Diaspora Matters

The Real Estate sector seems to be slowing down , house construction is still going on but the rate of growth has slowed down drastically. This is not surprising as it is a reflection of what is prevailing in the economy. I recently visited Chishawasha and Grange in Harare and witnessed a lot of big and beautiful homes- there was a worrying trend though-homes or mansions that are incomplete !. A lot of people are struggling to complete some mansions that they had started building, we hope that they will complete them when the fortunes of the country improves.

The topic of the day targets first time builders-the problems they encounter and proposed solutions.

Most people make blunders when they build their first homes, most will be excited to have finally secured a residential stand. Running around to have your house plan approved and securing funds to start building. It is a wonderful feeling and building your first home is something that you will remember for the rest of your life!

The advice given below is for first timers who will be engaging individual builders to construct their homes. If you have enough money then you can enter into an agreement with a contractor who will build your house and deliver a complete product. This option is however expensive and this is why most prefer to engage individual builders.

So what are the top 3 problems that you are likely to encounter?

Unscrupulous builders: Here is someone you are going to like or dislike for the rest of your life. Get it wrong and the project is going to be a disaster!  Make sure that you get a reputable builder or contractor to do work for you. First shortlist a couple of builders like 3 or 4 and then do reference checks. Do not do one reference check but more checks of projects that they would have worked on. Choose the one with the best references to do work for you.

Use of Helpers: The builder is likely to recruit helpers or ‘Dhaka boys’. If you do not check what is happening, the helpers can end up building as well. These inexperienced helpers may even be left doing the job whilst the main builder seeks other work. He will only turn up at specific times so as to conceal evidence of absence from work. This practice is rife in Harare and is the number 1 headache for a first time builder as it often results in shoddy work.

Building Material Disappearance: Most builders get money from selling excess building materials, this is a given. They make you buy more cement and sell the extra bags. They can even say we have run out of cement so that  you can compensate for the stolen cement bags. This practice of stealing building materials starts from the foundation up to roofing level. When you involve them in drafting a bill of quantities, chances are high that they will be including their ‘profit share’ in the materials to be purchased.

Proposed solutions

We have mentioned the need to vet builders as a starting point, discuss with others who have built houses or will be building in your area. They will give you tips on the top risks of engaging independent builders to construct your first house. Secondly we encourage you to be involved in certain critical stages of building your home such as the foundation.

The rule number 1 of building your home is that’ You should be physically available’ when your foundation is being built. In your planning, take leave for a few weeks from your employment and ensure that you oversee the construction of your foundation. Do not second anyone-you should be physically available, get an independent expert to assist you if you can afford. Most builders are unscrupulous and will find ways of duping you during this stage because this is where most of the funds are used. This is where you spend more money on cement, bricks and more. For the unethical builder-the foundation represents a cash cow! This is where they make the most money through stealing materials.

Can you use a relative to oversee the foundation construction?

We mentioned above that you should be physically present right? Now what if you are busy and decide to second a relative to the project? A good friend of mine seconded a close relative to the project and guess what happened? The relative ended up conniving with the builders and stealing building materials! He thought everything was right only to be shocked when he found a lorry fetching cement at his construction site. So the fact is -do not trust anyone with overseeing your construction project especially at critical stages such as the foundation stage. If you are in the Diaspora then it can be worse-expect ridiculous prices, shortages and missing building materials. If you are not physically present then expect prices to shoot by more than a half.

After ensuring that the foundation is complete, you can leave the builders to finish the construction knowing fully well that  your home will not crack in future because of looted building materials. Do take leave again when roofing your home because this is another critical stage like the foundation where a lot of money is used and thus presenting high risk with carpenters selling roofing materials if not closely monitored.

So there you are, do monitor your construction projects and make sure you are physically present at certain critical stages. Do not miss our next article when we feature Zimbabweans building homes in Australia.

We are sharing with you a brilliant presentation on the Ease of Doing Business in Zimbabwe done by Ross Kennedy.

