shops owned by our enterprising brothers from West Africa and the reason for remaining open is an open secret-huge population of cars in Harare! A ZBIN member based in Mozambique did share with us photos of our brothers expanding businesses in that country especially in Chimoio, Beira and Maputo.

So this is the look at what is happening in the beautiful city of Harare, we have not covered all sectors and hope to follow up with more analysis. Our next review is going to be the city of Beira, do not miss this one.