Diaspora Matters

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This evening ZBIN flies you to the city of Manila, anyone remember Thriller in Manila? Anyway Manila is  where we find the popular boxer Manny Pacquiao. In Phillipines they speak a language called Togalog and yours truly does speak 30%  Togalog. So what do we have from Phillipines this evening? The answer is a simple one, we are looking at the top 8 Start Up companies in the beautiful city of Manila and we will try and find out whether they can work in Southern Africa.

1. Brainly Phillipines –A start up that helps students with homework assignments
2. My Property– a company that helps with all real estate issues
3. Manda Workshops– it helps entrepreneurs with capacity building and hosting workshops
4. Bookbit-helps SMEs with online Accounting and Bookkeeping
5. Bolooka– helps in selling local Filipino crafts
6. Serious MD- connects all medical field players. Doctors, Nurses, Hospitals, Clinics, Laboratory Science Labs
7. Robur-provides up to date company financials for stock brokers
8. The Spark Project –A crowdfunding site for Filipinos

So there you are dear reader most of the Start Ups covered above are not available in Southern Africa, you should research more about them and consider introducing some in Lilongwe, Kafue, Plumtree, Polokwane or Maun.

In Zimbabwe I would recommend Start Ups for students looking for career guidance, scholarships and university information. Real Estate is a big issue in Zimbabwe and so far the sector is scattered with no one solid start up with all information about Real Estate issues and business. So till next Friday, ZBIN flies back to back to Harare and we wish you a wonderful and blessed weekend

Maraming salamat

Our ZBIN Mining Group has a total membership of 256 active members and we are looking to expand the membership to 1,000 by end of year. No doubt our richest group as these are the folks with operating in a rich field of minerals.

So what is our vision for 2017?

Information Provision: On this website expect to see an improved site with a section for Small Scale Mining. On this section will be a lot of resources on mining such as The Mines and Minerals Act, Contact Persons from the Ministry and Mines, Mining Classifieds, Downloadable Application Forms and An Help Desk.

Networking Events: So far we have a great group and we are proud of our closely knit group. We hope to build on the strength already built by carrying out a number of networking events throughout the year. This will be a great platform for information and ideas exchange.

Registration: Our ZBIN Motto in 2017 is registration-formal registrations of members’ businesses and this applies to all ZBIN forums. We are therefore looking forward to helping members to register their businesses so that they can derive benefits associated with being a formal business.

Funding: There a lot of funding options available to Small Scale Miners, however few miners are accessing these loans. Reasons for failure to access these loans are plenty and range from lack of knowledge of the availability of these funds. Some do not have the requisite knowledge of how to apply for the loans or some do not know the advantages of accessing these loans. ZBIN will therefore ensure that we assist members with information as well as assistance in acquiring loans and other funding options available.

Diaspora Partnerships: In everything that ZBIN do, the Diaspora is covered as they are a key community. We are hoping to facilitate the partnerships of locals and the Diaspora in 2017. We will not have full scale partnerships but a few case studies that will be used to launch full scale partnerships in 2018 and beyond.

Mining Equipment Access: Mining equipment is expensive, one require a lot of resources in order to acquire mining equipment and resources are not easily available! We are therefore hoping to unlock opportunities for rental of equipment, rent to buy options or pooling of resources by members in the purchase of mining equipment in 2017.

Mining Tours: We hope to launch quarterly mining tours which should benefit members, investors and any key stakeholder interested in the mining sector. We had one tour of Mashonaland West in 2016, we are looking forward to improve and carry out more such tours in 2017.

Mining and the Environment: Mining causes irreparable damage to the environment. We hope to promote sustainable and environmental friendly practices by our members. We will share more information on this initiative and reward miners who are observing this.

Mining across the borders: We have members who are into mining in neighbouring countries. We hope to explore linkages with them as some are in Mozambique and  Tanzania.

Job Portal for the Mining Sector. Increased investment in the sector, increased partnerships, increased information exchange should result in the expansion of the sector and this should see the sector looking for more people to employ. We hope to become the only official portal for mining job and consultancy opportunities.

Linkages with established mining companies: We hope our members to benefit from good practices from well-established mining companies. Linkages established should result in better management, markets creation and investment improved.

So together we can and lets unlock investment opportunities in the mining sector through effective partnerships and information exchange.

If you would like to join our ZBIN Mining Group then send your number to Catherine Shava on 0776 196 313

A friend of mine based in Durban inboxed me asking for advice. She said her prices for her business are below those of her competitors and she was considering increasing them during the month of January 20017.

