Diaspora Matters

The Ministry of ICT and Courier Services is inviting ICT Innovators, Start Ups and Entrepreneurs to apply for funding in the form of loans under the ICT Innovation Drive Project.

Inorder to be considered they need the following:

• Detailed brief of the ICT, Innovation
• Business Plan and a Budget
• Any ICT based product, service, business model or process that is new to the market with unique features that is successfully implemented to address a current need in a new or better way

Eligibility

Any ICT Innovator or start ups that have brilliant innovations or solutions that have potential to revolutionise its target market and/ or drastically change the lives of Zimbabweans and the economy as a whole.

Application Process

Send a copy of the descriptive business plan, projections and budget required, clearly indicated ‘Application for Innovation Project Funding’ to innovationdrive@potraz.gov.zw

The deadline for submission is 30 May 2017.

This is the third fund we have featured on the site for our members. Excellent initiative for Young Members of the forum. This is why we have been reminding members to always have business ideas and business plans ready  even when you do not have funding! Do look forward to general guidance of how to sucessfully apply for funding.

One of our greatest strengths as a business  forum is that our members are well informed. They get regular updates on their website, Facebook Page, Twitter, Online Newsletters and soon there will be an App where you can receive business news, videos and audios in real time.

We do our best to cover areas that are usually not normally covered by the mainstream media. Areas such as DRC, Angola, Tanzania, China, Rwanda, Mozambique, Dubai and India. We like India a lot because of the success of their start up businesses. We believe India can inspire Zimbabweans especially our young entrepreneurs and to date we have covered 2 Indian .features on our site. We also have a couple of Indian nationals on our forums with Mahesh being the most popular one on our WhatsApp platforms.

 Most of our features are on Zimbabwe as we try and help our Diasporan Brothers and Sisters and Foreign nationals to be clued up of developments in Zimbabwe. We do not like you to be  left out of business developments or investment opportunities in the wonderful country called Zimbabwe!

Today we however twist the tables  and feature the Diaspora. We have already done features on the Diaspora covering Dubai, Angola, DRC, Canada, Namibia and today we cover  India where our Official ZBIN contact provides an  insight into developments in India. In addition to modelling, she is a business woman in her own right. Below is an interview we carried out with her-tihwe zvizere kubva kumwana wevhu wemutupo wekwa Mbano.

Tell us about yourself

Hello, I’m Nyasha Roselyn Marere born and bred in Harare and I come from Buhera . Growing up I stayed in Budiriro and when turned 5 s we moved to Highfield New Canaan in Harare. I grew up staying in the ghetto and I attended Mhofu Primary school. In 2006 we moved to Mount Hampden better known as Goodhope.

I attended Chindunduma High 1 School then transferred to ZRP High School then to rounded up A level at  Elephant college. After  school I travelled to South Africa Port Elizabeth where I worked as a cashier in a restaurant called Fishaways before relocating  to India. I came for studies (BA Vocational Traveling and Tourism 2012-2015). I have to admit India is not like America lol there are some nice places yes but it’s overpopulated. A billion plus people so anyone can relate with the living standards. Unlike back home most houses are flats therefore few  playgrounds for the kids and most of the flats can get up to 15 floors each.

Tell us about the weather in India

India is one of the hottest countries on earth and temperatures  can get up to 50 degrees and trust me for someone who grew up in Zimbabwe you are bound to get sick the first summer. However there’s winter too between November and March and yes it is cold I remember my first year got up to ~4 degrees and that was new for me haha. Some places do snow but just a few. On the other hand India is beautiful it has a lot of tourist attractions and I have not finished visiting them.

How about Indian Food?

There’s wide variety of dishes in India , it is popular because of the spice but there’s also non spicy food and it’s delicious. I bet no one even the Indians have not tasted all their dishes. I do like Indian food but not every day, I usually eat it according to craves .

Business Opportunities in India

There are a lot of business opportunities in India mostly in the medical field. Medicine is way cheap in India judging with my experience one cannot be ill for more than 3 days because a lot of hospitals and pharmacies are all over in India. Unless one is coming for serious ailments like kidney disease or heart,  the rest of the medicine costs very less. One can also indulge in hair business because India is where it all happens with the way ladies want to be on fleek wearing Indian, Brazilian and Peruvian hair this is the best place to get it and at a more affordable price. Indians rarely employ foreigners because they are still accommodating their people first and they are a lot.

