Diaspora Matters

So i was watching CNN today and there was  a programme of training the memory so that it can remember a lot of things. Interesting programme that shows that most people rarely use the power of their minds! Through the programme, i watched many people doing the unthinkable….verdict? The verdict was through practice, we can achieve more. Through mind training, students improved academic records-even those previously classified as dull.

Iam not an educationist an therefore may not be aware of how our local educators are doing it but believe that this is a must watch documentary. Yes we have quiz championships at high school an i remember representing my former school well during the 90s. I feel schools should launch competitions that train the minds of youngsters and watch the results!

Iam not advocating for students who ‘cram’ but students with an improved mindset and training the mind is one of them. ZBIN will therefore be making a lot of work on the awareness on the power of the mind! It can be a lot of fun and can help many students to improve grades.

History made
As mentioned last week, we have a team in Malawi that arrived yesterday. Our first ever foray onto the region. We have previously hosted regional participants but not gone to regional countries. So we are in Lilongwe and then Blantyre before coming back to Harare. From Harare we are gonna be on a whirlwind tour of the region meaning a temporary relocation of the ZBIN headquarters for the coming weeks.

The good thing coming from this is the establishment of a strong regional entrepreneurship community. Through the community developed we are hoping to distribute more products and services efficiently. You want to launch or distribute products or services in the region then there is one platform that can do it for you-ZBIN! You want to study business in Southern Africa then there is one forum of choice for you-ZBIN. We will be pilot testing a number of initiatives and Kilombero Rice is going to be one of them-creating expanded markets for the rice across Southern Africa and help to improve the livelihoods of Malawian farmers and also creating jobs in Maun, Durban, East London, Beitbridge, Phikwe, Maseru or Windhoek! It will not be a tough task to do because we already have 5,000 nationals on our Whatsapp platforms, we are meeting some of them during our tours and establishing linkages and networks. So ZBIN is nolonger a forum that talks of business opportunities in South Africa-now we are walking the talk!

Wa Reng: So what else is up this week?

1.Mining: We have partnered with one of the forum members and we are working on hosting a national conference on mining issues. Should be a unique conference that looks at the other side of mining, what happens after mining companies have finished mining and left? A great conference with a lot of researches and will challenge the way mining is done in the country especially the environmental damage.

2. More Live Updates: We are encouraging more members to participate, 3 South African citizens will be participating giving us business updates. If we are fortunate, we may feature a Zimbo sister based in India so that she can update us on what it is like to live in India-she will cover business opportunities and other general stuff

3. Moz Opportunities: We continue tracking developments in our ‘adopted country’-Moz because this is a country which rarely gets positive business story coverage.

4. Mainstream Media: So we have close to 400 business articles on our website which have been read 180,000 times since the formation of the www.zbinworld.com site. Everyday has a new article coming up and we are proud to have assisted a lot of people with business ideas. From next week do expect to read some of ZBIN articles in your local newspapers as we expand our reach beyond Social Media.

5. Volunteer Action: One of our volunteers, a company based in South Africa that deals in IT products and services has sponsored a quiz which will result in winners getting free Anti Virus software. Expect more products and offers from your favourite forum as we promote local entrepreneurs within the forum.

Stay Blessed.

Re tlaa bonana

We have great news from Guruve, the land where Thomas Mapfumo comes from. Do you remember the classic Ndoenda Guruve? That was Thomas Mapfumo at his best and now we go to this land of the Chimurenga Legend and look at investment opportunities.

We saw an advert in The Sunday Mail this week and decided to share with you the contents of the advert. The advert comes as an Invitation to Tenders: MRDC : 02/2017

1. 1. Fuel Service Stations and Garages at Mushumbi Growth Point : Mbire RDC is calling on investors to tap into uncharted energy sector opportunities in the fuel service stations and garages at its Mushumbi Growth Point measuring 2500 square meters
   2. Upmarket Primary School: Inviting private organisations , churches and trusts to invest in the educational sector for an upmarket primary school. There is 24 hectares in the district with friendly and flexible investment terms

• Mushumbi Pools(lodges): Available is land for the development of lodges measuring 20,000 square meters. Commercial accommodation is needed and is in short supply. Investors are invited to tap into the luxury and hospitality sector along the beautiful Manyame River. A site visit is compulsory.

Submit sealed bids at the Mushumbi Offices by 30^th August 2017 at 10:00 hours when tenders will be closed.

