With temperatures soaring in Harare, Munemo has just been thinking ‘What happened to Water World? What led to the demise of this famous place in Harare? This used to be a family friendly place to cool off especially in summer when Harare experiences some of the highest temperatures of the year. So what led to the closure of the place? From a financial point of view its simple…its profitability issues. Its highly likely that the place was nolonger profitable leading to its closure and converting the premises to other use.

Now with temperatures hitting new highs iam tempted to relook at Waterworld. Is there demand for this leisure activity? My answer is obviously yes, there is huge demand for this. Hararians love to cool off but the options are limited. There are few family friendly venues to cool off and have fun leading Hararians with no option but to visit the sewage infested Lake Chivero for cooling off. Even at this lake there are no trendy or modern facilities that will attract the interest of Hararians.

So in short, Harare need investment in a lot of areas and the Leisure and Entertainment sector is one area that is crying for investment. So diasporans thinking of investing back home-do have a look at this sector. If you are worried about the costs of land perhaps you may need to partner with Harare City Council, they have a lot of public swimming pools that are derelict swimming pools in areas such as Waterfalls and Highfields, good venues for water sports.

So who can be your potential customers?

1. General Public during weekends and Public Holidays
2. Schools and Crèches  during the week especially private schools

So start the researches, do check out latest trends from abroad and carry out detailed researches. I can surely guarantee you of good returns on investment.

Good Afternoon investors how are you doing? Kunevaenda kumakereke mafamba zvakanaka here? Hayewa tichizorora hedu musi we Sunday kudai planning for the week ahead tinokushuvirai makomborero oga oga.

Ok dear friends, lets look at our shopping malls in Zim…Last time we reviewed shopping malls I think we touched on Longchen. Today we will take a close look at the Old Mutual owned shopping mall-Highglen.

Location.
Located near Budiriro the area is easily accessible to folks residing in Highfields,Glen Norah, Glenview,Budiriro, Mufakose,Kambuzuma and Rugare. Good catchment area with a population exceeding 200,000.

Parking Space.
The area has excellent spacious parking space. Some of the space has been turned into a bus terminus for long distance buses.

Vacant Shopping Offices.
The occupancy rate at this mall should be less than 30%. There are many reasons why the situation is like this. We may need a lot of research on the Whys. Our focus is not on the Whys but we choose to be positive and find our HOW members of this forum can benefit.

Possible Opportunities.
Interested in investing at this shopping area? Not sure of the fields to invest in? One quick guide for you is to visit a couple of shopping malls in Harare…compare and contrast with HighGlen.

Areas worth looking at include thee following:
1. Good Pub/Club.
2. Kids Entertainment.
3. Butcheries.
4. Food Courts.
5. Internet Cafes.

After investing you will need to be patient and one area you need to work on is Marketing…if you can market your business well hapana chinoramba.

A few years ago a friend of mine opened a butchery and a bottlestore…ndokubva azoisa ka braai stand. The braai stand became one of the most popular in Harare because it allowed folks to braai,have beer and socialise.

Pa braai stand apa unlike Mereki or Zindoga it was a do- it- yourself service and YES there are a lot of folks who like to braai on their own. The concept became extremely successful such that we ended up with folks driving from the City centre,Northn Surburbs too coming to the area. Truck drivers plying the Joburg Lusaka route started joining folks doing braai…vakatangawo kumira and enjoying the socialising part.

Waiti watenga nyama yako ..mumwewo atenga..wogocha at your own pace,enjoying debates dze soccer,politics,business everyone-Awesome stuff.

Then one day a certain manager wechichena from Old Mutual came…achiwona mhomho yevanhu ndokubva ati braai stand ngaibviswe! Yakabva yabviswa mafaro achiperawo…End of an Era!

Back to our Topic.
So I encourage you all to visit HighGlen shopping centre if you ever get time. Find out how you can invest at the area even usina hako shungu or short term plans to do so.

Online Shopping Malls.
This is for IT guys on the forum….how about creating a HighGlen..Sam Levy..Join City Shopping Mall? Consolidating all the Shopping Malls in Zim on one website. After the creation of the website you can then engage business owners at the respective shopping malls to advertise…initially for free and then at a fee?

Such a website will help consumers to know the location of various businesses at various shopping malls. For now ukandivhunza about businesses at LongChen iam likely to say the LongChen Hardware & IVATO Supermarket. Tumwe tumabusiness twuripo ndetwekungowonawo. Therefore ndikakwanisa kuenda ku LongChen Shopping Mall on the net ndoziva what else I can find at each shopping mall zvingabatsire chose.

Food for Though.

Enjoy your Sunday Good Folks![soliloquy id=”75″]