 What you enjoy most about India

What I love about India in the business world is there are a lot of SMEs. Anything is turned into business here there are a lot of small shops everywhere, whether selling groceries or maybe cigarettes- they always have something on the side generating cash for them no matter the size of profits. Unlike in Zimbabwe one will be wondering why they should put a table by the roadside and start a side business. Here there is a lot of informal business going on with a lot of people invoved in it.

Cost of Living in India

The costs of living in India depends with a persons’ taste. If you want to live at  crowded places then obviously the costs will be low but if you are looking for a quieter and a little bit fancy place then the costs will also be high.

How did you end up in the modelling industry?

I started modelling in 2013 after the death of my father because I was going through a hard time and needed to move on which we all know that’s impossible. However despite my dreams of wanting to be a pilot/ governor/ air hostess I told myself I want to partake on something I never imagined or that I think I cannot do and boom I decided to be a model. It wasn’t easy I must admit with the fake agencies etc I had to be strong but somehow I made it. I was juggling both studies and modelling and am proud of my achievements to date.

Benefits derived from Modelling

 Modelling has helped me believe in myself, gain confidence and make very important connections because in India  one definately needs a  few connections to survive.

Do you have any business ventures back home

I do buying and selling sometimes of hair for mostly my friends but I believe very soon I will start something related to modelling.

Zimbo Community in India

Honestly I’m not really sure about the Zimbabwean community in India. In New Delhi there are a few i have come across  but i hear that there could be plenty in places like Hyderabad and Bangalore. I would have talked about religion and culture but that’s a topic for another day haha. I encourage Zimbabweans who mostly want to send their kids for school to send them here as the education system in India is good. For those who want to visit they are also welcome there are a lot of tourist attractions in India and you cannot finish them all.

Ko Mutupo?

Mambano

Any other business you are involved in apart from modelling?

I have started new work as a fitness trainer. You know how much people are fighting diseases that come with overweight so I do train clients and this includes  making  diet plans. I’m also a model advisor working with young women interested in the industry.

Your Contact Details

I’m glad to be a part of this interview and to those who wish to connect with me on social network here are my usernames Facebook: Roselyn Marere ,Twitter: Roselyn Marere , Instagram: roselyn_marere , snapchat: rosiemre

Are you a Diasporan and would like to be featured on ZBIN? If your answer is yes then contact us on +263774081808, strictly whatsapp and no calls-thank you.

Schools are expected to open for the second term this week and if you were in Harare yesterday then you must have noticed the high number of parents and their children. Most of the parents were paying school fees at banks or involved in last minute groceries for kids going to boarding schools. It was a hive of activity in the city centre with a number of books shops or shops selling school uniforms enjoying brisk business.

Related to the issue is a big question for the forum and the question is ‘What are the top 6 areas where Zimbabweans are spending their money on?’ We carried out an unofficial mini survey within the ZBIN Community and came up with the top 6 which are below:

1. Food
2. Education
3. Accomodation
4. Medical costs
5. Transport
6. Entertainment -Dstv subscriptions

Are you interested in investment especially in the short to medium term? If your answer is Yes, then you may need to criticlly look at the 6 areas we listed above. The above 6 areas are not cast in stone as priorities are always changing and depend on the economy class that is concerned. However based on what is what is currently on the ground, most people seem to be spending money on the areas we mentioned.

Implications for investors

It is not suprising that recent financial statements from retailers such as OK Stores show marked improvements in profits when compared to last year. The same applies to a lot of retailers, large and small scale. You can compare and contrast with other sectors such as the Telecommunication sector where profits are slightly going down when compared to the previous year. So there is more spending on basics with little being left for luxury goods, real estate developments and other capital projects.

So if your planning horizon is short to medium term, then closely study the 6 areas and expand the list, removing or adding areas. As witnessed yesterday, Education is a top priority for most people and spending on education includes school or college fees, school uniforms, stationery, food and school tours.

On accomodation we have spending to a large extent rentals and rates, construction of homes seems to have been affected by the current liquidity challenges. Medical costs remain high especially for those without medical aid insurance. Transport costs is high for those using own cars and costs include daily running expenses such as fuel, service costs and insurance. On the 6th place we have Entertainment where Dstv subscriptions top the list. The inclusion of Dtsv subscription is not suprising because according to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the nation spend $206 million on Dstv subscriptions during the six months period of July to December 2016.