Its now 2 weeks with our offices having been opened-loads of work involved in setting up the offices. Bank forms filling by board members and the secretariat, filling TelOne forms to open a landline and official email for the forum, designing forum strategies, forum organogram, employee contracts and organisational policies….hey what a hectic period it has been for everyone involved in office setting up.

The aim is to create a world class forum that will definitely leave a mark on the business sector in the region. We are fortunate to be a diaspora friendly forum that draws its strength from the diverse backgrounds of its members. Half of our board members are diasporans, these diasporans bring much needed experience and skills in setting the agenda for the forum. We have 3 qualified accountants on the board, Farai a CPA, CGMA based in USA, Tavaziva a Chartered Accountant based in UK and yours truly a Chartered Management Accountant, CGMA based in Harare. We also have an Engineer, Farai who is based in SA, Rutendo a lawyer who is a civil servant and works with the Prison Service. Polite Ndlovu based in Plumtree holds an MBA plus a lot of NGO experience. Rudo(UK) and Laureen (USA) are both working in the medical field and bring a lot of experience on working with youths an women. Our board chair Ms Martha Tholanah was recently voted amongst the 100 most influential Zimbabweans. An international award winner on Human Rights, Gender and HIV and Aids, she brings more than 30 years leadership experience in the NGO sector.

All of these skills, Engineering, Law, Consulting, Medical Industry, Accounting & Auditing, NGO Management and Entrepreneurship will be harnessed so that we can deliver a high quality service! At ZBIN our philosophy is that there is always a way-we do not dismiss business ideas at face value. In most cases if it is not feasible, we park it for a while and revisit it when the environment or conditions are conducive. Imagine in 1995 if someone had said they are working on a model to enable people to bank money using phones? Imagine if someone had mentioned working on a Social Media project? They would have been dismissed as day dreamers, ridiculed and perhaps recommended for Ingutsheni! Such is the nature of business, what made no sense yesterday will make sense tomorrow. What is laughable today will earn millions in future-in business the boundaries have been removed, in business monopolies are being dismantled…its nolonger business as usual. If you do not change or adapt then you will fall by the wayside!

ZBIN is coming in as an engine of innovation, a platform where Zimbabweans share their business ideas-no idea is silly, no idea is impossible. We do not particularly like the word NO! We will work around the word or answer No and find a way.

So what is coming up this week?

Office start up completion-we are hoping to have a landline, official email, posters and forum bank account in place by end of week.

ZBIN Online Forex Trading Meta Trader 4 Training-On Friday at 3:00pm, we will host members of the online forex trading group for a hands on training on forex trading. Kindly note that this is a follow up meeting-there is a training for first timers on the 8^th of July 2017. Do not attend the Friday one if you are blank and do not know what online forex trading is.

Partnerships-Interesting discussions we had yesterday with someone who will partner ZBIN in an educational facility initiative. Expect to see banners with ZBIN in the coming weeks.

Donate a Book Campaign-We keep dreaming and bringing some of the dreams to fruition….we are sting up a resource centre for the forum. A walk in resource centre for entrepreneurs. A place where they get everything that they need, from opening bank accounts, managing small businesses and website management. With a wifi already in place for all ZBIN members, this is a great initiative by the forum. Visitors to our offices should be able to check for resources online and also get material from our office resource centre. We are therefore asking you to donate old books on business, women and youths or motivational books. This is our contribution to the entrepreneurial community, you too can play a part.

ZBIN Volunteer Program-kudos to the massive response to our appeal for volunteers to inbox me. Iam still going through the hundreds of emails received and will reply to each one of you. The concept is that of helping the business community by providing mentorship to SMEs in need of technical expertise. We know you are busy professionals with hardly anytime to spare-so we are developing a scheme that takes into consideration all of these limitations. More details to come in due course-if you missed the post that i did put, kindly send an email to vicmunemo@yahoo.com

This is enough for this week, a lot on our plate, we would like to thank those who have been formally subscribing to the forum. The tender tracker should be hitting your inbox as well as 3 interesting and practical business opportunities in the Food, Baking and Educational sectors.

