Diaspora Matters

So Iam beginning to see GP plates on Harare’s roads? This is a welcome development, our brothers and sisters from the Diaspora are back. They are slowly trooping back home and we wish you well during the festive season.
So to those still deciding to come and you are not sure of what to buy and bring home, here is a very good tip. How about buying machinery or equipment that can help you or relatives back home in money making ventures? Below we look at some of the items you can purchase;
1. Gym Equipment: Gym equipment is unbelievably cheap in South Africa, not sure about Botswana and Zambia. You can consider establishing a backyard gym for your relatives back home-visit Game Stores for comparing prices. Do not buy all the equipment at one go, instead do the purchase on a piecemeal basis-some this holiday and the next during Easter or next holidays.

2. Events Management Equipment: Consider folding tables, cooking utensils, plastic chairs for hiring to churches, political parties, funerals etc

3. PA Systems for hire: A good way to make extra monies through hiring out to schools, churches and other functions.

4. Printing Machinery: So we are entering an elections period? During this period there is going to be a lot of printing services-tshirts,posters etc. Consider setting up backyard photocopiers-buy used photocopiers-zvinonobatsira muzukuru asina basa.
5. Mining Equipment for hire: This may need huge capital outlays, but research and find out from Auctions in South Africa, you may be fortunate to buy machinery at rock bottom prices.

6. Jumping Castles: Another source of passive income, research on the jumping castles and bring some home.

So safe travel to those coming to Zimbabwe, and to those already in Zimbabwe, enjoy your stay!

Happy Holidays

The biggest event on the forum was the trip to Tete by the ZBIN Portuguese Group and we thank the Almighty that all went well. The group lead by Clara Mapfumo was in the Mozambican City for a period of 2 days and I hear they did well and will follow up in the coming two weeks.

After the Tete visit we shift our focus to Beira. We are still at planning stage and deciding whether to travel to Beira or Chimoio from the 28^th to the 29^th of December. More details will be shared with the forum members during the next two weeks.

Interviews

So we continue to unlock business information from Zimbos based in the Diaspora and to date we have given you interviews from India, DRC, Namibia, Canada, Dubai and Cape Town. Today we covered another interview with a sister based in Pemba a city which few Zimbos know about. I would like to thank Mrs Kapitawo for agreeing to be interviewed and sharing a lot of photos from a city which is hard to pinpoint where it is on the map.

I have secured another interview with a ZBIN sister based in Germany, a successful business person and an Accountant working in Germany who has interesting stuff for the ZBIN community. Expect this interview on Wednesday-another interview of a sister based in Kenya should be coming during the end of the week.

Why Interviews? The reason is simple, to help you get official information about other areas where vana vevhu stay and show that you too can do it. The interview with Mrs Kapitawo shows that she has opened a new company in Mozambique and as a member of ZBIN Baking  she is going to get a lot of help from others who are in the business and she can also help inspire others. This is the founding principle of ZBIN, unlocking business opportunities through networking and business information exchanges.

Adverts Section

There are few takers for the free platform we have on the website where we are inviting members to place their adverts for goods or services for sale. This platform is much better than Facebook adverts where you have to compete with thousands of other advertisers. So use this platform for your own benefit.

Videos on the Platform

So I discovered a new way of putting Youtube videos on the forum this week and this has been helpful in telling the full story of any issue posted on our website. Kindly refer to Clara Mapfumo’s video on opportunities in Mozambique. We shot the video at our meeting held at Paramount a month ago. We invite members to improve in terms of marketing- in addition to photos, please shoot short videos and post on Youtube. If you have challenges in uploading on Youtube then send them to me during weekends.

Videos are going to help you explain fully your business story, they are going to help you identify new markets and potential partners. So  make short videos and don’t worry about quality, we will improve with time. A two to four minute is good enough for a start. Iam therefore expecting my inbox to be flooded with videos every Saturday or Sunday and promise to upload them all. If you like to see the impact of videos then compare and contrast a newspaper and a television! So from mining,baking,poultry,online forex trading – Iam looking forward to your videos.

Research

As promised, we will be making follow ups on Vending Machines and Crowd Funding and will share information with you during the week.

Online Newsletter

Have you registered on our website so that you can receive our newsletter? Don’t be left out kindly register on our website for weekly summaries of posts and new developments in terms of investment.

 The 2017 National Budget

We hope to look at the National Budget that was presented this week and will look at what this means for the ordinary ZBIN member-those in business and those considering investment. We will look at possible scenarios in terms of business, if you like financial modelling then here is your chance to participate as we develop more models for use by the group. This will only be distributed via our newsletter.