Conclusion

This list is a general list and should be taken with caution as we did not carry out a comprehensive survey. The intention of the post is to help members with investment decision making, to help our diasporan community to appreciate what is prevailing on the ground so that this can inform their decision making. Remember that for investment making decision, you do not just plunge head on based on general information-you need detailed business plans which shows the potential of an industry, the level of competition, analysis of suppliers, regulatory environment, market review, sensitivity to economic variables, risk and opportunities.

Your favourite one stop business forum keeps giving you essential business information for decision making. We encourage members to look beyond traditional markets when looking for opportunities. This is one of the reasons why we have adopted Mozambique as one of our favourite countries. We chose Mozambique because little is known about the Portuguese Speaking country by Zimbabweans. Mention Mozambique and what quickly comes to mind are only negatives-from poverty, wars and suffering but take your time to analyse opportunities and you will be amazed to find that they exist in abundance. We even have some of our members who are carrying out mining and farming activities in the resource rich country to the East of Zimbabwe. We have toured the country on 3 occassions and the next trip is scheduled for June 2017 and we hope to travel to Beira.

Still on Mozambique, we have also covered Angola in the past and there are 2 articles on this site. The first one, an interview of a sister based in Angola who told us that a plate of sadza costs a minimum of $10 in Luanda, she also updated us with a lot of information on opportunities that exist in the country. She is currently back in Zimbabwe and hopes to go back after Angola’s general election. In the meantime, we have decided to share with you information about Angola that we obtained from the site www.export.gov.

Overview Agriculture accounts for 12 percent of Angola’s $102 billion GDP in 2015 and provides employment, both formal and informal, for more than two-thirds of Angolans, mostly at subsistence levels. Prior to the 1975-2002 civil war, Angola was a major exporter of coffee, sisal, sugar cane, banana and cotton, and self-sufficient in all food crops except wheat. The civil war disrupted agricultural production and displaced millions of people. Angola currently imports more than half of its food, with some estimates putting the figure as high as 90 percent. Angola is United States’ fifth largest market for poultry products in the world, and the third largest market in Africa for all agricultural exports.

Angola has the natural resources to be one of the leading agricultural countries in Africa, as its diverse and fertile ecology is suited for a variety of crops and livestock. However, the country currently only cultivates approximately 10 percent of its 35 million hectares of arable land. An estimated 90 percent of farms in Angola are small to medium in size and are used mainly for communal, subsistence farming. The agricultural commodities produced include cassava, bananas, potatoes, maize, sweet potatoes, citrus and pineapples.

The World Bank is currently developing a comprehensive agricultural sector development program for Angola anticipated to be in place by early 2017 that would greatly expand their role beyond their previous smallholder agriculture land rehabilitation and irrigation projects. Also, through an invitation from the Ministry of Agriculture the University of Texas A&M’s Borlaug Institute conducted an agricultural assessment in late 2015/early 2016 to access and provide recommendations for advancing Angola’s capacities in the areas of poultry, livestock, coffee, grain crops, and value chain development.

While chicken and pinto beans remain major US agriculture exports to Angola, these sales are down significantly in 2015 with further declines expected for 2016 due to the limited access to foreign exchange and increased food prices due to the increased costs of imported food and agricultural inputs resulting from local currency devaluation.

Processed Products (consumer-oriented food products)

In Angola, food is sold both through modern retail and informal channels. Local industry sources estimate that the informal market controls approximately 80 percent of agricultural produce retail sales volumes. Informal retail includes both small grocers as well as open air markets (locally called “Cantinas”). Since the civil war ended in 2002, importance of the informal market has declined especially in urban centers such as Luanda where formal retail is developing rapidly. The government is trying to formalize retail by establishing specific areas for open markets. In Luanda, municipal authorities are forcefully eradicating street venders with laws that impose fines for both vendors and buyers. Public health concerns are the main reason provided for the closures of informal open markets, as goods are often sold in poor condition, food is kept on the ground, without refrigeration and exposed to the sun, and expired goods are sometimes offered for sale.

As many other things in the country, shopping itself is not without challenges. Only a small percentage of Angola’s population owns a car, thus most people are dependent on overcrowded public mini-buses to reach hypermarkets and supermarkets. Consequently, the majority of the population prefers to shop close to home in open air markets or small grocers, which are perceived as offering fresher, less expensive food than hypermarkets and supermarkets. Even with convenient supermarkets opening in the past few years in the outer areas of Luanda, many Angolans feel more comfortable in informal markets. For this reason, local formal retailers have come up with various strategies to attract the informal market customer. Nosso Super, for example, opened its shops at locations near traditional market places. Hypermarket Kero, in turn, tries to make lower and middle income customers feel comfortable in its shops by playing loud Angolan music.

