We are slowly gaining ground in the region especially Botswana, Malawi and South Africa and a business post by ZBIN in South Africa usually attracts not less than 100 reactions some even going up to 2000! The number of South Africans joining our business groups is increasing at a faster rate and the reason for this is simple-we know the language of small businesses! We know what small business want across the region and this is what we concentrate on. We provide a platform for people in Southern Africa to discuss business and especially opportunities.

Our acceptance in the region will see us dispatching various teams to Malawi, Botswana and South Africa starting this week. We will be covering entrepreneurship-empowering women and youths who are our focus. Time permitting we may also cover Chichiri Prison in Blantyre. We would like to help empower women in prison. Women in prison are some of the most vulnerable members of society and when they leave prison most have nowhere to start from-they have no support systems to help them integrate with society. We therefore will be offering our free service to help them kick start income generating projects that will employ them and others as well. More of this initiative coming in the next few months as the forum gets extremely busy. The initiative is Zimbabwean, designed by Zimbabwean inorder to benefit Zimbabweans and the region as a whole. So do expect the ZBIN flag to be flying in Lilongwe and Blantyre next week. We will also be covering Gaberone and Francistown during the same week. We are already in Jozi and hope to expand to other cities in the Rainbow Nation.

In everything that we are doing, the target is how many jobs have we created? How much income did ZBIN help create across the region? If you are a development practitioner, then you should watch this initiative with keen interest because it is zero funded! How does  a zero funded project  create hundreds of jobs and improve livelihoods of  thousands ? The verdict will be out within the next 6 months and we hope to launch a book that should showcase the brilliance and sheer determination of Southern Africa citizens.

What is brewing in Mhondoro?

Mhondoro is going to be our first rural area that we have adopted and this is due to a teacher from the area who is working with us. She is currently on holiday and we are developing a brilliant empowerment project which should be a good case study on women empowerment especially access to markets for rural based women. Scholars of market linkages should watch this initiative closely as we hope to make a positive impact within the next 6 months.

ZBIN Facebook Live

We became the first business forum to use Facebook Live in Zimbabwe and have not looked back. A brilliant platform for information dissemination and Capacity Building. The future of capacity building is not in one organising participants in a class and delivering speeches. It is old fashioned, expensive and may not be effective. In most cases it may not even have follow ups because trainers just come train and go-perhaps leave a few handouts which are quickly discarded as soon as a training is completed.

Now using social media such as Facebook Live Updates there are plenty of advantages—participants are engaged, one can always refer to it or even share a broadcast. It can be stored for future references. It reaches more people and practically costs nothing when compared to hotel conferencing.

ZBIN is still in the early stages of this broadcast which is still characterised by poor quality video broadcasts. We are aware of the hiccups and are working on improving. For now the strategy is to get Zimbabweans talking about business, Zimbabweans to use the facility for nation building and inspiring young entrepreneurs.

We have hosted foreign nationals too with Vee from East London being the first South African to feature on the platform. She got 700 views and not bad for her debut Facebook Live.We also had Thelma Wills with her debut this week and she garnered 450 views. The trend shows an upward trajectory in viewership and we hope to increase it as we improve the quality of our broadcast delivery.

What is up this week?

The focus is on South Africa, not because of the planes standoff but unlocking opportunities in Mzantsi. Opportunities for Zimbabweans as well as South Africans. We hope to also feature more Facebook Live Updates from SA citizens. This will help in cementing ties between the 2 countries and the region as a whole.

So wishing you a blessed week

Twalumba

Have you ever asked yourself, what can I grow in my backyard with the little expertise that I have in the shortest possible time at the same time earning that extra dollar?. You do not need to have a very huge backyard for you to be able to implement this, the most important aspect is being able to utilize to the max the land that you have.

1. African kale,Rugare

This is a very fast maturing kale and after seeding you should begin harvesting your in 5- 6 weeks. However African Kale does not respond well to transplanting most of us use suckers which really do well. Thin at six weeks and then you can harvest the remaining plants as you would any other kale. Use plenty of organic manure for larger leaves.

2. Cowpeas

If you are growing cowpeas for the leaves and not the seed, you should be able to harvest in about six weeks or at most two months. Cowpeas likes virgin soil or at least a lot of manure. So don’t be shy about applying manure from cows or chickens.

3. Cabbage

Some varieties of cabbage will mature in as short as two months from seedling.

4. Pumpkin

As long as you are growing pumpkin for the leaves and not the fruit, your crop should be ready in well under two months.Muboora is very popular at MbareMusika and can fetch good prices.

5. Spinach

With direct seeding, spinach should be ready in about two and a half months. If you are starting with seedlings instead of seeds the spinach will mature a little slower because it takes time to get over the shock of transplanting. This crop is highly nutritious and one of my personal favourites.

6. Potatoes

Potatoes mature in two to four months depending on the variety.

7. Baby carrots

These should be ready in about 30 days.

8. Squash

Squash should be ready in 70 days which is quite a short time.

9. Coriander

Coriander leaves take about at the very most six weeks to mature.

10. Peas

Garden peas mature in 60 days which translates to two months.

11. Beans

Some varieties of beans take less than two months to mature.

12. Parsley

Your parsley should be ready in a record three weeks. You can even dry the parsley and sell it as dried which fetches a better price on the market.

For detailed production guide on any of the above mentioned crops make don’t hesitate to contact Agro Aid Trust.

Emmanuel DN Dube is the senior agronomist at Agro Aid Trust and Chief agronomist at ZBIN, if you have any questions please email him on agroaidtrustzimbabwe@gmail.com +263783 495 396