Group Logo

Vote of Thanks to the ZBIN member, a hardworking and innovative youngster who developed our forum logo for free. We will feature him on the website during the week. May God bless you abundantly for the efforts.

Holidays and Parenting

Are you a parent? Do you have kids? If your answer to the two questions is yes, then here is something interesting we are going to be doing-we will be covering topics to help young minds to appreciate business. A couple of researches will be coming your way and the first one is creating of a vending machine, please refer them to the vending machine post and show them how to make one. It will help them in sharpening their research,teamwork,innovation and business skills. All you need to do is to download the video, buy the materials and then give them a task. We will come up with a comprehensive list of projects for them next week.

 So till next week,  WaMdala signs off

Growth projected at 1.7% from 0.6% estimated in 2016

Agriculture and Mining to drive overall growth with sector growth of 12% and 0.9% respectively

Inflation projected at 1.1%, from a negative of 1.5% in 2016

Total expenditures projected at $4.1 billion

Financing Gap of $400m

Government wage bill takes $3.0 billion in 2017

Capital Expenditure amounts to $520 million or 3.6% of GDP

Trade Deficit of $1.5 billion compared to $1.985 in 2016

Debt Stock of $11,2 billion as at 31 October 2016, which is 79% of GDP

In  this video, the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority showcases investment opportunities in the energy sector.

When it comes to business information, ZBIN leads the pack and credit goes to members who freely contribute business information. In other countries this information is expensive as one has to part with a lot of monies to obtain basic business information.

As ZBIN we like to help members with free information so that this can assist you in decision making. We provide the information on a publicly available platform such that information provided can be corrected should it turn out to be false.

So this Sunday we are in Mozambique and we find a sister, a member of the forum-Mrs Faith Kapita! She has agreed to give us an insight into Pemba, the tourist city near the border with Tanzania.

Below is my interview with her

Tell us about yourself

Iam currently a house wife but do bake cakes as my main business

How is the weather in Pemba?

Temperatures are very high and can get up to 30 degrees Celsius by 7:00am and this hot weather sometimes adversely affect my baking business because it sometimes force me to use fresh cream and butter instead of icing.

Do you have a Company?

I successfully registered my company yesterday and also opened a bank account at the same time.

Is there a Zim Community or you are the only Zimbo there?

Yes there is a Zim community here and its quite large. Some people are employed formally and some re into buying and selling(vanouya kuzotengesa masheets)

What is the best time to visit Pemba?

There is no best time as our weather conditions rarely fluctuates-its usually hot through out the year(kutsva basi all year).

Education for kids, do you have schools for expats?

We only have one international school and my kid is going there for grade one next year. The fees are 40,500 per quarter and each year has 4 quarters

Cost of Living in Pemba

The cost of living is expensive since this is a tourist town

Major Shops/Supermarkets in Pemba

We currently have 3 grocery shops and that is VIP , PEP and Rechero. We have challenges of boutiques such that if you like top quality clothes then you must go to Dare Salam or Maputo.

Nearest City to Pemba

The nearest city to us is Nampula which is 550 kilometres away.

Do you have banks?

Yes we have Moza Banco, Standard, UNICO,Barclays and BC1, they all have visa cards.

Other Professionals in Pemba?

We have plenty of Somalians who operate spaza shops selling electricals, plastics and Chinaware. Senegalese also own spaza shops. Pakistanis own grocery wholesales and locals in the informal sector do sell ‘fat cooks’.

In this photo: A spaza shop owned by a Senegalese

Do you grow Fruit and Veges?

No our greens come from Nampula which is 550kms away as mentioned earlier

Electricity and Water Availability

Electricity is forever available, water is a challenge for out of town. We buy drinking watr from Augua Quivk or Agua Petra

So iam still to get convincing reasons why we use the Durban Port for our imports. Durban is 1675 kilometres away from Harare. Why not Beira which is 560 kilometres away? Another option is the Zambezi River from Indian Ocean-how about a port in Tete which is 350 Kilometres away from Harare?

The late President of Malawi, His Excellency Bingu wa Mutharika had started a project of widening the Shire River in Malawi so that the landlocked country could transport goods from the Indian Ocean straight to Malawi.

I’m not sure what happened to this brilliant project but I remember the leaders of Zimbabwe and Zambia attending the launch of this project. What happened to it? The project would surely have reduced transport costs for Malawi, Zambia and interior Mozambique.

So two months ago I was on the forum telling you the story of investment opportunities in Mozambique. I highlighted the opportunities that abound in our Eastern Neighbour and how other foreign nationals are benefiting. I invited members from here to join out Watsapp Group and the immediate task was to plan for a visit to the city of Tete.