My response- good intentions but bad timing! Most people expect prices to fall during the first months of the year. The hastag is Pricesmustfall! The best thing she should be doing is to find innovative ways to maintain her loyal customers and attract new ones.

January period is characterised with cash flow challenges for most people-we would have spend most if not all of our monies during the festive season. The spending power is definitely low and will peak up around March or even April.

So below are a few tips to help your business to break through the dry 2 to 3 months.

Communication: By now you already know who your key customers are. We expect you to have given them a few gifts or discounts during the festive season period. Continue to network and communicate during this period. Phone them, send texts and advise them of new products or your plans for the year.

Discounts-Discounts-Discounts: Now is the time to lower your prices, even a slight discount can do the trick. If you are in Zimbabwe then you may have seen adverts of discounts by leading Hotels Groups.

Research time: There is no better time to research and improve your business than now. Business is very low and with a few customers coming your way what should you spend your time doing? Spend it wisely-research on what is trending, review past year operations, review your communication channels, review your competitors, What made them excel last year? What can you learn from them? This is the research and planning period. This is the time to create your website or improve it. It is also time to review your Facebook Pages, Twitter and other Social Media options.

Networking & Strategic Alliances: Do not just enter 2017 without a Networking and Strategic Alliances Plan. You will achieve more in business if you work with others. Find out about business associations in your area, find out about national business associations and plan to join. Find out the advantages of joining them …is it information? Is it  going to be markets? Are you going to benefit in terms of funding? Look at strategic alliances as a better way to network and unlock business opportunities in 2017.

So wishing you the best of luck in 2017. We will tackle Pricing in detail next week.

Good Morning investors and followers of ZBIN. So last week I stumbled upon a Japanese Concept called the Mirasapo and decided to carry out more researches about it. Interesting stuff from the Japanese because this is what ZBIN has been doing for the past 3 years. We have been ‘Mirasapoing’ as a community.

The definition of a Mirasapo is as follows:

A comprehensive portal site where SMEs can obtain the latest information about support that meets their needs, seek advice readily from experts and more experienced managers, and exchange information with other companies, whenever and wherever it suits them  (Name derived from the Japanese for “site supporting the future of SMEs and  micro enterprises.” It began operating provisionally at the end of July 2013.)

Why Mirasapo?

The business challenges faced by SMEs and micro enterprises are becoming more complex, advanced, and specialized. → Need to build a support system that can provide a finely-tuned response to consultation needs.

Main Functions

The Mirasapo has 3 main functions namely:

• Support measures and provision of information

Providing easily comprehensible information about support measures by the government and  public institutions. Electronic application functions can be used for some subsidies.

• Formation of a community

Providing a forum (community) where users can exchange information with experts and more experienced managers about specific themes, e.g. starting a business or expanding overseas. Users can create new communities tailored to their own issues.

• Expert counselling

Developing a database of experts in each field, enabling users to choose an expert according to the particular issues they face and seek counselling online.

Are you are a young person who recently graduated? Congrats are in order we wish you well as a future leader in your respective fields. Now 99.9% of you should be looking forward to being employed and its not surprising because this is what the lecturers have been teaching you. You have been wired to look for a job and for some the dream to be employed started from primary school when teachers would ask you what your dream profession was. Popular answers included professions such as Medical doctors, Teachers, Drivers, Pilots etc

Now as a fresh graduate chances are high that a job might not come as soon as you need it. So what should you be doing whilst waiting for your dream job? ZBIN will try and assist you in terms of business idea options and we hope they will be beneficial.

Number 1: Become a Business Researcher– There a lot of unlimited opportunities in the SME sector, from Accountants, Marketers, Business Developers. Help this sector with your research skills by producing reports and surveys for sale. A lot of people and companies are willing to pay if you can provide them with latest and up to date research reports on their products or services.

Number 2: Website Development- There are a lot of bad websites out there- websites with no up to date material and what I would call dead websites. The good news about website development is that nowadays anyone can develop a website-a lot of material is available online on how to develop websites. Research and approach companies and organisations with your proposals to improve their websites by developing new and relevant websites or by managing their websites.

Number 3: Writing- Do you have a passion for writing? There are a lot of blogs that pay writers who write original articles. Research about them on the net and earn from as little as $50 per article.

