The trending news in the country is the collapse of E-Creator, a ponzi scheme that has been running for the past 3 months. To some the collapse came as a surprise but to followers of the forum—the ponzi collapsed as expected. The scheme collapsed with an estimated US$2 million of investor funds and adds to the growing list of ponzi schemes landing on our shores and leaving a trail of destruction.

How did the latest scheme hoodwink victims?

It was neatly packaged as an empowerment program and in a country with high unemployment, take up was automatic. The scheme had collapsed in April 2023 in Nigeria after running for a few months and this helps explain why analysts had predicted end of June 2023 as the burial day of the ponzi.

The ponzi had strong backing unlike the previous ones and included the public media giving ample space to the scammers. In a country where public media still enjoys considerable confidence—some were regrettably ensnared by the adverts.

Endorsements from public figures such as Madam Boss added trust weights and It remains to be seen whether there is going to be a public apology from institutions that supported the ponzi.  

Despite warnings, and even a couple of articles on the forum including a shorthand book on awareness-Zimbabweans still forged ahead and invested funds in the hope of fast returns. It’s now all tears as some had invested huge sums of funds with reality now settling in that indeed they had trusted scammers with hard earned dollars.

From MMM, Beven Capital, and now E-Creator—the list keeps extending and it’s a matter of time before another ponzi scheme emerges.

Therefore the question is have Zimbabweans learnt the hard way? Is this the end of ponzi schemes in the country? We don’t think so—there is a huge market for ponzi schemes. Economic conditions will push for the speedy introduction of another ponzi scheme and the next could come as early as November targeting the festive season.

Most of the ponzi schemes are imports—copy and pasted from West Africa or from South Africa. Only a few such as Beven Capital was structured from Zimbabwe.

Just how ponzi masters manage to register companies, open offices, advertise on National TV and Newspapers and then disappear without trace is mind boggling.

We encourage Zimbabweans to follow the forum for business ideas and the good news is that our members are always willing to share information on opportunities. In this post we cover buying shoes from Mozambique for resale in Zimbabwe, and we cover below experiences from Zbinites.

By Tindo: The business is or used to be profitable but due to many people (very high competition)now doing clothes and shoe business here in Harare or rather Zim and also the high rentals of spaces to sell its no longer that attractive. The business nowadays depends on the street you are and position in the shop your table is and also those who buy in bulk from Maputo suppliers enjoy economies of scale as compared to those with little capital and hence they sell their shoes at very lower prices thereby attracting more or almost every customer there is. You also need to be continuously getting the latest stuff on the market and with little capital hence less sales u won’t really cope. The goods are usually smuggled into the country and there is always this risky of losing your capital if the goods are intercepted.

In short it used to be a very good business or still can be if you have enough cash yekutenderedza and also your marketing skills.

By Tinashe: Did that business for two years between 2011-2013. Then taiva vashoma we would take shoes from Beira and Maputo,maputo yairwadza distance.It was wiser kuvhura bhero ikoko wosarudza than kutenga bhero racho rakadaro. We would charge average of 100-200% mark up. Ndakazozvisiya after prices started to fall takuisa ma50-100% mark up. Major challenge was maforeigners todhurisirwa kudarika veko vana amigo,muroad ukaita munyama unogona kunyura or dzikatevera dzaisvika dzimwe dzashota. Major benefit was waisada capital yakawanda coz we would get some new as low as $5 usd apa dzakanaka. Of late I have realized kuti maMozambicans vacho vakuuya nadzo vega.

By Vale: Its a good business its only need links with people in Mozambique because the shoes comes from Vietnam  by Chinese you you will need someone on ground in Mozambique.

The shoes are very cheap when you buy them in bulk for example a box of high quality airforces its costs $370 with 30 pairs and if you sell them with $20 you get $230 profit per box.The advantage or new shoes from Mozambique is that you are not restricted to import them from Mozambique to Zim they are different from bales which are not allowed 

Transport cost to and from Mozambique is approximately $50. But to start that business it needs about $600 and above so that you will have a variety of shoes.

By Tindo: Price depends on the quality of the material used to make the shoe and the low quality (cheapest ie ma airforce ema $10,$15 mutown), medium, high end which is next to or almost as good as original(has bar codes which can be traced back to the likes of Nike dot com because the manufacturers are given rights by these companies), these ones you find them being sold from around $50 going up muharare. So the bottom line is u need to identify your market muno muZim and that determines the quality of shoes you will be selling. MumaGhetto medu umu vazhinji havana pressure nequality but as long akapfeka airforce boe(result asina irombe coz everyone can afford kumarunner) then kwoitawo those vasingade zvese zvese.