Changes in the consumer profile and demographics, increasing urbanization, improvements in infrastructure, and an increase in the number of international brands available in the Angolan market are driving rapid developments of the retailing landscape. Consumers across income levels are becoming more sophisticated and demanding in terms of variety and quality. In the past, Angolans were satisfied with small grocers selling dry goods, but now retailers are expected to offer frozen goods as well. Historically, Portuguese, Lebanese and Indians have been the dominant players in the Angolan grocery retail market; however, due to the economic downturn and scarcity of foreign exchange many of these third country traders are leaving Angola. South African supermarket chain Shoprite is expanding in Angola and new players are entering the formal retail space most recently hypermarket Candando owned by Angolan Isabelle Santos. Some supermarkets target wealthier Angolans and expatriates such as Casa dos Frescos that offers the greatest choice of fresh produce and higher quality standards.

Poultry Poultry is the most widely-consumed as well as the most affordable protein in Angola. Angola produces 36,000 tons of broiler meat per year, only 8 percent of total market demand of approximately 450,000 tons per year. Growers include subsistence farmers, smallholder producers supported by government and non-governmental projects, and commercial operations.

In 2015, Angola was the fifth largest market for US poultry and poultry product shipments by volume, and the fifth largest broiler meat market by volume. While significant, U.S. poultry exports to Angola declined by 40 percent since 2014 due to a lack of foreign currency availability for payments to international suppliers. Despite this current challenge, Angola remains a strong market opportunity for US frozen chicken leg quarters.

Wheat grain

In the 1960’s and 1970’s, Angola produced about 25,000 tons of wheat grain per year, mainly in the southern Huambo province. The civil war halted wheat production and destroyed flour milling capacity. As a result, wheat flour is predominately imported at a level of 519,000 tons in 2014.

With government encouragement and support, the private sector is trying to reestablish a wheat milling industry in Angola and through the Ministry of Industry is even partnering in a new flour milling operation at the Port of Luanda. The Port of Luanda has the capacity to store 40,000 tons in silos and the government is promoting an increase in storage infrastructures.

Several private companies pursuing wheat processing business in Angola express concern about the large variance in the import duty for wheat grain of 30 percent compared with 2 percent for wheat flour. Additional wheat milling projects underway in Angola include the Grandes Moagens de Angola project that will have the capacity to process 1,200 tons of wheat per day, Kwaba with the capacity to process 200 tons of wheat per day, and Cerangola with a 120 ton capacity.

We constantly get inquiries from our members about investment opportunities. Most inquiries involve members saying I have x amount to invest and asking for advice. All investment inquiries start with I have this amount of money and therefore asking us to help with investment options. In this article, ZBIN will try to help members to broaden their thinking when it comes to investment. You may not need to always start with capital monies when thinking of investment. You may need to consider capital last and we will explain how this works. We will explore 2 investment schools of thoughts with the old school of investment being the most prevalent one within our community and beyond.

The Old School: The old school to investment is coming up capital and then deciding what to invest in -you should are guided by  the amount of capital available. If say you have $2.000, then your thinking should be restricted to $2,000 and below.

The advantages of this  approach is that it is straight forward. You do not waste time thinking of proposals out of your range.

New School thinking

The old school to investment limits your scope to what is only available-you do not think beyond what is currently available in your coffers. Those who use the old school thinking usually come up with few investment opportunities when compared to someone who is looking at broad investment opportunities.

The new school approach starts with what do you enjoy doing? What are you good at? It is important to enjoy an activity because you need strong will to stay in business when the going gets tough. When the going gets tough as it usually does, then the driving force is going to be the fact that you enjoy doing something. Even when no one pays you, you will still keep pushing.

So in the new school of investment, you start with what do you enjoy doing? What are you good at and then move on to the next stage:

Opportunities available in the environment

You brainstorm on available opportunities in your environment. What are the gaps, what are the problems that need to be addressed? What are people complaining about? What canbe found in other territories and not where you are based? What are regional trends? You just list opportunities without fear of capital constraints.

Costing the Opportunities

After coming up with an expanded list of opportunities the next stage is assessing which opportunities you would like to pursue, whether they are viable and how much you may need in capital money.

