Diaspora Matters

We bring you the best known Zimbabwean Start-Up Company, Bust Stop Tv. A company formed by young people which produces comedy/satire skits. Hugely popular in Zimbabwe, the company has used social media extensively to market their brand. The corporate sector has supported them well with a number of endorsements. Below is an interview that ZBIN had with Lucky Aaroni a co-founder and director of Bus Stop Tv.

1.Tell us about your company :

Answer:Bustop is online Tv channel, which mainly produces comedy/satire skits among other productions.

2.How many people do you employ?

Answer: Bustop Tv employs  5 people who are full time with Bustop and sometimes we employ people based on a project needs.

3.Source of your ideas?

Answer: Source of ideas is our lives, society, politics, religion, current affairs and many other interesting issues and sometimes fans suggest to us on themes to address.

4.How have you used Social Media to grow your company?

Answer: Social media is new way of communicating and marketing and Bustop tv has managed to package  entertainment successfully which helped to push our brand. Collaborations with other online outfits like ZAMBEZI NEWS , top musicians such as Jah Prayzah and stand up comedians such as Doc Vikela assisted us to quickly establish ourself in the market.

5.Your website address :

Answer: www.bustop.tv

6.Any Plans to reach out to the Diaspora? Any Diaspora Tours in the pipeline?

Answer:We hope to do Tours as soon as we find promoters who are interested in supporting us and host a comedy show only for comedians and not mixing with music acts.

7.Top 3 challenges

Answer:

-Self -censorship

-Our jokes make sense to Zimbabweans only because  we only use Shona, if we try use English we might lose the humour in the process but we are trying our best to figure ways to strike balance.

-The splits we have encountered over the years have dragged us down, we could be doing more as one team.

8.Do you have any Expansion Plans?

Answer: We want to start doing television  production and films if possible and at the moment we focusing on turning Bustop Tv into a media production house.

9.Parting Message to your fans.

Answer: Keep working and be passionate about what you do!

Zimbabwe Business Ideas and Network Comment: We hope the story of Bus Stop Tv helps to inspire youths across Southern Africa especially in countries where ZBIN has a strong presence. The message is that you do not need a lot of capital to start sucessful projects as shown by Bus Stop Tv. Think outside the box and create companies in various fields, do not just stick to conventional brick and mortar companies but use your innovation to venture into new fields never tried before.

“To make a lot of money, you must solve people’s problems” goes a certain entrepreneurial saying. A latest post on this website about “The Virtual Zimbabwe” Inspired me to write this post about the real Zimbabwe, highlighting the problems and possible entrepreneurial solutions. Well in Entrepreneurship and or businesses, the word problem or opportunity are used interchangeably, implying that problems are a “pool” of idle opportunities. It only takes one’s mind to see possibilities where others see empty spaces and also to take action in utilising the opportunities whilst others muse, relax and wait for the so called “the good” time when the Zimbabwean economy is flourishing. Here are some problems that represent untapped business opportunities.

1.Hunger

Although Zimbabwe was once Africa’s bread basket, it has for the past two decades been facing prolonged dry spells. `There are some areas/ regions that were giving better yields although the farmers have to be more capital and labour intensive. The opportunity for this problem is straight to the window: Grow as much as you can in areas where there are better yields such as Mash Central, then after that, your markets are ready in areas of dry spell such as parts of Manicaland and Masvingo provinces.

2.Load shedding

The unplanned switching on and off of electricity has become a normal issue in the present day Zimbabwe, although the frequency of power cuts is declining. Simply put, to make a lot of money in this energy industry, invest in alternate sources of energy. These include solar energy, paraffin, liquid petroleum (LP Gas) and even charcoal or firewood.

3.Higher fees at schools

Many pupils are dropping out of school due to high fees being demanded. An ideal to ride on this opportunity is simply providing a learning facility at a very affordable fee. Think of those who are conducting extra lessons at their homes or having a private college or a crèche. If you want to go an extra mile, then make use of technology and have an online class or have the assignments uploaded online.

4.Health problems

There are so many patients that a doctor has look for if you visit public clinics. It is sad that patients are dying in queues before being attended to. More sadly, to those attended, you are just given a prescription without the medication or the pills to cure the disease. Entrepreneurs, how about opening a private clinic or a pharmacy that sells the prescribed medicines from the clinics. It is a project that is much viable and worth taking.

5. Cash crises

This has become almost everyone’s problem, whether employed or not. Having cash at hand seems to be everyone’s dream. With the rising of the sun marking a brand new day, everyone things of how he/she can have cash at hand. So if you are business minded, look for avenues where you can get the much needed hard cash and “sell” it. Many mobile financial services agents are giving cash after you give them a certain interest, usually 10% i.e a $1 on every $10.