Number 4: Online Forex Trading-Are you good in Mathematics? If the answer is Yes then consider investing your time learning about Online Forex Trading for the next 6 months. Do not pay anyone any money, simply join the ZBIN Online Forex Trading Group and get free materials. Online Forex Trading is not a get-rich-quick-scheme but with a lot of practice and patience one can actually earn a living from it.

Number 5: Start Ups – Start ups is the buzz word in town and research about start ups on the net. There is a lot of information from countries such as India, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and USA. Read a lot of start-up stories and get inspired to start your own. You may not need a lot of funds to start one for yourself.

So all the best in your job search but in the meantime you may try some of the options we have given you above. You may also join the ZBIN Whatspp Groups and participate in business discussions. Do send your number to Catherine Shava on +263776 196 313

1.    Japan has 4.2 million companies-Total number of SMES 4.19 million, total number of large corporations-12,000

2.    SMEs Account for 99.7% of all companies, 70% of all employees, and more than 50% of all added value (manufacturing industry) in Japan, SMEs form the very basis of the Japanese economy.

3.    Large corporations such as Toyota, Honda, and Sony started out as small backstreet factories

4.    The majority of the products of large corporations consist of components from SME subcontractors; thus, it is the hidden strength of SMEs that underpins trust in Japanese products.

5.    The economies of Japan’s provincial areas are supported by the activities of SMEs – mainly in the service industry, retail trade, and the construction industry – and SMEs play a part in revitalizing local economies and boosting employment opportunities.

6.    Japan has 2 Major SME Policies being the Support of SMEs  and Job  Creation

• Information valid as of 2013

Happy New Year to all the wonderful forum members. We hope that you had a wonderful time during the holidays and that you are ready for 2017.

The good news is that we will continue to share business ideas and network in 2017! We hope to build on the successes of 2016 and scale greater heights in 2017.

Kaizen Theory
The Japanese have a wonderful theory and its called the Kaizen Theory and in simple terms this theory is about continuous improvement. In business you need to continuously review operations and processes and find ways to improve. You cannot afford to rest on your laurels….you have to find ways to improve in terms of support services, ways to improve in terms of production-ways to improve in terms of thinking and approaches as well. So this is going to be our motto in 2017–Are we improving? Are you improving? Do not come up with excuses of ‘no funds’ because some of the improvement require nothing but imagination, creative thinking. So Kaizen its gonna be in 2017 and we hope to innovate together.

Forum Registration
Everything at an advanced stage, we have engaged lawyers who will be helping with the setting up of a trust for the forum. Our target date being first week of February 2017.

Member Registration
After the formal registration of the forum, the next big step is going to be the formal registration of all members on the forum. We would like you to freely register so that you can formally help in the strategic leadership of your favourite forum. No fees expected to be paid for this exercise-more details to come in February 2017.

Advantages of Registration
So why all the fuss about registration? Are there any advantages for doing this? Yebo Yes there are several advantages that will come from being formally registered. The biggest one is going to be access to credit for members. We are hoping to attract funding for member businesses, we do not believe in free grants but are hoping to attract funding that act as collateral for members with no collateral. Formal registration will also enable members to pool resources in any venture of their interest. Other advantages to include collective marketing and market linkages especially in the area of Poultry.

Diaspora Engagement
ZBIN continues to be the number 1 forum in Zimbabwe that actively promotes the engagement of the Diaspora in business.Wek believe that they are a key stakeholder in Zimbabwe where they remit close to a billion dollars on an annual basis. The Diaspora can actually remit more if a conducive environment is put in place for their investment. On ZBIN we already have a member based in Australia who is running a successful rabbit project in Chivhu. We also have Mai Shumba based in UK who has a successful poultry project in Greendale….she networks from UK to look for customers in Zimbabwe and is more knowledgeable about  poultry markets in Zimbabwe than some Harare residents-talk about the power of globalisation! We have more Diasporans on our forums looking for business partners, some like Mrs Shumba already directing business activities from foreign land. So we are hoping to promote and advocate for a ‘Diaspora Space’ in the local economy in 217.

Are you a Consultant?
ZBIN will be offering a number of professional services in 2017. The services will range from support services such as Accounting, Auditing, Marketing, Human Resources, Business Management and IT Management some of the services will be done at a fee. We are therefore hoping that business experts on the forum will benefit. If you are an Accountant then you can be hired for part of full time work on capacity building of SMEs, you can be paid for the development of accounting manuals or training of accounting staff. The same applies to Human Resources, Strategy Development, Marketing and IT. So get in touch if you would like to be added to our database of SME Consultants.