Capital Options

Having put financial figures to a shortlist of investment options, the next step is to determine the source of funding for your selected project. Are you going to fund it 100%, are you going to part fund it? Where will the funding come from? What is the environment like? Some of the options can be as listed below:

1. Bank loan access
2. Homelink cross border/SME credit facility
3. Partnerships
4. Crowdfunding

Accessing bank loans is a big challenge as they require collateral back up and most youths do not have the collateral and yet this is the group with the most business ideas. So what are some of the options to consider when you have no collateral? Crowdfunding and Partnerships models are the in thing especially in an economy like ours. If you hav a great idea and have prepared a business plan then approach institutions such as ZBIN for help, we are always willing to assist and for our members its a free service.

In summary

Do not limit your thinking when it comes to investment and instead of coming up wit capital and asking what you can do with it-we encourage you to think in other terms-consider capital last!

The last time your favourite forum tackled business in DRC, we mainly concentrated on an interview from a ZBIN official contact who is based in Kinshasa, Ms Nothando Mpofu and she gave you important information about DRC. A number of Zimbabweans are already in DRC especially professionals such as engineers. The interview is very important for any member interested in travelling to DRC and not have sufficient information. We urge you to go to our search page and look for it. On the forum we also posted a market survey done by ZIMTRADE which looks at opportunities in the resource rich country.

Today we feature another DRC article and look at the big picture or helicopter view of the DRC and this information is sourced from www.export.gov

Last Published: 8/8/2016

• The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) rich endowment of natural resources, large population, and strategic location in Central Africa make it a potentially rewarding market for U.S. companies. However, the DRC’s commercial and investment climate remains challenging.
• Following decades of economic instability due to fiscal mismanagement, corruption and conflict, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (GDRC) implemented economic reforms aimed at creating sustainable growth, controlling inflation, maintaining the stability of the macroeconomic framework, reducing the weight of external debt and rehabilitating infrastructure.  GDRC efforts from 2001 to 2014 yielded some improvement, but significant challenges remain.
• The DRC’s economy returned to growth in 2010 following a significant economic slowdown in 2008 and 2009 as a result of the global financial crisis.  Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth more than doubled from 2.9 percent in 2009 to 7.1 percent in 2010.  By 2014, GDP growth reached 8.9 percent, before declining to 7.7 in 2015.   Lower commodity prices and exports reduced projected growth for 2016 to around 5 percent.
• Fiscal reforms implemented in 2015 helped stabilize inflation and the Congolese Franc (CDF), keeping inflation below 2 percent despite drops in commodity prices.  Between 2011 and 2015, the CDF held steady against the dollar, trading at roughly USD 1 to CDF940.  The CDF began to lose ground against the dollar in April 2016 and traded at CDF958 per USD 1 in June 2016.  The DRC reached the Highly-Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) completion point in 2010, having implemented necessary policy measures (“triggers”). HIPC debt relief alleviates over USD 11 billion of the DRC’s external debt burden, freeing resources for spending on priority programs.
• The DRC’s primary sectors, agriculture and natural resources, collapsed during the civil war years of the 1990s, but have seen a strong recovery over the past decade. Today, economic growth in the DRC is driven mostly by extractive industries, followed by manufacturing, public works, and agriculture.  A substantial portion of the DRC’s economic activities are dominated by the informal sector.  According to a 2012 study by the National Institute of Statistics, the DRC’s informal sector represents 88.6 percent of total economic activity.  The DRC’s manufacturing industry all but disappeared in the 1990s during the final years of Mobutu Sese Seko’s rule.  Most consumer goods are imported, largely from China, which account for nearly a quarter of all imports.
• The country has three main economic hubs focused around large population centers with large commercial or industrial bases.  These are:
• The provinces of Kinshasa and Kongo Central, formerly the province of Bas Congo: Kinshasa is the DRC’s most populous city and its political and economic capital.  Kinshasa is home to both the seat of government and the headquarters of the vast majority of agencies and institutions.  It is a vibrant economic hub; most foreign companies operating in the DRC maintain a presence in Kinshasa; Congolese businesses tend to have their corporate headquarters in the city.  Kinshasa is the third largest city on the African continent, with an estimated population of over 5.5 million inhabitants in the city and 10 million in its urban agglomeration.  Kongo Central borders Kinshasa province’s western flank; to the south, Kongo Central shares a border with Angola and to the North, with the Republic of Congo.  Kongo Central is the only province in the DRC with direct access to the sea.  Matadi, approximately 170 miles (273km) southeast of Kinshasa, is the capital and largest city in the province, and is home to the only seaport in the country.  Kinshasa and Matadi are connected by a meter gauge portage railway that recently underwent substantial overhauls as well as a paved two-lane road.  Though the Congo River flows between Kinshasa and Matadi, the stretch connecting the two is unnavigable.
• Haut-Katanga and Lulabala provinces: These two provinces form the southern economic hub. Haut-Katanga and Lulabala provinces occupy the southern half of the former Katanga province bordering Angola and Zambia.  Lubumbashi, Congo’s second largest city is located on one of the world’s largest copper deposits.  Today, the region is home to numerous domestic and internationally owned mines.  Unlike Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and a number of other key cities in the Lulabala and Haut-Katanga provinces are connected to the southern African rail network.
• North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri, Bas Huele, Haut Huele, and Tshopo provinces:  This area of economic activity, from the cities of Bukavu and Goma on the Rwandan border, to the river port city of Kisangani to the West and the gold mines in Bas Huele and Ituri, forms the third economic hub of the region.  The area faces a chronic instability, the by-product of a continuing low-intensity conflict between various armed factions fighting the GDRC, each other, and cross border attacks from Rwanda.  Despite difficult conditions, the region is home to a number of industrial and artisanal mines extracting cobalt, gold, and diamonds, as well as an agricultural sector that is increasingly exporting its products.
• The DRC seeks to promote and participate in regional integration and trade.  The GDRC is a member of the African Union, Southern African Development Community, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, Economic Community of Central African States. Organization for the Harmonization of African Business Law, and the Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries.

