Diaspora Matters

Most of the emerging opportunities in the world are related to tech. It is therefore critically important to analyse future tech change introductions and be in the right position at the right time! The last big opportunity to make huge impact in Zimbabwe was the short-lived Kwese TV. Massive uptake by Zimbabweans in 2017 and its unfortunate the pay per view television did not last the distance.

Its been 7 years before Zimbabweans got really tech excited and the good news is here good people. The former Minister of ICT, Jenfan Muswere recently confirmed that Starlink had lodged an application to operate in Zimbabwe and that it was under consideration!

There is measured hope that the Elon Musk owned satellite internet provider will get approval by end of year or during the first quarter of next year. After all, our neighbouring countries such as Zambia and Mozambique already have access and Zimbabweans had to be warned by Potraz against illegal access. So huge buzz going around.

In a country with internet access challenges, the news of Starlink could be the best tech news in recent years and locals are waiting to tap into associated opportunities.

What could be the opportunities?

We may need to refer back to the introduction of mobile telecommunication in the country at the turn of the century. Agents distribution opportunities in urban and rural areas. There is no way Starlink will be able to meet demand by working alone-they will need local support through partners. How do you become an agent? What are the requirements? The responsibility is upon you to figure out.

Market Access: Typical of new techs, the introduction phase will see premium priced products but over time the prices will stabilise as witnessed across Europe where the price of the decoders has dropped from US$450 to $100. Therefore the early birds to reap huge rewards but it will only be for the short to medium run. Starlink modems will become hot property and imported from neighbouring countries.

The first uptake likely to be on a B2B Model with big and small businesses jumping in-this also includes NGOs, rural district councils and schools. The next big market will be hire to buy credit facilities especially for civil servants and other big corporate employees. The third one will be individuals. Strategically position yourself considering the above. The bonus is factoring in the presence of diasporas as active buying decision makers!

On a flip side, we could witness counterfeit decoders, fake crowdfunding initiatives or even outright Ponzi schemes. Of course there is more you can add and the last tip is for you to visit Zambia and study how Starlink launched and then develop a comprehensive business plan.

Do not wait for the signal of approval of the licence-be proactive and ready to launch your marketing campaigns the next hour after approval.

Hoping you find this useful.

Few Zimbabweans are going for the professional business qualification of the Chartered Institute of Management of Accountants (CIMA). And this has led to less than 5 graduating each year leaving the Zimbabwe CIMA office to relocate to Zambia where enrolment is better.

One of the interesting concept from Management Accounting is the Learning Curve which is also called the Experience Curve concept. It is defined as ‘the rate of a person’s progress in gaining experience or new skills’ and expressed as a mathematical formula Y = a X b , (also seen as Y = aX^b).

Given that CIMA studies are based on practical scenarios, the learning curve questions can be challenging especially when variance analysis and other complex concepts are added.

What students could miss out though is the application of the concept on start-ups. How easy is it to start a business operation in Zimbabwe? At what stage do you start to turn red losses figures into profits?

Let’s draw lessons from top musician Baba Harare.

On his latest post, Baba Harare mentions the first days when he left fellow musician Jah Prayzer and flying solo. One of his first musical shows was in Centenary in Mashonaland Central and he hitched a hike from a long distance driver to the venue and what did he meet?

Shock as a total of 10 musical fans turned up and this was a mega flop for a musician who had become one of the fans favourite guitarist at Third Generation Band and used to performing in front of thousands of ecstatic fans.

However he persevered and went on to build one of the top musical brands in the country.

The learning curve essentially captures inevitable embarrassing moments in the first days. It captures the losses many are not comfortable to publicly share.

Given that 1 out of 5 start-ups remain on feet beyond 5 years, the learning curve costs could be argued to be 80%. High probability of losing plus or minus 80% of capital invested in the first days or years. A key lesson for risk managers and financial analysts.

However through thorough researches and mentorships—you could reduce the costs. If you ask around for business ideas—you are unlikely to be given learning curve costs. Everyone comfortable with sharing the successes but how they reached the stage? The missing link!

In other words Profits=Experience.

Of course the purpose of this article is not to scare you—but just a reality check. The ending of this article of course an inspiration from Baba Harare. From the big flop of 10 fans to thousands of fans attending shows years later.

Keep on grinding.

The success rate of entrepreneurs is 20% over a period of 5 years! Yes only 1 out of 5 succeeds with the majority falling by the wayside. A staggering failure rate and we rarely highlight this fact so as not to scare potential entrants.