The Zimbabwe Business Ideas and  Network forum is slowly building up a resource centre for entrepreneurs. We have already created a virtual resource centre with this site. On this site you can find a lot of information on opportunities in Zimbabwe. We have also added a couple of downloads such as business plans, taxation documents and ‘how to’ business templates. We are slowly building our resource centre so that our offices can become a one place centre for entrepreneurs. A place where they have access to information on opportunities and get to read inspirational books on entrepreneurship. With a membership of more than 30,000-our centre should become the busiest in the country in the coming few months.

Our next challenge is resourcing the resource centre with business or motivational books to help entrepreneurs who visit our offices. We are therefore appealing to you to look at some of the books you may not need and donate to the forum if feasible.

Kindly get in touch with the forum admins  phone numbers : +263774081808/+263 772 727 827 or email vicmunemo@yahoo.com

Thanking you in advance

This writer enjoys formulating and implementing strategies-there is no better joy than developing a strategy and seeing its successful implementation! As ZBIN, we have been busy with a lot of planning so that we can come up with a winning strategy. A strategy that will see us occupying a certain space in the business sector in Zimbabwe and the region. More of this strategy will be visible in the coming few weeks.

This afternoon we have decided to share with you one strategic model that is used whenever one is doing business planning, implementation or review. You need to always be aware of your environment, miss what is happening in the environment and you have set yourself for failure!

Take for instance the prevailing environment in Zimbabwe which is characterised by cash crisis, a slowing economic growth and elections coming next year. If you fail to acknowledge developments in the environment then whatever you may be planning may not be effective, if you plan to purchase equipment from abroad but fail to acknowledge current challenges in accessing forex then your plan is bound to fail.

There are a number of strategic or management tools that management professionals use in planning and assessing the environment and today we would like to zero in on one of them. We will try to simply it so that non finance professionals can comprehend it.

The model is called the PESTEL model and basically means Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environment and Legal environments. At ZBIN we use this tool every Monday morning during our meetings. We do not want to be caught by surprise, we would like to know threats and opportunities that are presented by the environment that we operate in.

PESTEL Example

Political: You need to be aware of the political environment in the country-we are headed for elections next year! The political heat in the country should be heating up in the next few months, we can expect a lot of policies that affect business in general. New policies being formulated or reviewed, Politicians promising the electorate heaven on earth…we have gone through this path before. Last time we had debts clearance for rate payers who had long outstanding debts with city and rural district councils. Expect surprises, nothing can be dismissed during election times-like already mentioned-we have travelled this path before. So take note of any policy change which can impact the operations of your business.

Economic: Related to Politics is the Economy, always be aware of what is happening in the economy as this directly affects your business. Do follow the Monetary Policy, do follow Budget presentations and review. What is Honourable Chinamasa saying about the economy? What are the government plans in relation to the economy? Is he projecting an economic increase due to the performance of the Command Agriculture? What is the Reserve Bank Governor saying about the current cash crisis? What are they saying about ZIMASSET? As a business person always take an interest in what happens in the economy and various statements that the government issues in relation to the economy.

Social: What are the changes in demographics-population, change in tastes? If you are a business person and you fail to acknowledge that Zimbabwe’s population is now made up of more than 67% youths then you are missing the mark! Youths now dominate the landscape which explains why certain political parties are coming up with youths friendly policies and rallies-they know where  support is-Youths! If you are starting a business and fail to acknowledge the increasing influence of the Christianity community then again you are missing the mark! An estimated 4 million live in the Diaspora and remit close to $1 billion on a yearly basis. If as an entrepreneur you are not talking about the Diaspora then you are missing the mark!

Technology: Technology is playing a crucial role in business, we do not need to go far but refer to the current cash challenges and the promotion of electronic transfers. Do we need to remind you of the widespread use of social media by Zimbabweans?  Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Twitter….more and more Zimbabweans are using social media and this attributed to the availability of affordable smart phones. There is significant growth in this sector with more people connecting to the internet. This means more opportunities for anyone who is developing a strategy for business, are you considering opportunities presented by developments in technology?