Improved Website & Newsletter
Our website www.zbinworld.com is under renovation, we are hoping to get a user friendly website that has various sections such as Agriculture, Online Forex Trading, Baking, Transport and Real Estate. We hope to have a resource centre where you can download up to date resources in Ms Word, Excel and Pdf format.
We are hoping to improve in terms of the quality of information shared. If we are talking about poultry then we must provide you with the cost of raising a bird, profit to be made and other resources. This should help you in terms of decision making.

Interns-Interns-Interns-Interns Wanted!
So we are creating ZBIN in a manner that allows sustainability of operations. Munemo’s absence should not stop operations. Who knows maybe I may join the great trek in the coming few months? So through the board, life should go on. The group should succeed in my absence should I decide to be a Diasporan like what millions of other Zimbos have done. The vision does not die though-we remain focused on unlocking business opportunities through networking and innovation. We do our work ethically and free of charge to Zimbabweans.

ZBIN is therefore inviting youngsters, recent college graduates with no experience to come and help manage the group and gain business experience in the process. Come and become experts on business writing, business researches, website development and a lot of other business activities.

Vote of Thanks
Lastly our vote of thanks go to the active forum participants. The people who keep the forum going-folks who freely give advice to others. May the Almighty bless you for the wonderful work that you do on the forum for the benefit of members and Zimbabwe as a whole.

Remember our key word: KAIZEN…KAIZEN…KAIZEN…Continuous Improvement…lets continue to improve in every area in 2017.

In February 2016,  I once wrote about my Passport Office Experience, I talked about my surprise at the exceptional customer service at the office. So last Friday I was back again at the offices to apply for passports for my family members. Is Customer Service still exceptional? What has changed in roughly a year?

Well I can confirm that Customer Service at the Passport Office in Harare is still High. What has changed is that the queues are longer-more Zimbos are applying for passports. Perhaps it could be due to the Festive Holidays? We may never know as we need official statistics from the Passport Office.

So on Friday I arrived at the Passport Office at 6:30am and was given number 220. I did not mind to be number 220 knowing that the Passport Office is efficient in processing passport applications. So how did it go?

1. My biggest frustration came from the receipting of funds using the swipe machine. There was only one swipe machine and this led to my 1 hour delay in getting application forms
2. Folks with cash to buy application forms did not endure any frustrating delays
3. Excellent rating for the ladies who work in Rooms 4 and 5. Very patient and helpful ladies. The lady in Room 5 is responsible for taking and processing photos. The lady in Room 4 is responsible for final checking of documents and authorisation.
4. How long did it take me? I left the offices at 11:30am. I had unnecessary delays because my young kids needed photos to be taken (The Office does not take photos of minors). My time could have been less had I brought cash to pay for the passport forms.
5. By the time I left at 11:30am, more folks were still flocking in. My own estimate is that close to a thousand people came to the offices.
6. The Bond note is accepted for passport forms applications
7. In February 2016 the offices were open during the weekend (Saturday)-this is no longer the case-they only open during the working week.

So my overall rating is still high for the office although a few areas need to be improved on such as:

1.Bring more swipe machines for use. Also advise members of public on use of bank cards because I witnessed folks who brought other people’s cards being turned away.

2.Enable payments through the Eco Cash platform

3.Put a Suggestions Box

4.Put  Anti-Fraud Posters

5.Have contingent plans for the rain season

6.Improve on ventilation

7.Your website is down

8. Establish a Help Desk

If you are visiting the Passport Office to apply for a passport then take note of the following issues:

a) If you are an adult, no need to bring photos, the office does this for you for free

b) Bring photo copies of your documents-Photocopying outside the Passport Office is pricey-$1 for two copies!

So have fun next time you visit the Passport Office, we encourage them to keep up the high standards of course they have a few areas that they need to improve on. I witnessed a good number of people submitting forms for Diaspora relatives –perhaps not necessary, how about decentralising the process to all Embassies or even online?

To other Government Departments-you surely need to visit the Passport Office and learn about efficiency. To the Private Sector-you too need to visit the Passport Office and learn about Customer Service because the Passport Office is our ZBIN 2016 Customer Service Award Winner.