There we are. Go on and give it a try, take the problems around and turn them into opportunities.

**be reminded, in business you have to take risks, if you win you will be happy and if you lose, you will be wise**     {maxmakumucha@gmail.com}

ZBIN wishes all of our members Happy Holidays. A lot of our members should be visiting rural areas or holiday resorts and some maybe sticking around especially those in Harare. Munemo will be around town -money too tight to mention. My kids however expect me to be innovative and come up with a plan. My options include a fishing trip, a visit to Harare Safari Lodge, kuenda kumusha or Domboshava Caves visit.

So Zimbabweans love their families and will always do their best to make them happy especially the little ones. If you want evidence of this then visit Longcheng Shopping Plaza in Harare  or Megga 2 in Hatfield Harare.

A look at Megga 2 in Hatfield Harare

The concept here is of a one stop shop for family fun. Families enjoy an outing with parents enjoying drinks, braai and music whilst kids will be busy at the Kids Play Centre. This is the only place in Zimbabwe where you find kids having outdoor fun during the evening. It’s common to see parents and kids leaving this place at 11:00pm during the evening with both parties satisfied…kids and parents!

Unfortunately the one stop shop concept for entertainment seems to have found no takers because by now more such centers should have been opened around Harare and the country as a whole.

We are however not encouraging our members to copy Megga 2 but to come up with new innovations that can capture the attention of Zimbabweans. Our kids love to have fun and there seems to be limited options around. There is nothing new introduced in the country in the past few years. Perhaps we can talk about Ice Skirting introduced at Old Mutual but it is the only one and we feel that there is room for improvement. A chance for the Diaspora community to consider bringing new technologies to Zim.

Inflatables: The Jumping castle is now outdated and only cater for kids. Below we show you a video of inflatables that allow parents and kids to have games together. What a better way to have quality time together by participating in games! There is no better way to bond for families than being involved in games. The inflatables would suit places near lakes, outdoor areas such as Lake Chivero. As shown in the videos, the inflatables can be used for sporting competitions, companies doing company strategic retreats can use them too. So unlike the traditional jumping castles, the inflatables shown in our videos cuts across all ages. We will share in our newsletter how you can obtain them and the costs involved.

1. Water floating ball: I witnessed this on a Mozambican group, popular on selected  Indian Beaches becareful though because it can be risky. The water balls can be fun to parents and kids…walking on water a new experience which should find a lot of takers.

Waterball Videos

Inflatable Videos

For registration with ZBIN and access endless business opportunities whatsapp Munemo on +263774081808.

We continue to give you free information concerning tenders in Zimbabwe. Great opportunity for you to view all tenders in one place.

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Yesterday I found myself 150 kilometres away from Harare! What a fabulous journey, this reminded me of my first journey to Tete last during the Easter Holidays. Looks like every year around this time I look East!

So what was the business in Mutoko?

I was involved in a swap deal with a relative of mine who wanted one of my small tucks in exchange for land. I was initially sceptical of this deal because I honestly have no business in Mutoko. The little knowledge that I have of this place is when last year we stopped in Mutoko to refill fuel at the Total Service Station, the stopover lasted 10 minutes.  So yesterday witnessed me and my wife in this beautiful place and I was there for more than 3 hours. We were fortunate to have someone with inside information about this place.

General Economic Conditions

The area is affected by the current liquidity challenges that are affecting the rest of the country. There is evidence of business struggling with a number of closed shops. Commercial banks such as CBZ closed shop and the only commercial bank at the centre is Agribank.

Real Estate Sector

More land is being serviced for residential stands and this has resulted in massive expansion which defies the performance of the economy. Will need more information and research on what is driving this expansion. The number of new homes constructed over the past few years is very high. I also had a chance to visit one of the newest residential area called Mutandihwa where stands range from 800-2000 square metres. Iam not sure about the price ranges but I took the following phone numbers for the benefit of our members:+263773994686 and +263772237460.

The increased activity in the real estate sector has led to the growth in the Hardware Shops where business is brisk. We also witnessed 2 churches constructing massive church buildings.

And the Opportunities?

This town would suit someone who is looking into the future, someone who can look beyond the current challenges. The first question you may need to answer is what attracted commercial banks to set up in this area in the first place. It is obvious that at one time it made sense to set up shop in the area. At one time business was so brisk that one commercial bank was not enough for this area.