Environment: Here is an interesting observation that I have noted over the past few years. Whenever there are changes in the climate that results in drought or excessive rainfalls-something interesting happens-tremors affect Zimbabwe! Today the Eastern Highlands was hit by earth tremors around 4:30am! I had anticipated it and discussed this with friends in March, using my little geographical knowledge, I knew that the above normal rains received in the 2016-2017 rainfall season would exert pressure on the earth crust and cause some tremors! Changes in the climate affects everything in Zimbabwe…if we experience good rainfalls then we can expect the economy to perform better! If we experience a drought then we can expect to import more grains and this affects the performance of the economy in an adverse manner.

Legal: This area is broad and covers the regulatory environment, registrations of companies, changes in policies such as the Statutory Instrument SI64! What are the new policies that the government is thinking of or working on introducing? Are they planning on banning anything? You should be aware of this area as it directly affects your business.

Where can you use PESTEL?

Use the model during weekly meetings, whenever you are setting a weekly agenda do think of the PESTEL model. Whenever you are discussing issues be they opportunities or  risks, do consider the PESTEL model. You do not have to use at organisational level-even at personal planning level-are you taking into considerations developments in the environment?

Conclusion

So do not plan in isolation, take note of the environment -developments in the environment in relation to the areas we mentioned above. Is there anything new coming up? How will it affect you in the short, medium and long term? What strategies are you going to put in order to mitigate risks presented or opportunities that will emerge? We end it by saying -Ignore the environment at your own peril!

This week I travelled all the way to the small and surprisingly busy town of Binga to facilitate a workshop on nutrition gardens. Usually when one hears the word Binga the first thing that comes to mind is poverty, malaria and malnutrition, I like the rest of my team was surprised to find a well developed and still growing urban center with all the facilities that you can think of banks, market, etc. Like most Zimbabweans out there who are always seeking for that extra dollar I took a little bit of time from my busy schedule to explore for potential business opportunities that are available and in line with the main objective of ZIBN share with the rest of the forum to benefit everyone.

Vegetable demand

Naturally as an agronomist with a strong bias towards fresh produce, I headed for the market and there I had a very interesting conversation with one of the ladies amaiShumba selling her produce. It is quite interesting to note that all their fresh produce which includes tomatoes, cabbages , onions, covo, rape vegetables, comes from Bulawayo which is about 400 km away there is literally no other supplier. Let us use cabbage as an example in order to simplify the numbers game which we are all interested in, the average price of a head of cabbage, a small one is 1 USD, and the bigger size is 1.50/head, on average each one of them sells about 80 cabbages/week and they are about 4 dedicated ladies in the market who sell these. This translates to about 320 cabbages that is 320 USD, taking into consideration the biggest variable which is transport cost of which these women are charged roughly 5-10USD to transport 100 cabbages that is 15-30USD the average profit that one stand to gain is roughly 250 +, from just 300 cabbages. Another interesting point to note is that even the local boarding school/hospital and orphanage purchase all their fresh produce all the way from Bulawayo meaning a huge market and in my mind as the lady was speaking, I was already busy calculating and seeing my pockets getting healthier.

Fresh fish business

After the lengthy and fruitful conversation with AmaiShumba, we then set off for Mlibizi which is more of a resort and fishing area. It is here were I saw how innovative Zimbabweans can be inorder to get that extra dollar but first things first. I am sure everyone is interested in the numbers so let me not waste time and let me get right into it, here fresh fish from the mighty Zambezi river mainly breams is sold at 1.50/kg wholesale price and if you have established a good relationship with the fisherman you can even negotiate to 1.20/kg. Considering that fish is sold at about 4USD/kg at your local supermarket that is a huge profit margin of more than 100% even after deducting your variable costs such as transport and fish transporting license which will cost you about 10USD at the local authorities office. Some would prefer to transport their fish illegally at night to evade the veterinary inspectors to Bulawayo, I do not encourage this practice as you run the risk of losing out if caught. I was reliably informed by one of the fisherman that they are usually booked before they even bring in the catch of the day, this means the “big shots” as they call them come and buy their entire catch exclusively each catch worth about 800-1000 USD. The buyers range from the big shots to your average entrepreneur lady who buys 2 buckets of fresh fish to sell murayini.

