The biggest event on the forum was the trip to Tete by the ZBIN Portuguese Group and we thank the Almighty that all went well. The group lead by Clara Mapfumo was in the Mozambican City for a period of 2 days and I hear they did well and will follow up in the coming two weeks.

After the Tete visit we shift our focus to Beira. We are still at planning stage and deciding whether to travel to Beira or Chimoio from the 28^th to the 29^th of December. More details will be shared with the forum members during the next two weeks.

Interviews

So we continue to unlock business information from Zimbos based in the Diaspora and to date we have given you interviews from India, DRC, Namibia, Canada, Dubai and Cape Town. Today we covered another interview with a sister based in Pemba a city which few Zimbos know about. I would like to thank Mrs Kapitawo for agreeing to be interviewed and sharing a lot of photos from a city which is hard to pinpoint where it is on the map.

I have secured another interview with a ZBIN sister based in Germany, a successful business person and an Accountant working in Germany who has interesting stuff for the ZBIN community. Expect this interview on Wednesday-another interview of a sister based in Kenya should be coming during the end of the week.

Why Interviews? The reason is simple, to help you get official information about other areas where vana vevhu stay and show that you too can do it. The interview with Mrs Kapitawo shows that she has opened a new company in Mozambique and as a member of ZBIN Baking  she is going to get a lot of help from others who are in the business and she can also help inspire others. This is the founding principle of ZBIN, unlocking business opportunities through networking and business information exchanges.

Adverts Section

There are few takers for the free platform we have on the website where we are inviting members to place their adverts for goods or services for sale. This platform is much better than Facebook adverts where you have to compete with thousands of other advertisers. So use this platform for your own benefit.

Videos on the Platform

So I discovered a new way of putting Youtube videos on the forum this week and this has been helpful in telling the full story of any issue posted on our website. Kindly refer to Clara Mapfumo’s video on opportunities in Mozambique. We shot the video at our meeting held at Paramount a month ago. We invite members to improve in terms of marketing- in addition to photos, please shoot short videos and post on Youtube. If you have challenges in uploading on Youtube then send them to me during weekends.

Videos are going to help you explain fully your business story, they are going to help you identify new markets and potential partners. So  make short videos and don’t worry about quality, we will improve with time. A two to four minute is good enough for a start. Iam therefore expecting my inbox to be flooded with videos every Saturday or Sunday and promise to upload them all. If you like to see the impact of videos then compare and contrast a newspaper and a television! So from mining,baking,poultry,online forex trading – Iam looking forward to your videos.

Research

As promised, we will be making follow ups on Vending Machines and Crowd Funding and will share information with you during the week.

Online Newsletter

Have you registered on our website so that you can receive our newsletter? Don’t be left out kindly register on our website for weekly summaries of posts and new developments in terms of investment.

 The 2017 National Budget

We hope to look at the National Budget that was presented this week and will look at what this means for the ordinary ZBIN member-those in business and those considering investment. We will look at possible scenarios in terms of business, if you like financial modelling then here is your chance to participate as we develop more models for use by the group. This will only be distributed via our newsletter.

Group Logo

Vote of Thanks to the ZBIN member, a hardworking and innovative youngster who developed our forum logo for free. We will feature him on the website during the week. May God bless you abundantly for the efforts.

Holidays and Parenting

Are you a parent? Do you have kids? If your answer to the two questions is yes, then here is something interesting we are going to be doing-we will be covering topics to help young minds to appreciate business. A couple of researches will be coming your way and the first one is creating of a vending machine, please refer them to the vending machine post and show them how to make one. It will help them in sharpening their research,teamwork,innovation and business skills. All you need to do is to download the video, buy the materials and then give them a task. We will come up with a comprehensive list of projects for them next week.

 So till next week,  WaMdala signs off

So two months ago I was on the forum telling you the story of investment opportunities in Mozambique. I highlighted the opportunities that abound in our Eastern Neighbour and how other foreign nationals are benefiting. I invited members from here to join out Watsapp Group and the immediate task was to plan for a visit to the city of Tete.

The good news is that the group toured Tete last week . Tete is 350 Kilometres away from Harare. The group had initially made 2 tours to the same city. One in March and a follow up in April. So this Dec trip was the third one but with a completely new set of people. Credit goes to Clara Mapfumo and team for a successful tour of Tete.

The trip was an eye opener for the folks who participated, members witnessed first hand the developments that are happening at a fast pace in the city. The country has been affected by low commodity prices which seriously impacted on the operations of the Economy. Mines were not spared and this resulted in a lot of retrenchments and downscaling of operations. However there is slow recovery and for long term investors only the sky is the limit in Mozambique. South African investors continue to pour in investment and since our last trip in April, a number of new South African supermarkets have been established. New mines are being opened and this represents a seal of approval when it comes to investment.

Zimbababwens in Tete,

So what are Zimbos doing in this city which is equivalent to Gweru (some within the group argue that it will surpass Bulawayo soon). Zimbabwean nationals are into construction, some white farmers who left Zimbabwe are into farming. Some are employed by mines and transport businesses.

Investment Gaps in Mozambique.

1.Transport – there is room for more players n the transport sector for ferrying goods to and from Beira. Our Chinese friends are busy transporting logs cut from the rich forests of Mozambique to Chinese. On your way to Tete, you will see countless lorries ferrying logs and other raw materials. Watch out for the slow recovery of the commodity prices and opening of new mines and the opportunities tis may present to you.

2.Boutiques– This one is for small time investors with little capital-yes there is mazitye, mabhero clothes in Mozambique but for this Cidade, there is room for Zimbo investors who are serious in the fashion and clothes industry.

3.Foreign Nationals as a market– the increasing foreign nationals community presents a golden opportunity for investors- this rich community of professionals has needs. Education of their children(there are few good schools in Tete that teach English or with high education standards). This community require food, they need clothes etc. So one needs to carefully study this community and find out how you can benefit.

4.Fruit and Veges Market-last time I visited a Mozambican contact asked me to find a partner who with a refrigerated truck who can ferry sea food from Beira to Tete as there is a big gap with the current provider overcharging clients by as much as 500%. Investors to this city should look carefully at who is providing fruit and vegetables to this city of close to 300,000 people.

5.Mining Opportunities- new mines mean new opportunities for professionals and a lot of service providers. One of my friend provides security guard services to some of the mines in the province.

I will do a video where I will feature business opportunities in that country, so watch out for it in the coming few weeks.

Future Plans
The good news is that some of the members who participated in the latest tour will be quietly going back for follow ups in the next 2 weeks. The group wishes them well in their endeavours- for us its mission accomplished!

Beira Trip
So after the Tete Trip, we have another one-this time we head to Beira and its coming on the 28th to the 29th of December. We will look at opportunities that exist in the port city of Beira and Chimoio. It is our first business tour of the city; we do not expect to cover much since it will be holiday time. The trip will however help us in planning the next tours.

So are you interested in exploring new areas and new opportunities? If you answer is Yes then plan for the trip –Harare to Beira is 551 km. Plan to spend between $40-$60 on accommodation per night. You do not have to pay anyone any fee, you just bring your car and join others heading to the ocean.

Muito Obrigado