And the code is not too difficult to decode—it’s the Learning/Experience Curve Effect. You need experience of investing own funds and gaining hard knock life lessons before you become a Pro.

Unlike in exams where you can calculate Learning Curve Formulas without feeling the actual pain—In business it’s your own hard earned cash that is used for experimental purposes. The investor hopes for the best of returns but results often at complete varience with planned profits.

Here are 2 case studies of ex drivers for an International NGO who each got $40,000 as pensions in 2013. They researched on tobacco opportunities including investing in field day tours. They used funds to procure inputs and followed due processes like other tobacco farmers but met the learning curve formula when a hail storm passed through Macheke. For the little that survived, they were served with Paper 2 with market prices not in their favour.

In one season pensions wiped out!

These were drivers used to long country trips on food assessment visits earning them thousands of dollars every month. The first mistake they made was to INVEST BIG and quickly amounts equivalent to what they used to earn from employment. The rush to quickly skip the learning curve and earn monies often the disaster trap.

Why many fall into the trap—Just like they say in Economics that prices are sticky downwards—Downgrading life styles is a sticky process. This is a very difficult and painful process few are well prepared for. A very costly experience which guides investment decisions.

From earning $4000 a month to join the streets and starting from the bottom and invest in a $1000 business and be patient to let it grow is akin to a jail sentence. But on the streets you have to go through baby steps till you are able to walk and run.

The 30 day monthly salary comfort is removed when you join the informal sector. And you need not carry your formal employment titles such as Professor, Actuarial Scientist, Project Manager, Senior Banker, Accountant, CEO etc

Our advice is take your time in analysing informal sector trends. Get enough case studies in addition to a lot of researches. Take the plunge and be realistic on your targets. It is so easy to lose it all in a blink of an eye. Engage professionals for advice and preferably those who have been on the ground for years.

Zimbabwe has one of the biggest informal sectors on earth and the sector keeps expanding with college graduates, those retrenched and even those formally employed joining the sector mainly for survival purposes.

And for long the sector used to be shunned by big companies as its regarded as filthy, uncouth and a tax evading business sector. For long Economists and policy makers regarded the sector as a sore thump that needed to be destroyed and replaced by formalized businesses.

However faced with economic headwinds over the past months, corporate strategists are taking an interest in the sector and competing with some of the players in the sector especially in the area of groceries. With dwindling disposable incomes in the country, many retail shops are tweaking their business models in a sink or swim reality.

The informal sector has been a preserve for foreigners such as The Congolese and Nigerians especially in downtown but local manufacturers such as Simbisa brands are deep penetrating into the informal sector in search of the scarce greenback.

Of course Simbisa is not new to the informal sector as its Bakers Inn took over bread delivery to tuckshops and even extending to peri-urban areas.

So what has changed in 2023?

Irvines Chickens recently opened a container in Kuwadzana Extension in Harare and has been seen in other areas in the Western Suburbs. Question is who are they targeting? Who are their customers? Well the answer lies in a concept we made popular on the forum—B2E , Business 2 Entrepreneur or in short Make Others Make Money.

Their target market is mainly those interested in making money through selling to others—a model that pushes volumes. And its not only Simbisa hunting for the dollar as other manufacturers are venturing Westwards and in some instances bypassing the usual route of retail behemoths and wholesalers.

Drive trucks and park them in high density for fast cash. Of course this comes with added risks of cash robbery, but high risk—high returns. Well done to Simbisa but increasing competition and crowding out small businesses?

Whatever the verdict you can arrive at—what is apparent is the informal sector could well turn out to be the area of last resort for the corporate sector. Collect cash through Innbucks and essentially become an informal sector bank and then push for more.

It’s the year of trucks being redirected and heading to the ghetto for survival.

The trending news in the country is the collapse of E-Creator, a ponzi scheme that has been running for the past 3 months. To some the collapse came as a surprise but to followers of the forum—the ponzi collapsed as expected. The scheme collapsed with an estimated US$2 million of investor funds and adds to the growing list of ponzi schemes landing on our shores and leaving a trail of destruction.

How did the latest scheme hoodwink victims?

It was neatly packaged as an empowerment program and in a country with high unemployment, take up was automatic. The scheme had collapsed in April 2023 in Nigeria after running for a few months and this helps explain why analysts had predicted end of June 2023 as the burial day of the ponzi.

The ponzi had strong backing unlike the previous ones and included the public media giving ample space to the scammers. In a country where public media still enjoys considerable confidence—some were regrettably ensnared by the adverts.