The locals have also taken advantage of the booming business and are now providing fridge for hire business, they will charge you on average 2 USD/20kg sack of fresh fish to store overnight and keep your fish frozen and ready for transportation. The local civil servants who have electricity at their houses have not been left out as well as they are also renting out their fridges, those who have been in the business long enough now have even purchased the L.P gas powered refrigerators or the kerosene powered ones in order to get that extra dollar.

In conclusion ladies and gentleman lets not spend most of the time complaining about how bad things are, I challenge you to take the initiative hunt for that extra dollar.

Emmanuel DN Dube is the senior agronomist at Agro Aid Trust, if you have any questions please email him on agroaidtrustzimbabwe@gmail.com+263783 495

Zim has a lot of funding available to the business sector. You have to give a lot of stakeholders credit for trying their best to avail funding for the Small to Medium Scale sector. The biggest hurdle in the country is the access to business opportunities information! The country has a lot of information when it comes to social issues such as Politics, Soccer and Religion-mention business opportunities and funding and most people will go quiet!

So ZBIN is trying its best to enable Zimbabweans and foreign nationals to have access to information on available or emerging opportunities, they say information is power!

At ZBIN we have general information that we share-publicly available information and then we have some information which we provide to our subscribed members only.This morning we have decided to share information of an Agribank Export Facility worth $50 million.

The bank is actively promoting the production of exports through an Export Facility, structured expressly to support Exporters.

The facility has the following features

Purpose: To support Exporters (Any company producing for exports)

Availability: Available immediately (Upon Project Approval)

Eligibility: All exporters

Interest Rate: Up to 7.5% per annum

Tenor: Up to 12 months for working capital/Up to 3 years for Capital Expenditure

For more information, visit any Agribank Branch nearest to you

So there you are, funds are available in Zimbabwe, some from Government or Parastatals such as the Homelink Facility funds or this Agribank Funds facility. ZBIN will be sharing with members tips of how to identify export markets, carrying out market surveys and advise our members on the next steps to be taken in applying for these funds.

Non ZBIN members can directly go to the nearest Agribank branch, no need for any middlemen!

Your favourite business forum brings you a download of Deposit fines you need to be aware of. Go through it and take note of all the fines covered in the 13 page document. If at any time you would like to refer to it in future, simply come to our site and search Deposit Fines.

Thank you

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One of the most important decisions an entrepreneur has to make is pricing! You have to come up with the correct pricing so as to remain in business. If you set your prices too high then you risk driving customers away, if you set it too low then you risk going out of business. You therefore must set the correct price that enables your business to remain profitable in the long run.

Related to pricing is the calculation of profits which is basically, Sales -Costs= Profit.

Profit calculations usually cause problems to small business owners without experience in finance. One could be making huge losses and not know it and this is dangerous because you can fold your business without knowing it.  You could be happy that all is Ok when you are infact in grave danger. Problems that usually come include not covering all costs in your profit calculations. Few include the cost of labour nor rates such as water and electricity.

Your favourite business forum is going to cover these issues in our live feeds, downloads and videos. Below we feature an article on product pricing, cost calculations and profit. The responses are from the ZBIN Community members.

Profit Calculations:
Bought this plate of sadza @ the Volt Kitchen along S Machel Ave. The price is $1,5…. now iam just thinking. Is this price good enough to make a profit? What are the costs of sadza, veges,nyama….the total costs of producing this meal….thank you.

