The ZBIN forum is a strong business community that includes all nationalities. We have nationalities from India, Uganda, Ghana, Namibia, Malaysia, Mozambique, Botswana and South Africa. We even have 50 followers from Manila in Phillipines who follow the forum on a daily basis. Indian nationalities interested in business in Africa have been slowly coming to the forum  and now stand at more than 500.

We have 2 business App groups for foreign nationals and they include South Africa (1,000) and  Malawi (200). All of the groups help to provide a platform for business discussions and networking. In the case of South Africa, ZBIN members will be carrying out more trainings as we help our members to expand their businesses across the rainbow nation.

Below we feature one of our correspondents based in East London, Siviwe Vava Melane. Known as Vava or Vee, her clan name is Mamhkhomazi, owner of LLikwezi Trading, Mbokodo Indaba Foundation and Hotplate Catering Deco and Events. She can be contacted on +27 833 318 9 219

How to start restaurant business

Before you even think of where you will run your business guys you must know the type of food that you want to serve. Yaz in the townships where we grew up in, there were only 3 types of businesses, spaza shops, the shebeen and lamama who sells fish, amagwinya, tripe and has an occasional stand se vegetables. When it comes to… food people or customers are very loyal. That’s why those fat cakes produced graduates.

Over the past few years the trend has been that of Zimbabweans emigrating to other countries and this has resulted in over 3 million being based on foreign soil. An analysis of Diaspora remittances show an upward trend , in 2009, remittances stood at $294 million and increased to $552 million in 2012, $788 million in 2013 before rising to $935 million in 2015.

Whilst this upward trend will continue in the short to medium term, our expectation is that one day the Diaspora will return and reverse the trend. One day there will be a stampede to come back to Zimbabwe by the Diaspora community. A presentation by the Minister of SMEs in South Africa, Ms Lindiwe Zulu showed that foreign investors are slowly coming back to Zimbabwe to look for opportunities. They may not be investing yet but are getting ready to tap into opportunities that abound in Zimbabwe. A few in the Diaspora are doing the same coming here and there to the country and checking on possible opportunity areas. Like foreign national investors, they are not investing yet but waiting for the right policies and support or trigger events that will result in reverse migration.

How do you get prepared?

Most potential foreign investors coming to Zimbabwe to scour for opportunities use South African Airways flights which is where Ms Zulu observed that not all foreign nationals on these flights are not necessarily tourists. She just confirmed what we already know at ZBIN! So for the Diasporan son or daughter of the soil to tap into opportunities that exist all you need to do is to be prepared. You have to identify your area of interest where you have strengths in and get yourself a business plan. Review the business plan on a constant basis incorporating changes in the policy or operating environment.

Preparation for investment is a process which takes time and you need to be part of supportive forums or platform where business ideas are shared. You need to be part of support forums where you discuss business experiences with others facing similar situations. The forums can be in Diaspora or in Zimbabwe-all you need is to get information of what is working or what is not. Information shared on various platforms plus professional expert advice will equip you with the right information and skills for effective decision making.

The potential foreign investors who are flocking to Zimbabwe are joining business forums in Zimbabwe, some are getting professional advice on available opportunities and how to prepare for them. They are being told of possible triggers for the Zimbabwe Gold Rush and what to do when the triggers come to effect. They are studying case studies of countries that have been in similar situations such as ours and what happened when the right conditions for investment were created. Some are following government initiatives such as Ease of Doing Business and Economic Export Zones. Some are looking at the development of the Diaspora strategy and looking at opportunities that will be presented by the strategy. Of course the biggest issue that potential investors are looking at and monitoring in the political landscape!

Practical Examples of preparation

You may not necessarily need to invest at one go, you may do investment on a piecemeal basis and one of the best strategies is to develop strong relationships or links with organisations back home. One can take the example of an IT company run by Zimbabweans which has approached us looking for mentorship opportunities. We gladly approved their request to join and they will be assisting the ZBIN community with digital marketing e-lessons, drafting manuals to assist the informal sector and providing limited funding assistance. They will be helping Zimbabwe IT professionals on our group by linking them with other experts in South Africa.

The end result is that they will slowly build their name by partnering with a leading forum for the SME sector in Zimbabwe. They will slowly build their brand and get acceptance by hundreds of thousands of followers of ZBIN. Such association will result in them improving current business as they will be exporting to Zimbabwe, the bigger benefit for them is that they would have prepared enough groundwork for expansion to Zimbabwe!

They will not be on the same footing with someone who will be coming with investment funds and trying to build a brand or reputation at one go. You do not build a brand in one day-it takes years. Even at ZBIN, we did not get thousands of followers in a single year, the project started in 2012 with a group of a few friends meeting online and deciding to form Zimbabwe’s biggest online business community. Therefore the best strategy is to partner with organisations or forums that have a strong following. This will assist you in getting ready for investment. Some groups are for free and some you may need to subscribe to. It is your duty to look for social groups or platforms that give you value for money in terms of business or investment information.

Regularly assess such platforms whether they give you value for money, whether they are forward looking and track events on the ground in preparation for an investment rush. The ball is in your court, get ready for opportunities and assess your situation and take corrective action if need be.

*One way to track opportunities and get ready for investment is to track public tenders. Tenders tell you the full story of the investment climate-where are funds going to? Which sectors are growing? Where is the Private, Government or NGO sector spending funds on? The ZBIN provides this information for free once every 2 months or on a weekly basis to subscribed members.