When it comes to business books and other resources, the formula is clear cut-everything is scientific! Measurable, can be calculated, reviewed and analysed. The formula for calculating profit is the same-the formula for digital marketing success is straight forward. Now how about the use of the underworld in business? Is business spiritual?

Unfortunately you are never going to see this covered in business books, you will not find academic research papers on this area and yet it plays a huge role in the business sector across the continent.

Our forum recently tackled a case of a Zimbabwean who got juju from Mozambique to boost his business. Everything went according to plan as he got instant riches enabling him to buy 2 kombi taxis and 1 private vehicle. His repair business in town experienced rapid growth fuelled by juju.

Things started going southwards when he failed to abide by the juju conditions which required him never to sleep between 6:00pm and 6:00am. He accidentally slept and one child died. Did this several times and 2 more children followed!

Realising his blunder, he returned to Mozambique to seek help from the sangoma who had initially helped him but he found him gone with no traceable references. The businessman then sought help from several prophets but to no avail.

The trends

Juju use is widespread in the business sector.

Juju use results in instant or miracle success or wealth.

Wealth created by juju is short lived.

The cost of juju includes loss of lives and more stress for the concerned business person and immediate family.

Once one has taken juju then they have crossed the Rubicon, one cannot return it to the source.

What science fails to prove

The businessman all of a sudden had a lot of clients as his business enjoyed rapid growth. What was attracting the new clients? What impact did this have on other businesses? How many closed as most clients headed to this juju inspired business?

Most popular mhikos (covenants)

Sleep related

Not sleeping during the night

Not sleeping the day you woke up

Business premises related

Not entering business premises (owner remains in car)

Certain offices or rooms that can only be entered by the owner

Children related

Children who do not marry

Children who are barren

Children who give birth to particular sexes

Children who die in mysterious circumstances

Deaths at a particular period during the year

Others

Not visiting hospitals

Not attending funerals

Not giving visitors food

Relieving in the bush

Not helping close relatives

Being unkempt

Sleeping with many partners

Please note anyone showing any of the above signs does not necessarily mean they have mhiko to abide by as this information is general. What is unmistakable though is there is a visible pattern which can be plotted on a graph.

The practitioner must religiously follow the mhiko or face dire repercussions. Please also note that there are some innocent people who can give monies which become fixed and they can encounter a sudden fall in wealth leading to some to speculate that they have been using juju.

The late Sekuru Ndunge from Chipinge is said to have a mysterious chicken which was used for juju purposes. Visitors to his place interested in juju had the chicken brought and picking maize seeds. The number of seeds picked equated to the number of years one lived a wealthy and luxurious life style. At the end of the period-one faced sudden death mostly through road accidents. The story of Bothy is well known by Mutareans.

Surviving juju inspired competition in business

The cost of using muti in business is steep high and those not practicing it risk early business closures. There is no empirical evidence to support this but discussions in our forums shows some who encountered this really struggled.

To survive, follow sound business principles and practices. It always work in the long run in developing a sustainable business model. Do not panic when others come and inexplicably dominate the industry-in most cases its just a flash in the pan.

Concentrate more on developing close relationships with your clients. Deliver top quality services on a CONSTANT BASIS. Clients may temporarily switch to juju inspired competitors but when the dust settles, they will trace their way back!

You are not going to find this in business teaching or books and yet its reality. Its practically impossible to carry out a research survey to find the prevalence of juju use but by listening to reality shows or evangelical shows on television-one gets an insight into the dark world of juju and business.

Give us your own insight into this practice.

Muito Obrigado

A couple of years ago I wrote an article on cabbage production which received rave reviews on this website. My inbox was inundated with emails from many would be fresh produce farmers most who shared some very spectacular ideas on how to run such a project viably. I was fortunate enough to be invited by one of the farmers who took the free advice from that article and utilised it fruitfully. However, todays article is not about this farmer but is about a certain aspect of this farmer which I think every would be or current farmer needs to adopt in order to be successful in farming.

Most of us have turned to agriculture as a way of getting that side hustle extra dollar which I must say does come in handy in this harsh economy. This bracket includes bankers, cooperate executives, etc. the list is inexhaustible. Yes, one may be an expert banker but lack farming expertise. To quote one of my Lectures back at University decades ago, “owning a farm does not make you a farmer”. I am sure most of you will agree with me that you have seen some well-resourced entities running a farming operation into the ground. The major reason being lack of expertise, it is very important for every farming enterprise to have highly skilled employees. Most of you will agree with me that highly skilled labour does not come cheap, this is true even in the field of agriculture. A good point to take on is that as the farm owner make sure that you pay your most valued employees more than you pay yourself. I know some may not agree with this notion but believe me it’s a tried and tested one, “IT WORKS SIMPLE”. A highly skilled and happy (well remunerated) farm manager will be loyal and will put in the extra hours in order to achieve set yield targets which translate to enterprise profits. If you can throw in some bonus extras at the end of the season. Back to our main subject, most of us probably think farming is a simple exercise, of which it is if you know what you are doing coupled with the right skills. Although it may be a good idea for those would be farmers without any farming back ground to take on some short courses in farming as it will give them a good appreciation of the industry, it is still advisable to hire  the right highly skilled individual to take on the task of running the business.

 Recently I had the opportunity of having this discussion with one of the leading agricultural consultancy organisations in South Africa. They were hired by one farmer here in Zimbabwe to consult periodically on their blue berry project at a very huge cost running into thousands of Rands. The point to take on here is that the farmer has invested in the skills of a consultant despite more than 30 years in the business. This investment in skill has seen the farmer growing this high value crop profitably. I know probably the small-scale farmer reading this article is saying where do I get the money to hire consultants from South Africa. Well you do not need to hire one from South Africa if you cannot afford to. The AREX department is always willing to help with advice, they do have some good apples left in their basket who can assist. Another avenue is to hire a local consultant for advice which is way cheaper or simply hire a qualified and highly skilled person to run your enterprise, remember to pay them well.  Farming is an art and a science at the same time requiring skill and expertise which is often acquired over a period of many years. Next time we will look at growing for export and the requirements for exporting agricultural produce from Zimbabwe.

• Emmanuel is a qualified Agronomist with more than a decade’s experience working in the agricultural industry and development sector. You can contact him on edndsep@gmail.com

Article by Emmanuel D.N Dube

ZIBN Agronomy correspondent