Here is an interesting observation from the 2012 Zimbabwe Census- ‘In 2002, 65 percent of people lived in rural areas whilst 35 percent lived in urban areas. However, the 2012 Census shows that 67 percent now live in the rural areas whilst 33 percent live in the urban areas’

The trend in urban to rural migration should have continued from the 2012 and am sure when another census is done, results should confirm this. So today we cover Rural Area Business Centre Opportunities because this is an area overlooked by many. Most people view rural areas as places that offer little or no opportunities at all. Its even worse for the Diaspora when you are so far away and you are not aware of recent changes that have happened in terms of urban to rural migration. Let me start by telling you a short story of my journey to a rural area called Musana Bindura.

In 2006 I visited relatives in this rural area which is located 60km to the North East of Harare. My car had mechanical problems which were being attended to by a mechanic and this prompted me use public transport. I boarded a kombi from the Fourth Street Bus Terminus and within an hour I had reached my destination. I expected my return journey to be smooth sailing. After finishing my business, I decided to come back and at 2:00pm I was at the bus stop waiting for a kombi going to the city. I waited for close to 30 minutes without seeing any kombi going to the city and decided to inquire from locals when I could expect to board the next kombi. Imagine my shock when I was told that the last kombi had left at 1:30pm and I had to wait for private cars or possibly walk a 15 kilometre journey to Shamva Road!

I decided to wait for private cars but none came. I eventually phoned my mechanic to check whether he had finished fixing my car, luckily he had done so and my wife had to drive and pick me up at 6:00pm-what a relief! Now imagine 2:00pm and you are already late for transport back to the city on a Saturday afternoon?

Anyway this was in 2006 and is the situation still the same in 2017? Dear reader, the situation has improved drastically as more than 30 kombis go to this area on a daily basis. The last kombi leaves around 8:00pm. There is so much traffic such that iam tempted to say this rural area is a new suburb for Harare. Locals in the area can be forgiven for calling the area ‘Glen Lorne Extension’ because every 30-45 minutes there is public transport going to the city or to Nyava Business Centre.

I do not really know what happened in the past 11 years but from general observations, it seems that the population size has increased tremendously. More people have relocated to rural areas especially areas that are near Harare-the peri urban areas. One can include Domboshava,Seke,Goromonzi,Chihota and Zvimba.

A look at Domboshava Showgrounds Business Centre shows an increase in shops at the business centre- they now have a Service Station and Pharmacy-business ventures previously unheard of in rural centres. Business is not bad for those who have set up business ventures at rural business centres although almost everyone is doing the same business with hardly any new and innovative business ideas being introduced. Munhu wese general shop,bottlestore,chigayo or butchery.

Some retailers in rural areas should be competing pound for pound with their counterparts in Harare when it comes to daily sales. We are therefore urging ZBIN members to relook at the opportunities that exist in rural areas because apart from the Rural Urban Centres, some are making a living through various farming projects such as raising Poultry, Piggery Projects and various other Agro-Processing projects.

We will carry out detailed studies on opportunities in the peri-urban and share with you. For now we urge you to look to look at these areas as new new surbubs for all cities. If you are in Harare then you should consider Domboshava, Zvimba, Seke, Goromonzi, Musana and Chihota as ‘new surbubs’ with opportunities that need to be tapped into.

One of our objectives is to equip our members with opportunity identification skills. A ZBIN member should have a competitive advantage over others when it comes to spotting investment opportunities. Before others realise what is happening, a ZBIN member should have taken up all opportunities!

Let me tell you of this interesting story that happened a few years back. Legend has it that a Nigerian brother visited Harare for the first time. When he was being driven from Harare International Airport, she shocked the cab driver when he started shouting ‘I can see money, I can see money-money, money money’. Our brother from West Africa kept on repeating the money, money much to the bewilderment of the cab driver. The local cab driver initially thought he had collected a mad person because it did not make sense- How does one see invisible money?

So when they reached the Coke Corner, the cab driver who had kept quiet all long driving from the airport,  decided to inquire about this ‘money’ that our brother kept referring to?

Do you want to know his answer? His answer was that the many cars that he saw on the road represented nothing but Money! To him cars meant more business in terms of car parts or service kits! So it is very easy to overlook investment opportunities when you are a resident of a particular area. So we would like our members to think like our brother from West Africa who was seeing ‘money’ which was invisible to the cab driver.

I have already provided you with a post where I talked about having an investment mind-set. You can search the post on our website-brilliant article about having a positive mind-set that helps in identifying opportunities.

New Suburb –New Opportunities

So what do I have to share with you this evening? Well I would like to notify you of a simple way of identifying opportunities in your area-opportunities that are mostly noticed by visitors to an area. The opportunity lies in identifying new residential areas, new developments.

Many people ignore new areas especially when you are not interested in buying residential stands or homes. There is a breed of entrepreneurs who follow new suburbs with the intention of setting up businesses. They will not be interested in buying residential stands nor building homes-their interest is simply in providing business services such as real estate construction, provision of building materials, setting up of tuckshops to sell food and groceries. Some will rush with a view to build creches, setting up car washes or any commercial business.

In 2 week’s time, I hope to cover new suburbs in Harare as a lot is happening in terms of new developments. So take an interest in all new developments in your local area and think about how you can benefit in a commercial sense.