Endorsements from public figures such as Madam Boss added trust weights and It remains to be seen whether there is going to be a public apology from institutions that supported the ponzi.  

Despite warnings, and even a couple of articles on the forum including a shorthand book on awareness-Zimbabweans still forged ahead and invested funds in the hope of fast returns. It’s now all tears as some had invested huge sums of funds with reality now settling in that indeed they had trusted scammers with hard earned dollars.

From MMM, Beven Capital, and now E-Creator—the list keeps extending and it’s a matter of time before another ponzi scheme emerges.

Therefore the question is have Zimbabweans learnt the hard way? Is this the end of ponzi schemes in the country? We don’t think so—there is a huge market for ponzi schemes. Economic conditions will push for the speedy introduction of another ponzi scheme and the next could come as early as November targeting the festive season.

Most of the ponzi schemes are imports—copy and pasted from West Africa or from South Africa. Only a few such as Beven Capital was structured from Zimbabwe.

Just how ponzi masters manage to register companies, open offices, advertise on National TV and Newspapers and then disappear without trace is mind boggling.

Back in 2015 we realised that there were few effective small businesses forums in Zimbabwe and therefore formed this forum with the intention of helping entrepreneurs to access opportunities information as well as linking them up for markets and capital access.

We adopted a Japanese concept called Mirasapo which essentially means the support of future needs of entrepreneurs. Mirasapo is a digital ecosystem which links entrepreneurs across Japan and has a lot of paid experts who are a phone call away for the millions of entrepreneurs in Japan.

Our challenge was on the business model to support entrepreneurs. Classroom support? This would mean support to a few hundreds in a country with more than 5 million entrepreneurs. This is why we opted for the Mirasapo model and it involved the following;

Opening a Facebook Forum and sharing business information as well as helping entrepreneurs to network.

Opening various Whatsapp Forums where members helped to network and using the platform for markets access and resources access.

We linked the Facebook and Whatsapp forums to this website allowing for free flow of information. From Facebook to Whatsapp and vice versa. The website to Whatsapp and Facebook and vice versa. The end result is an active community of entrepreneurs which has reached 150,000 with 81,000 being active on Facebook and 15,000 active on Whatsapp.

The extra benefit of the active members is that most of them are well connected especially on Whatsapp with some attending events such as forum meetings.

Our model has therefore been a success although there is more work required in quality networking.

Some of our forum events in pictures over the past 3 years. There are more on our gallery.

It is a matter of weeks before a newspaper headline comes with another story of a collapsed ponzi scheme! But the question would be where were Zimbabweans when other ponzi schemes using the similar methodologies came and collapsed? Interestingly some financial professionals are being caught in the ponzi schemes web. We have updated our Ponzi Schemes Awareness handbook with the hope that it will save a few souls.

We hope to compile a full book by end of year.

The unwritten rule is if you start with a capital of $10,000 in January then by December your capital should have grown to $100,000! Disruption in motion-welcome to the world of down town tuckshops that have taken over the wholesaling of groceries in Harare. The groceries are imported from South Africa and find their way to the capital using ‘various means’. A fast money spinning enterprise but only for the experienced and connected.

Getting information about this underground economy is no stroll in the park but fortunately we managed to get inside information from one of our members called Tinashe who has been in the business for the past decade and runs several down town tuckshops in the capital and Chitungwiza.

In the past especially before the Covid-19 pandemic, the sector was dominated by Congolese nationals running tuckshops in down town but after lifting lockdown rules—more locals entered into the fray looking at fast money spinning ventures.

The current business model is the tuckshop owners first get orders of groceries from clients and then link up with buyers in South Africa with funds transferred using a Hawala System of peer money transfers which comes with cheaper charges than the conventional money transfer charges. The contact in South Africa buys groceries and then look for transportation. In the past buses were used but they proved to be expensive and a cheaper alternative was found—use of cross border trucks where drivers charge a small fee.

Goods transferred to Harare and collected before delivery to clients. The mark ups added normally 5% with volumes playing a crucial role in pushing profitability. The tuckshops have also become defacto whole salers for out of town shop owners. Of course this comes at the cost of local production but to those in the sector.

This could also help to explain the decimation of whole sale behemoths in the capital and some of them could possibly have joined the down town tuckshops bandwagon.

One of the biggest international news is the ongoing search for the missing submersible or submarine which went missing in the Atlantic Ocean near the Titanic accident scene. The submarine was on a tour of the Titanic wreckage and as of to date the submarine is left with 40 hours of oxygen supply.