Tender documents are obtainable from Mbire Rural District Council upon payment of a non-refundable fee of $100. A site visit is compulsory on 30 August 2017 starting from Mbire RDC boardroom at 10:00am

Mbire Rural District Council reserves the right to accept the whole, part of reject any tender. Tenders in sealed envelopes must be submitted to:

The Chief Executive Officer

Mbire Rural District Council

P O Box 539, Guruve

I remember this inspirational write up by one of the leading business personalities in Africa. He said if you see a wagon, then it is already too late to invest-in short the field is flooded! When everyone is talking or joining a field or sector then it is no longer profitable.

We are notorious for copying business ideas from each other, if you see your neighbour investing in kombis then you may want to invest too, see your friend doing well in poultry and then ‘sweat the technique’ like what the famous American Rap Music duo of Eric B and Rakim used to sing in the early 90s-sweating the technique is street lingo for copying!

So how does one invest in an over crowed industry and still make profits? The answer is simple-in real estate when they run out of ground space, they go upwards. In business one can use the same technique of going up.

To help illustrate this point lets assume you would like to invest in the baking industry-baking cakes and samoosas for sale. This field is over flooded with almost every street having someone who is baking for business. We will break the baking business into categories that go up.

Category One

Category One is characterised by first time entrants to a field. Huge profits await those who join first and the rest quickly join and drive profits down. When people say ‘sector iyi haina mari’ they are in most cases referring to this category. Think of the kombis, poultry and vending.

Category Two

Still assessing the baking of cakes industry, this is a category higher than the first one and includes teaching others how to bake. You need special skill and have to create this category especially when everyone starts rushing in. They say opportunities in Zimbabwe last for 3 months before profits are driven down. So teaching others to make money helps you to stay for a while in the game.

Category Three

Category three is a notch higher than the previous one and one is now looking at the supply side. Supplying baking equipment to those in the baking industry. You will be dealing with both category one and category two. You have noticed that there are a lot of first timers to the industry and they all need equipment-in you come and supply it!

Category Four

Category four may involve you forming an association of Baking Professionals linking up with all those who are doing baking-doing advocacy and capacity building, forming chapters across the country and linking them with regional forums.

What do we learn from this?

Most people (99%) will tell you that baking is over flooded and discourage you. The reason they do this is because their level of thinking will be on category one! If you look at any sector and analyse category one then you are likely to see very little profit margins. Industry zveshuwawo inenge isina chiro….munhu wese achingoita!

However a closer analysis and study will show that if you go up, you may find unlimited opportunities. Someone may say the kombi business is over subscribed with more than 10,000 kombis in Harare alone but tell that to the Nigerian brother running a car parts shop along Kaguvi and he will differ with you. He will say ‘Oga, Kombi business is good…not only good but very good’

So when entering any field think of the categories to enter at, one the flooded one or second level which may be less flooded. Kana munhu achiti hazvina mari izvi mafungiro ake anogona kunge ari pa category one, open up their minds and use the example above.

I even laugh with friends when i say one day the diaspora will come back and grab all opportunities that exist in Zimbabwe. How will they do it? Simple they will start from category 3 and 4 of each sector and make huge profits.

The current operating environment is a rough one for the business sector. It is no longer business as usual and only the innovative and enterprising business people are going to survive . With a shortage of foreign currency from the formal banking sector and a liquidity crunch, the situation cannot be any tougher. The situation is increasing pressure on the business sector  to analyse costing methods as well as pricing. These are two important components in the calculation of your price and your profit as well.

Pricing is one major decision an entrepreneur has to take and this pricing calls for flexibility in order to adapt to a fluid business environment. If you are sticking to old methods of pricing then you seriously risk losing business. You have to adapt and move fast with pricing trends so that you get business in the tough economic times that we find ourselves in.

Some companies are insisting on cash as a method of payment when cash is hard to come by-the result is a loss of business. ZBIN will be covering this key topic on our Facebook Live on Friday as we explore various pricing methods that are relevant to a dynamic environment like ours.

Below we feature a post from Diana Elisha Nheera on pricing. She is a digital marketing professional and a freelance photographer and shares her thoughts on pricing by freelance professionals in her field.

You also meet the young service providers who overrate and overcharge their work much to their disadvantage in a struggling economy. They take pride in telling peers I ONLY CHARGE SO MUCH… They believe their value is increased by exorbitant prices and even go as far as believing potential clients walk because havana mari.. Not at all, things are hard all around, money is not easy to come by, that means everyone is careful how they are spending their every cent. Even big companies have realised this and keep adjusting… Where possible, package such that you serve all budget clients. High, low and medium. Take advantage of the low budget sales as normally those compensate on quantity, but all this without compromising on the quality of service and or product. Invest in some periodic market research and little surveys. The business environment is very dynamic and you cannot afford to be the static one… Grow. Accommodate and Benefit.