Key economic indicators: Economic growth Rate:

Official Inflation Rate:

• Official Exchange rate (Central Bank of Congo): CDF 957.79  USD 1 (from June 2016)
• Income per capita: USD 442.3 (2014)

Real GDP based on 2013 (in billions USD):

Exports (in millions USD):

Imports (in millions USD):

Main export markets 2015:

• China: 43.1%
• Zambia: 24.9%
• European Union: 21.3% (Belgium: 8.3%)
• South Africa: 7.7%

Main import markets in 2015

• European Union: 23.1% (Belgium 6.9 %)
• China: 17.7%
• South Africa: 20.9%
• Zambia: 12.3%
• United States: 3.3%

Major Competitors in the DRC market by sector:

• India and Pakistan- Banking, Pharmaceutical Products, Consumer Products, and General Trade National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)
• France- Petroleum
• China- Civil Engineering and Infrastructure Development, Mining
• United States- Mining
• South Africa- Telecommunications Sector, Mining, Pharmaceutical Research, and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)
• Japan- Export of Vehicles
• Lebanon- General Trade, Restaurant Business, Housing

Top five reasons to export to the DRC:

1. The DRC’s GDP recorded steady growth  of above 7 percent on an annual basis for the past three years, helping to engender a growing consumer class;
2. The Congolese hold a high opinion of U.S. products and services, particularly in terms of the quality to price ratio;
3. The DRC is undertaking multibillion dollar programs to rehabilitate various sectors, including agriculture, energy, construction, basic infrastructure, and transportation;
4. The DRC Government is working to improve the business climate and is looking to facilitate foreign trade and investment;
5. The DRC possesses natural resource deposits with an estimated value of USD 24 trillion

The Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperatives Development has come up with an excellent initiative of an Indian-Africa Incubation Centre based in Waterfalls, Harare. The initiative seeks to accelerate the development of startups and fledging MSMEs by providing entrepreneurs with an array of targeted resources and services. The main goal is to produce successful MSMEs that will leave the program financially viable and free standing. Incubator graduates will have the potential to create jobs, revitalize neighborhoods, commercialize new technologies and strengthen local and national economies.

The incubator center will provide management guidance, mentoring, technical assistance, equipment and consulting tailored to start ups and existing MEMEs for varying periods of time ranging from 3 months to 18 months. Trainees will be equipped with both technical and business management skills during the incubation period.