Responses

Kimberly Chiriseri Even if yu get in supermarkets like Foodworld , Choppies yu can get sadza n beef @ $1.50. Hakuna mari saka that $1.50 is worthy it

Tisha Tee I think using economy of scale its reasonable and profit inenge iripo

Mdala Wa Rue Did not see large volumes though thts why i brought up this qstn

Tisha Tee Not large per say but as in the min quantity of each ingredient that can be bought then i gues the profit is then calculated not as per unit but as the total units produced to the cost of buying the ingredients . .kkk thats wat ive always thought tho

Mdala Wa Rue Yeah our calculations a bit tricky without volumes sold per month….crucial infor missing but still something tells me amount iyo ndeye break even

Tisha Tee You are very right ther some small business owners never notice that they are merely break evn sometimes cash flow is confused as profit

Mdala Wa Rue Cooking oil 2l is $2.85 maOK. Ukuzungu (gravy $1.20, royco $0.50, curry powder$1). All this stuff, plus salt nemhiripiri you use more than once. Assuming you get your 1.7kg broiler at $6 (though most canteens get at $5 or less) and you cut it nicely you get at least 12 pieces of chicken. Add to that kapoto (offals and feet) at $1-1.50. Most urban canteens sell above sixty plates of sadza pa20kg yehupfu.

Mdala Wa Rue Feedbk from ZBIN Poultry group

Tisha Tee Kkk judging from the piece in your plate that chicken had more than standard 12 pieces lol

David Chikombero Nyama per kg beef is 3.99 / kg .. it can feed maybe 12-12 pple . 2 kg of parlenta is $1.65 it can make a whole pot to feed all those pple. Thats abt $5.64. . Now do the maths

Rutendo Faith beef ye$4 a kg feeds 10 ppl.10kg upfu 30 pple.one bundle re$1 rekumbare 30 pple.tomatoes e 5r anokwana 30pple.hameno pahuni or gas apa .profit is approximately 80c.per plate.if u don put expense yema kelyt

Mdala Wa Rue Have u factored labour, rent and rates?

Rutendo Faith aiwa i didnt calc that on th profit yeplate i think izvo zvezvakuda kucalculator yr total profits for th whole month depending on yr volumes then u subtrate thoz costs vana rent ava nana wages woona profit yaunosara nayo then ul c if its worth it.but um sure getting evn kaprofit ke$1000 pamwedzi its beta pane kuregera things are tough thez dayz

Pana Che 10kg feeds 30 pple nah sadza is around 60 to 70 percent water.so 10kg must feed more pple

Rutendo Faith sory wantd to say 5kg is 30 ppl 10kg around 60 pll

Zee Ncube How about labour

Govero Zimuto 1 piece chicken $0.35 according to chicken inn but labour rates and rent is the most challenging here

Rocca van der Bovas-Alex U are spot on pa $35 cents pa labour ndopaungakuvare

Govero Zimuto also uncertainities like weather bond note or cash shortages kikkk chinyika chacho ndopaunochi feeler

Rocca van der Bovas-Alex The cost of producing that plate of sadza is around 80c zvese including overheads its profitable huku 5 bucks giving u 13 pieces ari prime plus the back and offals which means ka piece kamapihwa is roughly 30 cents.sadza portion is 150 to 200g no calculator kuti mu 20kg munobuda 100 portions. Salt ne curry yamataura in a serving for 12 pipo u use 10g. Salt inoita dollar which means mu plaite yenyu mapinda around ye 8c . wekai muchidzika then u will find how much they are making.

Penyai Rotai kune sadza nenyama zve 0,50c  kuChitown

Ranganayi Maruta even in town graghton building next to beer engine yepa jameson hotel

Handson Ndlovu In Bulawayo that plate goes for $1

Mdala Wa Rue As well lean to buy zvipfuyo kana matengesa tusadza twenyu mu town .mbudzi hanga roadrunners.it will help yu to make variety of relish in the near future.

John Mlambo Tha catch is on the beef/chicken. Other ingredients are cheap. If you can get meat from ‘private’ abattoirs the better. There is a place in National you can buy a plate for $1 with three big pieces of beef!