The good news is that the group toured Tete last week . Tete is 350 Kilometres away from Harare. The group had initially made 2 tours to the same city. One in March and a follow up in April. So this Dec trip was the third one but with a completely new set of people. Credit goes to Clara Mapfumo and team for a successful tour of Tete.

The trip was an eye opener for the folks who participated, members witnessed first hand the developments that are happening at a fast pace in the city. The country has been affected by low commodity prices which seriously impacted on the operations of the Economy. Mines were not spared and this resulted in a lot of retrenchments and downscaling of operations. However there is slow recovery and for long term investors only the sky is the limit in Mozambique. South African investors continue to pour in investment and since our last trip in April, a number of new South African supermarkets have been established. New mines are being opened and this represents a seal of approval when it comes to investment.

Zimbababwens in Tete,

So what are Zimbos doing in this city which is equivalent to Gweru (some within the group argue that it will surpass Bulawayo soon). Zimbabwean nationals are into construction, some white farmers who left Zimbabwe are into farming. Some are employed by mines and transport businesses.

Investment Gaps in Mozambique.

1.Transport – there is room for more players n the transport sector for ferrying goods to and from Beira. Our Chinese friends are busy transporting logs cut from the rich forests of Mozambique to Chinese. On your way to Tete, you will see countless lorries ferrying logs and other raw materials. Watch out for the slow recovery of the commodity prices and opening of new mines and the opportunities tis may present to you.

2.Boutiques– This one is for small time investors with little capital-yes there is mazitye, mabhero clothes in Mozambique but for this Cidade, there is room for Zimbo investors who are serious in the fashion and clothes industry.

3.Foreign Nationals as a market– the increasing foreign nationals community presents a golden opportunity for investors- this rich community of professionals has needs. Education of their children(there are few good schools in Tete that teach English or with high education standards). This community require food, they need clothes etc. So one needs to carefully study this community and find out how you can benefit.

4.Fruit and Veges Market-last time I visited a Mozambican contact asked me to find a partner who with a refrigerated truck who can ferry sea food from Beira to Tete as there is a big gap with the current provider overcharging clients by as much as 500%. Investors to this city should look carefully at who is providing fruit and vegetables to this city of close to 300,000 people.

5.Mining Opportunities- new mines mean new opportunities for professionals and a lot of service providers. One of my friend provides security guard services to some of the mines in the province.

I will do a video where I will feature business opportunities in that country, so watch out for it in the coming few weeks.

Future Plans
The good news is that some of the members who participated in the latest tour will be quietly going back for follow ups in the next 2 weeks. The group wishes them well in their endeavours- for us its mission accomplished!

Beira Trip
So after the Tete Trip, we have another one-this time we head to Beira and its coming on the 28th to the 29th of December. We will look at opportunities that exist in the port city of Beira and Chimoio. It is our first business tour of the city; we do not expect to cover much since it will be holiday time. The trip will however help us in planning the next tours.

So are you interested in exploring new areas and new opportunities? If you answer is Yes then plan for the trip –Harare to Beira is 551 km. Plan to spend between $40-$60 on accommodation per night. You do not have to pay anyone any fee, you just bring your car and join others heading to the ocean.

Muito Obrigado

Good morning ZBIN Investors, so as promised-every Saturday is Diaspora Investment Day and we will cover at least one business idea targeting the Diaspora Community. This morning we  tackle a simple business idea-Vending Machines!

There are few operational vending machines in Zimbabwe and I really do not know why. There is great potential in pushing volumes for products such as soft drinks, ice creams, potato crisps, maputi or mahewu. The list of products that can be sold is endless but we do not know why we are ignoring this business idea.

Imagine 15 vending machines at Fourth Street Bus Terminus, 10 at Copacabana, 5 at Avondale Shopping Centre, 5 at Longchen, 5 at Machipisa Shopping Centre, 4 at Sam Levy, 3 at Hunyani – Lake Chivero, 10 at the National Sports Stadium.

How many sales can you push through this business venture? Now if this succeeds in Harare then you can cascade the business venture to other cities. Location challenges? Don’t worry about location, you can also mobile vending machines as shown below.

So where can you buy these machines? Do watch out for our part 2 or join our newsletter where I will provide members with detailed opportunities about this venture, the costs involved and where to purchase them.

ZBIN will be profiling members every week. We are inviting you to submit videos of your projects for hosting on the website. We will review and post your videos for free. Video footage will enable you to reach out to a large pool of potential customers and partners.

To kick-start the video promotion, we have chosen this profile of a young lady called Kundai Musarurwa. Great stuff from her and we hope that she can inspire a lot of young people so that they can venture into farming.