So often people fail in business and lose money and time not because they lack the knowledge and skills to run a business but because they lack the necessary passion for the kind of business they are in and end up investing all their efforts on a pipe dream. I always say that a business idea is useless without the backing of passion and drive.

God created us with multiple skills so that we wouldn’t have to depend on anyone for our survival.. But even skills have categories and as much as we are multi talented our passion lies in certain things or skills not in everything we think we can do. As an entrepreneur first know your strengths, do an introspection then cultivate them into tools that will help build your empire..

 Example : Youre an entrepreneur, you cook and sell food, make profit to make ends meet, but you also buy and sell clothes, engage with people, do research about the latest fashion, buy in bulk and recruit people to sell under you. You can do both these jobs well but when you are selling the food there’s no fierceness in you as much as when you are selling the clothes and engaging with the fashionistas of the world. But because you dont know where your passion lies you continue to exhaust yourself by juggling both jobs thinking one day things will change while investing time and money and draining yourself by dragging dead weight. At the end of the day you have two businesses that you are running which aren’t performing because you as an entrepreneur are not giving them your full potential because you haven’t mastered where your passion lies. Then you fail because you’re a jack of all trades but a master on none

My Advice : Introspection! Introduction! Execution!

☆Research yourself.. Find out exactly what is it that you want to do.. Find your passion and commit. You can run one business and still manage to turn it into an empire as long as you know your passion and commit.. Look at Bill Gates.

☆Stop second guessing yourself, if business is for you then it’s for you. Take the passion to another level and start thinking like a mogul. In business you will notice that once you get your mind set off the gutter and start thinking like a business person, then your language starts to change, your circles start to change and you start researching and associating yourself with people who add value to your hustle.. The smell of success does that to you so don’t be apologetic for the changes in you.. Marinade in them..

☆Then implementation can begin.. Start grounding your business.. It is not a sin to treat other business ventures as a hobby., something you do on the side while you commit you time and money and invest in the one business venture you are passionate about..Find it and stick to it and remember it takes blood, sweat, tears, many failures and sleepless nights to build and establish and make a name for yourself as a business and a brand. You will fail many times but the key to is rise again and do your best..Business is about learning. Be a Phoenix!!!

We are slowly gaining ground in the region especially Botswana, Malawi and South Africa and a business post by ZBIN in South Africa usually attracts not less than 100 reactions some even going up to 2000! The number of South Africans joining our business groups is increasing at a faster rate and the reason for this is simple-we know the language of small businesses! We know what small business want across the region and this is what we concentrate on. We provide a platform for people in Southern Africa to discuss business and especially opportunities.

Our acceptance in the region will see us dispatching various teams to Malawi, Botswana and South Africa starting this week. We will be covering entrepreneurship-empowering women and youths who are our focus. Time permitting we may also cover Chichiri Prison in Blantyre. We would like to help empower women in prison. Women in prison are some of the most vulnerable members of society and when they leave prison most have nowhere to start from-they have no support systems to help them integrate with society. We therefore will be offering our free service to help them kick start income generating projects that will employ them and others as well. More of this initiative coming in the next few months as the forum gets extremely busy. The initiative is Zimbabwean, designed by Zimbabwean inorder to benefit Zimbabweans and the region as a whole. So do expect the ZBIN flag to be flying in Lilongwe and Blantyre next week. We will also be covering Gaberone and Francistown during the same week. We are already in Jozi and hope to expand to other cities in the Rainbow Nation.

In everything that we are doing, the target is how many jobs have we created? How much income did ZBIN help create across the region? If you are a development practitioner, then you should watch this initiative with keen interest because it is zero funded! How does  a zero funded project  create hundreds of jobs and improve livelihoods of  thousands ? The verdict will be out within the next 6 months and we hope to launch a book that should showcase the brilliance and sheer determination of Southern Africa citizens.

What is brewing in Mhondoro?

Mhondoro is going to be our first rural area that we have adopted and this is due to a teacher from the area who is working with us. She is currently on holiday and we are developing a brilliant empowerment project which should be a good case study on women empowerment especially access to markets for rural based women. Scholars of market linkages should watch this initiative closely as we hope to make a positive impact within the next 6 months.