So they came because there was massive potential but later on business became unprofitable. So if you are patient and got a positive mind set then this area presents a lot of opportunities in many sectors. The real estate is the obvious one, we do not have population figures but estimate that since 2009 the area has grown by 100% with new houses being built every year. Opportunities abound for construction companies and hardware shops in this area.

Vehicles Servicing

We did not see a main shop selling vehicle parts, maybe we need to research more in future but we did not see visibility of this sector in the town. Chance for ‘makava eku Harare’ to research and invest lol because the population of vehicles in high and the only area we witnessed that has auto related products is the Total Service Station that was selling vehicle tyres. It is easy to overlook this area on paper but connect this area with the massive residential area expansion. A new service station is being constructed along the Mutoko-Harare Highway at the centre and this shows that someone has seen the potential presented by vehicles in this town.

Outdoor Leisure Centre

Witnessed an outdoor centre near the town which is in a ramshackle state, perhaps related to the general economic situation currently prevailing in the country? We feel that Yes the Economy plays a huge part BUT what is required is innovation. Wanted is someone who can bring a Megga 2 concept, A Paramount Signature concept to this centre and target 2 clients-travelling motorists along the highway and the locals. Mix the 2 clients and not have to worry about localised economic conditions.

Micro Finance Institutions

The gap created by the exit of the commercial banks means that micro finance institutions should consolidate market presence. ZBIN to carry out more researches in this area.

More Opportunities?

More opportunities to be shared with our registered members. Remember to register next week and access more opportunities. In future we will be providing detailed information so that you can make informed investment decisions.

Our Star

Our investment star has to be firstpack, they have invested in a business sector that is expanding-books, stationery and IT related products.

Getting Ready

So this is what is happening 150 kilometres to the East of Harare, massive real estate expansion which is going on quietly and not being featured. Our source told us that the Council is looking for more investors especially those interested in setting up manufacturing industries. The Toko People are also asking why Hararians take granite stones and transport it to the Capital? Why not set up stone processing plants in Mutoko and transport finished products? Chances for Diasporans to look at innovative ways of solving this area and help create employment for people living in this area. Application is simple, go directly to the council and inquire, no need for middlemen!

So whilst current opportunities are limited it is the future that some of us are interested. I do not even have money to develop the area that I acquired but got my eyes firmly fixed on the future. The future of this area is unlimited and so should be put on your investment radar.

Do not forget to register as a ZBIN Member next on Monday.

The Zimbabwe Business Ideas and Network forum is your One Stop Platform for business resources. Resources range from free investment or opportunities advice, tenders trackers and employment opportunities. We have now added a new feature-a list of consultants.

At a click of a button, one should be able to view a list of consultants from Zimbabwe.

1.  Civil Water and Structural Engineering,Clara Mapfumo+263779330095
2. Media Consultant,Ruth Bataumocho: Practising Journalist with 17 years media experience:+263 718954662
3. Accounting and Tax Consultant: Kava Chikoore:263 772347279
4. Construction: Tendai Chikondo+263773 416 146
5. Agriculture Projects Specialist: Lydia Matiza-Gumbie, Farm Planning, Budgets and Advisory Service, :+263 773 940 195. Email lydia.gumbie@gmail.com
6. Publisher: Tsitsi Mubvakure, Bright Minds Author Services +263778022053
7. Bookkeeping:Dudzai Sitate+27 78 902 2834
8. Public Relations and Consulting:Tsitsi Mombeshora+263773 240 262
9. Business Development and Innovation Consultancy: Taonga Mutsambwa +263 77784 5213
10. Human Resources: Lerato Lusaba: HR and Domestic Work Consultant:+263 773 000507
11. Business:Macrocell Business and Tax Consultants: +263 772454440
12. Agriculture:Clemence Makaure : Horticulture Expert +263 772 908 606
13. Engineering:John Mazodze: Geotechnical Engineer: +44 7500 778072
14. Business:Craig Makwembere: Market Researcher
15. Agriculture: Benjamin Ndlovu: Poultry Consultant:+263777550562
16. Finance: Bright Ngara: Chartered Certified Accountant: +263783303333
17. Agriculture:Munashe Mwoyosvisvi: Agriculture Economics and Development +263773028181
18. Autos: Tholakele Ncube: Mechanic +263773284275
19. Business:Webster Ngundu: Independent Business Consultant, ex Banker with over 20 years’ experience, with a strong passion for Small and medium enterprises development. Holder of Bachelor of Business Studies, MBA and with extensive professional training locally, regionally and internationally. +263772 249 780
20. Agriculture:Ephias Agrizem Farm Consultant. 20years experience in farming. Agribusiness, 0772856719
21. Auditing: Munyaradzi Chinodya Fraud and Internal security consultant Bcom Financial Intelligence 1 year experience 0774 750 586
22. Marketing:Pelagra Mapiye: Marketing: +263772941122
23. Mining: Batanai Chitauro: Gold Mining Consultant:+263 772 219 674
24. Agriculture:Newton Nyapwere:EIA/GIS/Soils Consultant+263778051738
25. Business:Joseph Gumbie: Sales and Management+263737 353 144
26. Agriculture:Ranganai Chanhuwa:+263715367602
27. Solar:Malone Dahwa:Solar Heating Systems for Chicken runs: +263773529289
28. Business: Silent Age Corporation (Pvt) Ltd: International Business Consultant, Fleet Management, Imports and Exports +27736632244/+263777590800