John Mlambo Buying direct from the farm. Cut middleman expenses

Loice Mhondiwa Gheto sadza/rice zvine zinyama zihombe nesalad $1

One of the fastest ways to grow in the business sector is through winning tenders! If you master the art of winning tenders then congratulations to you. Tenders mean big dollars and in the case of Zimbabwe more than $300 million is spend every year through public tenders.

Like we always say at ZBIN, if you want success then follow the money! If you want to succeed in Zimbabwe the rule is to know where money is or flows and then simply follow the trail. The Government is always flighting tender adverts, Parastatals do the same, NGOs are not left out, schools, universities are actively involved. We have introduced a tender tracker that is only available to subscribed members. We produce this tender on a weekly basis and it basically shows the sectors where tenders are coming from and what it means about that sector.

If you get more than 2 months access to our tender tracker then you can have a feel of what is happening in terms of sectors where money is flowing to. We developed it because we realised that the Diaspora community does not have access to the tenders and are therefore left out in terms of knowing investment trends and opportunities.

So how do you win tenders?

The answer is simple-preparation! There is a wrong assumption that all tenders are corruptly awarded in the country. This writer has had an opportunity to oversee a substantial number of tender adjudication processes and am happy to report that i did not witness any misrepresentation of fraudulent activities. Most of the of the multi-million tender processes that i witnessed were above board, no conflict of interest and tenders being awarded to the best bidders. I however cannot talk about the rest of other tender processes that go on in the country but my recommendation is that there is still a window of opportunity to those that participate in tender processes in Zimbabwe.

No School of Tender Processes Education

I said it all depends on preparation right? So how does one prepare? As a company you must always be ready for tenders and getting ready is not a one day event, you have to continuously develop systems and processes that develops a strong company or organisation. Everyday processes you need to follow includes:

1.Company registration-register your company from day 1, do not wait for tenders inorder to register your company, all Zimbabwean tenders need registered companies.

2.Tax Compliance-Always make sure that you are up to date in terms of tax matters with ZIMRA, tax may not be enjoyable to pay but paying tax earns you marks during tenders.

3.Bank Management-Ensure that you bank all funds received, have a good track record of banking funds. Tenders need 3 month bank statements and if you produce a bank statement with no funds invested then you lose considerable marks with the tender review committee.

4.Credit Reference-It pays to be in good books with your customers and buyers, their good word or reference will earn you passing marks with tender review committees.

5. Audited Financial Statements-Preparing financial statements is a good thing to do so that you can know how you are faring financial wise, these reports are also required by external stakeholders such as potential funders, ZIMRA and others. One key benefit that is rarely talked about is ‘financial statements as a competitive advantage during tenders’. I remember once disqualifying a very good company whid had bid for a water reticulation tender. They had everything inorder-great experience, nicely designed files, a lot of funds in the bank , qualified personnel. They had submitted everything and were on there way to win a multi-million tender-only one document costed them the tender-an audited financial report! Come on, an audit that would have cost $1,000 versus $2million business? Yes that small document costed them the tender and chances are high that they will never know how they lost. A lot of SMEs are in the same boat, not appreciating the value of engaging qualified accountants to prepare their financial reports and also having them audited.

6.Presentable premises– Final evaluation of tenders involve visiting premises of shortlisted bidders. They will visit offices and award marks based on appearance and presentation. If you have offices in downtown and its a multi-million dollar tender then you should kiss goodbye the chances of winning it. Its even worse when you do not have offices! If you are a manufacturing company then there will be a warehouse assessment and interview with warehouse staff.

I have only covered 6 but there are a lot of other areas that you need to do but the above ones are the key ones that usually appear on tenders. You can pick any Zimbabwean newspaper, look at 3 tender adverts and verify.

Dr Strive Masiyiwa and Tenders

So how did Dr Strive Masiyiwa rise to multi million dollar wealth in a short period? A lot of factors can be attributed to his success but the model he used can be summarised into ‘Winning Tenders’. Sometimes he would win tenders without sufficient funding! He would then go and seek funding after winning tenders. His latest blog post on pitching to investors lifts a lid on how he won the mobile tender in Botswana.