ZBIN Facebook Live

We became the first business forum to use Facebook Live in Zimbabwe and have not looked back. A brilliant platform for information dissemination and Capacity Building. The future of capacity building is not in one organising participants in a class and delivering speeches. It is old fashioned, expensive and may not be effective. In most cases it may not even have follow ups because trainers just come train and go-perhaps leave a few handouts which are quickly discarded as soon as a training is completed.

Now using social media such as Facebook Live Updates there are plenty of advantages—participants are engaged, one can always refer to it or even share a broadcast. It can be stored for future references. It reaches more people and practically costs nothing when compared to hotel conferencing.

ZBIN is still in the early stages of this broadcast which is still characterised by poor quality video broadcasts. We are aware of the hiccups and are working on improving. For now the strategy is to get Zimbabweans talking about business, Zimbabweans to use the facility for nation building and inspiring young entrepreneurs.

We have hosted foreign nationals too with Vee from East London being the first South African to feature on the platform. She got 700 views and not bad for her debut Facebook Live.We also had Thelma Wills with her debut this week and she garnered 450 views. The trend shows an upward trajectory in viewership and we hope to increase it as we improve the quality of our broadcast delivery.

What is up this week?

The focus is on South Africa, not because of the planes standoff but unlocking opportunities in Mzantsi. Opportunities for Zimbabweans as well as South Africans. We hope to also feature more Facebook Live Updates from SA citizens. This will help in cementing ties between the 2 countries and the region as a whole.

So wishing you a blessed week

Twalumba

1. Open CIPC website
2. Go to “Register Customer code”
3. Once you’ve registered. customer code, seach their bank account.
4. Go and deposit R350.…
5. R350 will appear on your cutomer code when you login, just like when you check airtime.
6. Start by reserving your business name online. Options will appear when you are logged in. Name reservation is R50.
7. They’ll send you confirmation of name reserved via email, and also forms to register that name, meaning now company registration. You scan and email them all the information they required, they’ll mention requirements on their email. R175 to register.
8. Then they’ll send u company certificate. All transactions you do on CIPC will deduct from that R350.
9. Go with it at BANK to open business account. Is R500
10. Go with all BANK details and company documents to SARS to finalise your SARS information.
11. Then ask anyone with a company where can u register ur BBBEE certificate, then go there to do it. Those are Charted Accountants Agencies, registered agencies
12. Go to SEDA to do your Business Plan. For FREE.
13 If u wanna do Business with Government, then go to CSD (Central Supplier Database) Website and register ur company with your commodities. Then you will appear in all Government Spheres so they call u when they want ur service.
14. Mantain and Develop your company

★The first stage is to locate a site you are interested in.
An approved prospector *(You can contact Mines Office for Approved
buy a prospecting license from the mines office in the province you wish to register the block/ mine…

Have you seen the latest syllabi from leading universities in the world? There is emphasis on globalisation and global strategies. Students are supposed to strategically think in a global way. Restricting your thinking to your local context is no longer good enough. Think beyond Zimbabwe, plan beyond Zimbabwe and tap into opportunities that abound beyond our borders. This will help your initiatives ensuring sustainability. A risk in Zim maybe an opportunity in Botswana and vice versa. Red tape in Zimbabwe may not exist in South Africa and so on.

So next week when you sit on the table discussing or reviewing company performance-are you going to think strategically or you will restrict yourself to Zimbabwe? When you review your performance on the Balanced Scorecard, are you going to review how you are doing globally or you will simply review local perspectives?

Restrict yourself locally and you will have no one to blame! Trends coming are that of companies breaking boundaries-through digital marketing one sees companies advertising to readers or potential clients in countries that are far from their location. I can decide to target stone sculpture lovers in Moldova or Ukraine, at a click of a button-I can target young adults in Manchester or Houghston! I can compete with a company doing business in Kenya without leaving Harare…

ZBIN and Global Perspective

Last week we had a global initiative that targeted Malawi, Lesotho, Swaziland, South Africa and Botswana. Within 2 weeks, we had our best success story to date! Within ZBIN forums one now hears SeTswana, Nyanja, Sotho, Zulu, Xhosa….we have become regional! In a few weeks it will be Portuguese within our forums as we add the Portuguese in Mozambique too.

We have a fabulous case study of what lies ahead in terms of business in Southern Africa. We managed to invite 7 regional representatives to Zimbabwe within a space of 2 weeks. We did not know them 2 weeks ago, they also did not know that they were to come to Zimbabwe in 2 weeks time. Everything happened so fast like lightning and we did not disappoint-high quality training and logistics that ensured the success of a program designed and delivered in Zimbabwe.

