So i was watching CNN today and there was  a programme of training the memory so that it can remember a lot of things. Interesting programme that shows that most people rarely use the power of their minds! Through the programme, i watched many people doing the unthinkable….verdict? The verdict was through practice, we can achieve more. Through mind training, students improved academic records-even those previously classified as dull.

Iam not an educationist an therefore may not be aware of how our local educators are doing it but believe that this is a must watch documentary. Yes we have quiz championships at high school an i remember representing my former school well during the 90s. I feel schools should launch competitions that train the minds of youngsters and watch the results!

Iam not advocating for students who ‘cram’ but students with an improved mindset and training the mind is one of them. ZBIN will therefore be making a lot of work on the awareness on the power of the mind! It can be a lot of fun and can help many students to improve grades.

History made
As mentioned last week, we have a team in Malawi that arrived yesterday. Our first ever foray onto the region. We have previously hosted regional participants but not gone to regional countries. So we are in Lilongwe and then Blantyre before coming back to Harare. From Harare we are gonna be on a whirlwind tour of the region meaning a temporary relocation of the ZBIN headquarters for the coming weeks.

The good thing coming from this is the establishment of a strong regional entrepreneurship community. Through the community developed we are hoping to distribute more products and services efficiently. You want to launch or distribute products or services in the region then there is one platform that can do it for you-ZBIN! You want to study business in Southern Africa then there is one forum of choice for you-ZBIN. We will be pilot testing a number of initiatives and Kilombero Rice is going to be one of them-creating expanded markets for the rice across Southern Africa and help to improve the livelihoods of Malawian farmers and also creating jobs in Maun, Durban, East London, Beitbridge, Phikwe, Maseru or Windhoek! It will not be a tough task to do because we already have 5,000 nationals on our Whatsapp platforms, we are meeting some of them during our tours and establishing linkages and networks. So ZBIN is nolonger a forum that talks of business opportunities in South Africa-now we are walking the talk!

Wa Reng: So what else is up this week?

1.Mining: We have partnered with one of the forum members and we are working on hosting a national conference on mining issues. Should be a unique conference that looks at the other side of mining, what happens after mining companies have finished mining and left? A great conference with a lot of researches and will challenge the way mining is done in the country especially the environmental damage.

2. More Live Updates: We are encouraging more members to participate, 3 South African citizens will be participating giving us business updates. If we are fortunate, we may feature a Zimbo sister based in India so that she can update us on what it is like to live in India-she will cover business opportunities and other general stuff

3. Moz Opportunities: We continue tracking developments in our ‘adopted country’-Moz because this is a country which rarely gets positive business story coverage.

4. Mainstream Media: So we have close to 400 business articles on our website which have been read 180,000 times since the formation of the www.zbinworld.com site. Everyday has a new article coming up and we are proud to have assisted a lot of people with business ideas. From next week do expect to read some of ZBIN articles in your local newspapers as we expand our reach beyond Social Media.

5. Volunteer Action: One of our volunteers, a company based in South Africa that deals in IT products and services has sponsored a quiz which will result in winners getting free Anti Virus software. Expect more products and offers from your favourite forum as we promote local entrepreneurs within the forum.

Stay Blessed.

Re tlaa bonana

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