Mbare gives you a snap shot of opportunities in Harare-trending, changes or new opportunities and you do not need a lot of time studying this-you just need to pass through the area. So what is new at the popular Siyaso?  What is keeping entrepreneurs busy even during the Covid-19 lockdown?

The answer lies in water tank stands! Climatic change is a reality and the effects are being felt countrywide. Most urban councils are not able to pump sufficient water for residents therefore driving many to sink boreholes. The rise in entrepreneurship is the second push factor as many are sinking boreholes at plots, farms and rural areas.

A whole value chain of water supply has been created which involves the following:

• Water tanks,
• Water tank stands,
• Irrigation systems,
• Borehole drilling,
• Borehole water for sale,
• Borehole service kits and
• Solar power installations,

Some with wells are deepening them by hiring experts with handheld drilling machines. Perhaps to confirm this we need to look at our top 2019 imports where an interesting line item caught our attention-importation of plastics and plastic materials.

Do you know how to manufacture water tanks?

Entrepreneurs solve problems at a premium and our current challenges as a nation are climatic, lack of formal employment, energy, food and others. Water opportunities seek to solve them at once-water for consumption and entrepreneurship through food production.

The missing link

There are no companies with one stop shops for the entire water support value chain support. A walk in shop with water tanks and stands, solar systems, irrigation systems, green houses and more.

Demonstration sites where prospective clients can walk in and observe various irrigation models in use allowing them to choose systems that suit their pockets.

(ZBIN Financial Literacy series part 2)

The greatest fraud to ever take place on the continent was the non involvement of Africans in the development of the educational syllabi. So education was an off the shelf package delivered and Africans grabbed it with open arms without critiquing it.

When you went to college, did you have a lecture of why you were studying certain subjects, who had developed the syllabi and why? Did you cover the future relevancy of the syllabi?

Did you also cover the African educational system; the advantages and disadvantages?

So we didn’t ask critical questions and now we sometimes get excited of fancy financial terms and yet they have been in existence for thousands of years and our forefathers had perfected it.

Lets keep this post short,

Financial literacy is all about financial freedom. The focus is on acquisition of assets and minimising acquisition of liabilities. You do not put all of your eggs in one basket but spread your assets acquisition in different areas such as;

Real estate, Stocks,Entrepreneurship,Money market,And others,

One shock affecting any sector will not mean you immediately going belly up.

What is an asset: Anything that creates value or add money into your pocket.

Liabilities: Anything that takes money away from your pocket.

Controversies;

The home that you live in is classified as an asset in accounting terms but because it does not bring income, it is not an asset! Is it? One can argue that your primary residence saves you rental costs but the big picture is on acquiring more properties and earn rental income and capital gain!

Is your car an asset or a liability? If it is a truck and you can hire it out, if It is registered on ZBIN Ride or registered with a car rental firm, then its surely an asset. But if not then your car is a liability as it siphons money from your pocket through fuel and operating costs. Throw in sentimental issues and you can have a debate that lasts for weeks.

Is your rural home an asset? If you can use it for farming then why not? Of course in accounting, we do not put much value in this land.

The National Problem:

The economy was structured to encourage liability spending by the majority. Many compete in buying cars (check the value of Ex Jap cars imported over the last 2 decades). Our nation spends more money on imports and most of our problems can be traced to this single cancerous disease.

So are we oblivious to these facts? We surely know but if some are selfishly benefiting from imports, who can stop them? Can we add corruption to the list of liabilities? Yes we surely can….

Liability Acquisition Culture:

We celebrate and honour liability acquisition….At church those with the biggest liabilities get the top posts. Even during courtship, those with more liabilities come first. Some job promotions are based on liability acquisition grounds. In politics, those who cannot showcase their liabilities will get the least votes. Every facet of life in Zimbabwe is anchored on liabilities-even at family level, Mr and Mrs Liability maketh all the decisions.

Its now a sea full of liabilities and it is coming at a huge opportunity cost. Our forefathers and mothers had developed a strong educational system anchored on Ubuntu Values and clearly it was biased towards assets acquisition. We were less corrupt too….

Now the question is how do you survive in a liability acquisition culture when you possess an assets acquisition mindset? You need to be strong as you will experience ridicule from every quarter.  Are you willing to build a resilient and sustainable business model? Then hang around the few people with the same mindset ….