Call for Applicants

The incubation Centre will be housing 25 different manufacturing technologies. Applications are invited from individuals with a passion for enterpreneurship who are university or ollege graduates, school leavers or dro outs who wish to be incubated in any of the following areas:

If you have the drive, passion and the energy to defy conventional practice this program is for you. Please send your application indicating your area of interest to:

The Director Technical Services

Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperative Development

Private Bag 7740, Causeway, Harare

Or

Hand deliver to:

6^th Floor, Liquenda House

No 58-60

Corner N Mandela/First Street, Harare

Deadline: 26 May 2017

For more information regarding the above program call Mr Musimeki 0772 639879/04-741643

We have a request from one of our members who has just opened a tuckshop . She is looking for tips on how to successfully run her tuckshop since she is a first timer. In this part 1, we are going to look at strategic issues she needs to consider before plunging head on into the tuckshop business. In part 2, we will cover operational issues for consideration.

Our analysis is going to look at Macro Economic issues, Regulatory Environment and People. First we would like to congratulate her on the journey she has decided to embark upon. ZBIN will do its best to assist by providing business advice and mentorship, checklists and a lot of resources so as to assist her and others in the same boat.

Macro-Economic Issues

It is important to look at the performance of the Economy, for instance we are currently facing liquidity challenges and this has an impact on accessibility of capital and credit, the ability of customers to purchase goods and services. In investment one will however need to look at the long term horizon and see beyond current challenges. Understanding the current macro-economic conditions will help you to plan and make informed decisions. Look at opportunities presented by the imports ban and how it helps local businesses and then plan to take advantage. We recommend having a business plan to help you in the assessment of the macro-economic conditions and the opportunities and risks it poses to business.

Regulatory Environment

You will need all relevant permits in order to address your biggest risk. We have uploaded on our site a shop licence application form for your benefit. Download it from our site or alternatively visit the Harare City Council website www.hararecity.co.zw and check out the resources menu. If you do not have all the required permits then expect a lot of disturbances from Council Inspectors with some asking you to pull down your structure.

People: Competition

You have to do an analysis of the current level of competition. Who are your competitors? What is it that they are doing well? What needs to be improved or what is the gap? You are entering the field because you have identified a gap that needs to be filled. Do not simply dive into the business for the sake of it. You need to identify an opportunity and this becomes your competitive advantage. Is the nearby shopping centre located far away? Are there no current tuckshops in your area? If yes, are the tuckshops offering poor customer service? Or current tuckshops do not stock all food stuffs? A good analysis of the present competition should help inform your decision making. In business you have to compete and the higher the profits, the stiffer the competition. Even after establishment do expect to see more entrants into the field trying to get a piece of the profits.

People: Customers

I was surprised by the number of shoppers during the Easter Holidays, shops such as OK, TM and Choppies registered high sales. A look at their recent financial results do show increased business by retailers. When other business sectors are registered losses or a decline in profits for the retailers profits are on a northward trajectory…it is all good for this sector at least for now. So choosing to open a tuckshop is one of the wisest things one can ever do. Iam also finalising a personal venture of a retail shop and will share my results in the coming months. So when it comes to customers, one need not worry much-there is appetite to buy goods especially food and this is likely to remain in the medium term.

What is going to be crucial is how to manage customers-excellent customer care which is characterised by knowing what customers want, who are the customers, changing in tastes, times customers buy, handling complaints from customers as well as making customers happy. Exceptional customers result in profits…a happy customer means more business and more business is profit. You will need to analyse current customer services from your competition and come up with a plan that provides your tuckshop with a competitive advantage.

People: Suppliers

Your business plan should identify your key suppliers. You need to identify the goods that you would like to trade- goods in demand such as bread, milk and eggs. You need to establish who will be your key suppliers of the goods and establish good relations with them. As a first time operator you need to develop trust and this can only be done if you settle your accounts timeously. You will have to be innovative with procurements and establish close relations with suppliers who import goods but make sure that they are not smuggled goods.

People: Employees

Iam not sure whether you will be the person running the business or you will have to hire someone to run the tuckshop on your behalf. Whoever it is, this person is going to be the face of your tuckshop. This is the person who can make or break your business. It starts with customer service-the smiles to customers, integrity-the honesty even when customers forget change, the proactiveness in responding to customer needs. This person needs to have some training and also reviews because any lapse in concentration can result in loss of business to competitors. In our follow up article we will provide more resources and checklists on the management of this area. In your business plan you should also have included a budget of salaries and benefits for this person because if you  do not pay  your employees well, chances are high that they make resort to ‘paying themselves from the tuckshop coffers’.

So we have looked at some of the big issues to critically analyse before you plunge into this business. There are more areas we have left out such as the location and appearance of the tuckshop, day to day management or operational issues. We have left out latest trends in tuckshop management. We will cover all of these areas in our next article-the good thing is that there are no tuckshops that are closing in Harare and this confirms our view that the demand for food is high and will remain high in the foreseeable future.