A massive rescue operation is underway but had been delayed led by the US Coast Guard, Canada and France. We hope they will be able to rescue the submarine crew alive.

Rescue efforts hampered by foggy weather but fortunately the skies are clearing and the first task is to identify the location of the submarine. Other things being equal-this should be an easy process given the deployment of resources that include planes, ships, and drones. However given the expansive nature of the area of search-time could run out before the 40 hour oxygen supplies run out.

The main challenge becomes location of submarines in distress during bad weather conditions. Ideally signals from the submarines could help locate the submarine anchored 3 km below the sea level but it is not as easy hence the headline news coverage.

Proposed Solutions

In addition to existing tech advancement that helps in locating submarines in distress. An addition could be a floating chute or torpedo that shoots up to the surface in order to help rescue missions. A submarine in distress should shoot the chute up the sea water so that it can float on the ocean surface like a parachute. Additions such as fitting the chute with GPS module could help make search planes locate it faster and save lives! Take note that the chute is not for bringing cabin crew to the surface as that needs complicated operations. The chute more of a locator for search teams.

The chute tied to the submarine and is shot with torpedo power to the surface where it will become a floater which is easily viewed from the air with the GPS locator helping in speedy rescues.

Similarly the same innovation could be used on planes so that we will not a repeat of the Malaysian Plane Flight MH 370. The plane which mysteriously disappeared on March 8, 2014 has not been found to date.

Of course the author is from the accountancy profession and therefore no engineering background. Therefore basically an accountant delving into uncharted waters territory of submarines. But who knows–perhaps this could be a great contribution to the safety of cabin crew on submarines as well as curbing the repeat of Flight MH 370

We encourage Zimbabweans to follow the forum for business ideas and the good news is that our members are always willing to share information on opportunities. In this post we cover buying shoes from Mozambique for resale in Zimbabwe, and we cover below experiences from Zbinites.

By Tindo: The business is or used to be profitable but due to many people (very high competition)now doing clothes and shoe business here in Harare or rather Zim and also the high rentals of spaces to sell its no longer that attractive. The business nowadays depends on the street you are and position in the shop your table is and also those who buy in bulk from Maputo suppliers enjoy economies of scale as compared to those with little capital and hence they sell their shoes at very lower prices thereby attracting more or almost every customer there is. You also need to be continuously getting the latest stuff on the market and with little capital hence less sales u won’t really cope. The goods are usually smuggled into the country and there is always this risky of losing your capital if the goods are intercepted.

In short it used to be a very good business or still can be if you have enough cash yekutenderedza and also your marketing skills.

By Tinashe: Did that business for two years between 2011-2013. Then taiva vashoma we would take shoes from Beira and Maputo,maputo yairwadza distance.It was wiser kuvhura bhero ikoko wosarudza than kutenga bhero racho rakadaro. We would charge average of 100-200% mark up. Ndakazozvisiya after prices started to fall takuisa ma50-100% mark up. Major challenge was maforeigners todhurisirwa kudarika veko vana amigo,muroad ukaita munyama unogona kunyura or dzikatevera dzaisvika dzimwe dzashota. Major benefit was waisada capital yakawanda coz we would get some new as low as $5 usd apa dzakanaka. Of late I have realized kuti maMozambicans vacho vakuuya nadzo vega.

By Vale: Its a good business its only need links with people in Mozambique because the shoes comes from Vietnam  by Chinese you you will need someone on ground in Mozambique.

The shoes are very cheap when you buy them in bulk for example a box of high quality airforces its costs $370 with 30 pairs and if you sell them with $20 you get $230 profit per box.The advantage or new shoes from Mozambique is that you are not restricted to import them from Mozambique to Zim they are different from bales which are not allowed 

Transport cost to and from Mozambique is approximately $50. But to start that business it needs about $600 and above so that you will have a variety of shoes.

By Tindo: Price depends on the quality of the material used to make the shoe and the low quality (cheapest ie ma airforce ema $10,$15 mutown), medium, high end which is next to or almost as good as original(has bar codes which can be traced back to the likes of Nike dot com because the manufacturers are given rights by these companies), these ones you find them being sold from around $50 going up muharare. So the bottom line is u need to identify your market muno muZim and that determines the quality of shoes you will be selling. MumaGhetto medu umu vazhinji havana pressure nequality but as long akapfeka airforce boe(result asina irombe coz everyone can afford kumarunner) then kwoitawo those vasingade zvese zvese.