Joining this list is free. Send a Whatsapp message to +26377481808

We would like to applaud the Harare City Council for the wonderful work that they have been doing in creating a user friendly website. This is the way to go and we hope that more councils will follow suit. Creating a user friendly website does not cost a lot of money but the benefits are huge. Its a pity that most councils-urban and rural are still to appreciate the benefits that can be derived by having a modern website.

This morning we are going to share with you 2 important forms for download. The forms can be downloaded directly from www.hararecity.co.zw

Shop Application

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Licencing Checklist

Larfarge Cement Zimbabwe as launched the TAVAKA ne Larfarge Franchise Container programme. Through the programme, the company will deploy the TAVAKA ne Larfarge franchise in residential and commercial sites around the country.

Requirements to becomee a TAVAKA ne Larfarge franchisee

Initial capital equivalent to 1 truck load

Location visible and close to the market

Surface area 30square metres for a 40ft container

Parking space: Offloading and loading

Land ownership: Able to secure working space

Owner motivation: Entreprenuerial skills(Owner runs the container shops)

Customer should be a first time operator of a Larfarge container

For more details contact Rudo Mudimu on 0782707763 or email rudo.mudimu@larfargeholcim.com or visit http://www.lafarge.co.zw/

One of the biggest assets in business is information! Information about business opportunities, current, emerging or future opportunities. They say information is power and if you have none then you can be at a great disadvantage.

Information about opportunities is obviously not easy to obtain and sometimes to obtain it you may need to part with an arm and a leg-it is pricey! Realising the gap in information, ZBIN embarked on a community service to enable Zimbabweans to have access to business information. This is our Objective Number 1. To provide a lot of information on opportunities in Zimbabwe for the benefit of everyone including our key constituency-The Diaspora! We also have in mind members living in remote areas where information may not easily be accessible.

Last Saturday was an outreach programme for ZBIN and we participated at a business forum conducted by church leaders in Marlborough. An invite came at short notice and we had to prepare some material to share with a group of Christian brothers based in Marlborough. At this meeting attended by close to 20 members, we emphasised the importance of being ready for business opportunity cycles, the skills needed to identify opportunities and gave a few examples. The good news is that Zimbabweans are taking an interest in business especially networking for business. Zimbabweans are getting into groups where they share information about business and investment. Some are pooling resources and taking advantage of opportunities that currently exist.

So at this meeting some complained about lack of capital. Some had brilliant ideas but could not execute them due to capital constraints. We then posed this question –‘Are you aware of current Government Initiatives that support small businesses?’

To our surprise no one could answer the question and this is of concern, serious concern to us. Without information you are at a great disadvantage as earlier explained. Without information you may be found complaining about lack of opportunities when some have access to this information for free.

We referred the group to recent initiatives which are publicly known.

1. The Homelink Initiative of $15m that helps Individuals, Cross Border Traders and SMEs with capital which has an interest of 1%. A new initiative where collateral may not be a big issue as an applicant can find an employed relative who can be a guarantor of the loan.
2. We also explained a recent Reserve Bank initiative that resulted in the establishment of a Women’s Bank Loan Facility at POSB. The facility is for women interested in business.

There are more initiatives such as the promotion of exports by ZIMTRADE, market surveys by ZIMTRADE and the order to reduce of interest rates to below 12% by the Government.

So information is available in newspapers and local radio but surprisingly few people take notice. For ZBIN members we have done a lot to provide information on Capital Access. Access to Capital is our number 3 objective and we did post about the Homelink Initiative, do follow our recent posts on this site for reference.

Do not miss formal Member Registration coming next week.

We add another list of Top Tenders from Zimbabwe compiled by your favourite business forum-ZBIN!

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