He won because he had thoroughly prepared for the tender, he left no stone unturned as he thoroughly prepared for a tender which pitted him against some of the biggest telecoms giants in the world! The giants took everything for granted-imagine a French company with a global presence and a lot of resources competing against a small Zimbabwean company without experience….the company did not give a second chance to this minor unknown company.

They were to learn the hard way later when Mascom(Masiyiwa Communication) snatched the bun from under their noses. They were later to learn that Zimbabweans are indeed some of the most intelligent people on earth when the multi-million tender was awarded to MASCOM-what a hard lesson!

Below i will feature parts of what he wrote on his blog:

Our competitors came in private jets. On our side, some of my team traveled by car from Harare in Zimbabwe (a day’s journey) because we could not afford air tickets!

# Did you know that Faith has a twin?

It’s called Grace!

# We planned meticulously. # We rehearsed the bid questions over and over again. # We set up a mock process in our offices, and got a team to act as the adjudicators, and ask questions. # We practiced and practiced and practiced for two solid weeks!

When the day came, we appeared before a panel of adjudicators made up of Botswana government officials and telecoms experts from Sweden. The meeting was chaired by a leading Botswana lawyer called Mr Moses Lekaukau, a huge man with a thundering no-nonsense style.

I began my pitch by greeting the chairman in Setswana, their mother tongue. I then went into my pitch.

I can still remember some of the data that I used on Botswana’s demographics, its economic growth, the potential market… numbers, numbers, numbers!

After my initial pitch, they began to grill us on our presentation which was more than 900 pages: “On this page, you say that… Please explain, and what is the source of your data?”

My team and I knew that document like the back of our hands, and we enjoyed each question. The grilling lasted the whole day. I was fasting on that day, too!

A few weeks later the Botswana government announced the winner was Mascom Wireless and France Telecom (Orange) had come in second!

It’s is now 21 years since that “pitch.” We went on to set up Botswana’s and our own first telecoms business, which remains to this day the country’s number one operator.

Imagine my position at the time:

# No experience; # Facing global competitors; # No money.

I was also black. (In the minds of most people at that time, there was no such thing as a serious black entrepreneur).

Important Points from this:

We planned meticulously.# We rehearsed the bid questions over and over again. # We set up a mock process in our offices, and got a team to act as the adjudicators, and ask questions. # We practiced and practiced and practiced for two solid weeks!

Dr Masiyiwa is basically talking of the importance of planning, you need to thoroughly plan for tenders especially when the odds are stacked against you. The word ‘over’ is mentioned twice, the word practice is mentioned thrice.

Why is he repeating these key words several times? He is doing so because most tenders are poorly prepared. Some are prepared by 1 or 2 people but here we are being told that Masiyiwa did not do it alone, he had a team that practiced and practiced before leaving for Botswana for their biggest foreign tender assignment.

Mock Tender Process

You can tell that Masiyiwa was ahead of his times! He did what the Global Giants had taken for granted-thorough preparation! The giants who flew in by private jet obviously would not waste time and resources in preparations, they would simply follow processes that had worked well in the past-they were to receive a rude awakening when people who drove cars got the tender. A lot of big companies are in the same boat-few take tenders seriously, few practice enough. Dr Strive Masiyiwa knew of this weakness and took advantage. His practice sessions included a mock tender process-how many companies do that?

Conclusion

There is no school of tender processes for obvious reasons-this is where the big monies are and therefore those with information would rather keep it to themselves. Tender processes are not covered in financial subjects at university for obvious reasons- if you all participate in tenders then someone is going to lose out. Dr Masiyiwa mastered this art in 1997 and see where he is today! ZBIN will cover the art of tenders in detail in future and follow ups will include a Facebook Live coverage on this topic and more trainings for the business sector-do not be left out when we cover some of the issues and tips that i left out.

ZBIN Services

We provide  tender trackers to interested clients and also offer tender drafting, review and mock services.