Most had doubts especially those coming from Botswana and South Africa-the question was what is it of good that can come from Zimbabwe, a country facing financial troubles? Some were warned against coming to Zim but they resisted the pressure-they all came –enjoyed what they saw- and went back. It was a humbling experience to see some visiting Zimbabwe for the first time and the good thing is the follow up that ZBIN will be doing going to all of the 6 countries we covered. Within a week, we created 7 regional jobs, we also created an additional 5 jobs of local staff who will be supporting the regional countries. The 7 regional jobs are supposed to each create more than 50 jobs in their countries within the next 6-8 months.

This is going to be a successful story of Africans designing their own programs and funding them without government nor donor support! This is going to be a story of Southern Africans creating value by working together doing what they enjoy most-business!

We kick started the programme last week and our capital was $1,000 only but this amount is going to create hundreds of jobs, empower thousands of people across the region and we hope that it is a model that will inspire a lot of stakeholders. More to come in terms of updates and review in the coming months.

So whats Up this week?

ZBIN to be extremely busy with our regional initiative so expect few activities from your favourite forum. Major events involve the following:

Facebook Live: Have you seen the poor quality of our videos? We sincerely apologise for this and hope to improve-maybe in the nearby future we will be able to afford studio equipment for the live broadcasts. For now we have to do with what is available…do our thang and keep going! We are covering all members on the forum-locals and diasporans. This week we do have Thelma talking about investment on Wednesday at 7:00pm. Do not miss this one-we urge you to participate and come with questions.

Focus on Mining: We hope to cover a couple of mining issues-command mining opportunities and everything you may want to know about mining such as registration of mining claims and mineral prices

Business Opportunities in South Africa: Estimates put the number of our sons and daughters in South Africa at 3 million. Some have doubted the figure especially when compared with official records of the number of Zimbabweans in South Africa. What we all agree on is that the population of Zimbos in SA is huge. Most of the people staying there are working as professionals which is not bad but the time for entrepreneurship in coming up fast! Time to venture into entrepreneurship is slowly coming up….Zimbos in SA should think beyond the current professional jobs market! There are plenty of opportunities that we seem to be overlooking. We are therefore starting a serious campaign for Zimbos in SA to take advantage of opportunities in Mzantsi and we will do this by providing free information.

So enough for this week, wishing you happy holidays

Munemo wekwa Musana-Bindura!

Have you ever asked yourself, what can I grow in my backyard with the little expertise that I have in the shortest possible time at the same time earning that extra dollar?. You do not need to have a very huge backyard for you to be able to implement this, the most important aspect is being able to utilize to the max the land that you have.

1. African kale,Rugare

This is a very fast maturing kale and after seeding you should begin harvesting your in 5- 6 weeks. However African Kale does not respond well to transplanting most of us use suckers which really do well. Thin at six weeks and then you can harvest the remaining plants as you would any other kale. Use plenty of organic manure for larger leaves.

2. Cowpeas

If you are growing cowpeas for the leaves and not the seed, you should be able to harvest in about six weeks or at most two months. Cowpeas likes virgin soil or at least a lot of manure. So don’t be shy about applying manure from cows or chickens.

3. Cabbage

Some varieties of cabbage will mature in as short as two months from seedling.

4. Pumpkin

As long as you are growing pumpkin for the leaves and not the fruit, your crop should be ready in well under two months.Muboora is very popular at MbareMusika and can fetch good prices.

5. Spinach

With direct seeding, spinach should be ready in about two and a half months. If you are starting with seedlings instead of seeds the spinach will mature a little slower because it takes time to get over the shock of transplanting. This crop is highly nutritious and one of my personal favourites.

6. Potatoes

Potatoes mature in two to four months depending on the variety.

7. Baby carrots

These should be ready in about 30 days.

8. Squash

Squash should be ready in 70 days which is quite a short time.

9. Coriander

Coriander leaves take about at the very most six weeks to mature.

10. Peas

Garden peas mature in 60 days which translates to two months.

11. Beans

Some varieties of beans take less than two months to mature.

12. Parsley

Your parsley should be ready in a record three weeks. You can even dry the parsley and sell it as dried which fetches a better price on the market.

For detailed production guide on any of the above mentioned crops make don’t hesitate to contact Agro Aid Trust.

Emmanuel DN Dube is the senior agronomist at Agro Aid Trust and Chief agronomist at ZBIN, if you have any questions please email him on agroaidtrustzimbabwe@gmail.com +263783 495 396