Had wanted to share with our Diasporan Community the latest trends in the Real Estate sector, new housing developments from ZIMRE Phase 2, Kadoma City Council and Chimanimani RDC but will shelve it for now and bring it next week.

Let us look at how the Diaspora can invest back home. Iam talking of ‘beyond Real Estate investment’ because there are some who have built homes in the Diaspora and back home and are looking at other investment options outside real estate. Investment on the stock market is one option, in future Diasporan Bonds may be coming and a lot of various investment vehicles for your benefit.

This week allow ZBIN to tackle Tender Opportunities! A lot of opportunities abound in Zimbabwe and one hidden area where you can access these opportunities is through the analysis of Public Tenders! You do not need to go far but just to analyse all tenders that are published in local newspapers.

Here are some of the top tenders in the month of April

1. IT Equipment procurement (including laptops)
2. Vehicle procurement (Toyota 4×4 trucks)
3. Stationery and Printing
4. Construction

A look at 3 of the tenders above shows that the procurements have to be done outside Zimbabwe and in most cases South Africa. The country does not manufacture IT Equipment or vehicles. Most of our stationery requirements are imported therefore the Diaspora should take advantage of this by partnering with locals in tenders.

Who flights tenders in Zimbabwe?

When you look at the macro –economic landscape in Zimbabwe, its easy to say there are no opportunities, there is liquidity challenges, forex challenges and therefore make one quick ill-informed conclusion. You can quickly come to the conclusion that the country has little to no opportunities, but an analysis of this sector shows that various players are involved in flighting tenders and include The Government of Zimbabwe, Parastatals, The NGO sector,  Colleges and Schools, churches and Private Companies and Institutes.

Partnerships and Risks

The issue of trust is definitely high in this business, people have been conned before and the Diaspora community has been a major victim. Trusting someone based locally is a big risk…there are a lot of stories involving relatives who are no longer on talking terms and the reason is abuse of funds! Someone would have been conned by locals….examples include home construction, kombi and trucks businesses. A lot of Diasporans lost funds by partnering with relatives. So if your own brothers and sisters can con you how about partnering with complete strangers?

Proposed Solution

Accounting firms and Legal firms should innovate and come up with programs that address risks where Diasporans and locals are involved in partnerships. Registered Accounting or Legal firms have a reputation to protect; they can be deregistered if they involve themselves in scams. These are the organisations to deal with especially accounting firms that are experts in risk management. ZBIN is therefore challenging all Accounting and Legal firms to come up with Diaspora and Locals Partnership Strategies because the appetite to invest by the Diaspora is high-the only impediment being risk.

So in relation to the tender business the Diaspora may have access to forex resources, access to information of where to source products at competitive rates. He or she is therefore at a competitive advantage compared to someone in Zimbabwe. The Diaspora should therefore form a local company and partner with locals and participate on tenders.

If you are partnering with a local then manage the risk mentioned above get someone that you can trust, form a company and ensure all paperwork is in order and watch closely tenders because this is a multi-million dollar industry. In future it is expected to be a multi-billion industry that will drive the growth of our wonderful nation.

Where do you get tender information when you are the diaspora? You have 2 options, to ask your friends and relatives back home to track them on your behalf or to subscribe to ZBIN as a paid up member. Our paid up members have access to 4 Tender Trackers per month, we also summarise and provide an analysis of tender opportunities every quarter. How much to be a paid up member? Our membership is $10 for six months and includes a host of other benefits such as access to all of our WhatsApp platforms, access to selected business plans, newsletters and free adverts promotion. We have covered before the number of benefits that our registered members enjoy.

ZBIN helps members in many ways, from accessing free resources, free information, access to markets and access to capital. We cover all countries in Southern Africa when it comes to business and investment.

This week we seek to help members and followers with businesses for sale. We have a free service that will help you in selling your businesses. Whether you are in Zomba, Malawi-Tete Mozambique, Durban-South Africa, Maun-Botswana or Chiredzi in Zimbabwe. If you have a business for sale then grab this golden opportunity to list your business on the fastest growing business forum in Southern Africa.

What to do

Fill in the blanks in the table below and submit it to us a completed form to vicmunemo@yahoo.com. We urge you to submit photos of your business if you have any available.

What ZBIN will do

We will actively promote our register of businesses for sale for your benefit.