So we already know of the current selling prices of Broiler chickens-they range from $5.5 to $7 in Zimbabwe. Now some have been asking us about the cost of raising each bird so that they can calculate the profitability of Broiler chickens. The good news is that we now have a rough guide which was submitted by one of the ZBIN members from the ZBIN Poultry Group Number 4. Please note that this is a general guide, feel free to edit it if you feel we missed certain key information or provided wrong information.

Thank you

At ZBIN we like to focus on success business stories from across Africa especially countries in East and Central Africa. Today we feature key business lessons from Uganda which is promoting its tourism brand. We look at what the Pearl of Africa has done to promote tourism in 2016 and their plans in 2017 and beyond.

Lesson Number 1: Refined marketing strategy in 2016

For the first time in Uganda’s history, they hired three firms to market the Pearl of Africa in United States, United Kingdom and Germany. Uganda is increasingly receiving continued coverage worth millions of dollars in leading media houses in these markets. To date Uganda has already received media publicity worth nearly $4 million. A lot more is expected by the end of 12 months for which the firms were hired. From this intervention,  tourists from US to increase from 49,414 in 2015 to at least 60,000 in the year 2017; tourists from United to increase from 40,851 in 2015 to 60,000 in 2017 and tourists from Germany to increase from 9,585 in 2015 to at least 15,000.

Lesson Number 2: Ugandans encouraged to prepare for increased tourist arrivals. Expected increase in Germany tourists means that there is need to learn the Germany language, quality of service to be improved by increased investment and monitoring by the Uganda Tourism Board.

Lesson Number 3: Working with Uganda Foreign Missions in key source markets to publicise the Pearl of Africa and to link  tour operators to tour operators from established markets where Uganda has have foreign missions.

Lesson Number 4: Uganda to continue promoting domestic tourism.

Below is a statement from the Uganda Tourism Board….

The Uganda Tourism Board appreciates the increased interest from all Ugandans in tourist sites all over Uganda. Ugandans are surely rediscovering the Pearl of Africa. During the Christmas period, we closely observed as Ugandans and expatriates filled tourism sites all over Uganda. We appreciate the lead role played by outstanding domestic tourists such as Rotaract and Rotary, rally fans, sports fans, culture enthusiasts, The Slayers, Mr Dibo and friends, Mr Kyamutetera and many others. Going forward, we shall continue supporting domestic campaigns including Tulambule and others. We strongly wish to encourage the private sector to design such initiatives that will encourage more Ugandans to explore Uganda.

Lesson Number 5: New Tourism Products

For the first time in Africa, Uganda hosted Africa’s first ever birding expo at the Botanical Gardens Entebbe. This exposed Uganda as the world’s premium birders’ destination, boasting of 50 per cent of Africa’s bird species and 10 per cent of the world’s species. This expo will continue to grow and be Africa’s and Uganda’s signature birding event.

Lesson Number 6: Uganda divided into 13 tourism destinations

Uganda has been organised into 13 tourism destinations namely Busoga, Far Eastern, Lango, Acholi, West Nile, Bunyoro, Toro, Rwenzori, Kigezi, Greater Ankole, Ssese Islands and Buganda; most of our domestic interventions will aim at promoting these unbelievably gifted destinations.

Lesson Number 7: Quality Review

Uganda continues to regulate the tourism industry to improve the quality of service .To date they have classified 61 hotels all over the country; five of which have received five star rating. This exercise is continuing and they encourage all tourist accommodations to have their facilities classified as it shall amplify their credibility. The service is currently done free of charge. Tour operators received training as well. The board will continue to provide training to staff employed by tourism facilities such as accommodation facilities, tour operators, tour guides, and many others, free of charge.

Lesson Number 8: Brand Promotion in 2017

The Uganda Tourism Board has the following statement

In 2017, our major effort will be placed on strengthening our brand promise – The Pearl of Africa. Building a strong national destination brand will require the involvement as well as the support of every Ugandan and Ugandan institution including Parliament, police, army, sports teams, media houses, Opposition, boda bodas, etc. We shall be at your door step to guide you on how best you too can participate and benefit from a stronger destination brand

Lesson Number 9: Identification of Undeveloped Sites in Rural Areas

The board encourage individuals that know about or possess undeveloped sites, as well as communities that own or live nearby sites associated with rich heritage to contact then  for assistance and guidance. Uganda has more than wildlife – it is blessed with centuries-old stories that have to be told and sold. Do not hesitate to seek guidance on how best to convert rich heritage/history into dollars. Together, we can tap into tourism to create jobs for our especially rural populations.