We would like to thank the business community for the overwhelming responses to our call for business volunteers. This is great for the small to medium scale business enterprises in Zimbabwe. The forum would like to take advantage of the huge human capital potential that exists in Zimbabwe. We would like to harness this and help to capacity build a lot of entrepreneurs through the volunteer programme which we have dubbed ‘ ZBIN Entrepreneurship Unlimited’. We are pushing the boundaries in terms of entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe and through mentorship, partnerships and networking, we believe that only the sky is the limit!
How will it work?
We have received tens of responses from the community, some are lawyers, accountants, engineers, television producers, agronomists, entrepreneurs, bankers etc. Some of the responses came from Zimbabwe and abroad with countries such as Australia, UK, South Africa, USA, Germany, Turkey, Swaziland and Botswana.
We will provide volunteers with platforms to present on their areas of technical expertise to the forum. We will use platforms such as our popular Facebook Page where one can do a Facebook Live Programme on selected business topics as requested by the community. Videos produced to be uploaded on this site and Youtube so that more Zimbabweans outside the ZBIN forum can have access to the materials presented.
Other platforms will include training through webinars or at our conference room. Some will be writing business articles for sharing with the community or targeting their assistance to selected business enterprises. We believe that through this programme, the forum will be richer as it harnesses the human capital that exists amongst Zimbabweans dotted across the globe!
Below we feature one of the responses that we got from a loyal member of ZBIN
Hi I saw your message asking for volunteers. I am a broadcast and digital journalist. I am based in Turkey where I work for an international news channel as a producer. I am keen on training some people on Digital social marketing. This on how harness social media in growing their brands. I will focus on developing social media strategy, which platforms to focus on, and mobile journalism on how to shoot, produce and publish videos of their products.
This will be a great opportunity for the ZBIN entrepreneurs to take advantage of the skills and knowledge of this brother who is based in the diaspora and has got access to the latest technology and skills in the area of digital marketing. We hope to see more volunteers coming to the forum and help a lot of Zimbabwean entrepreneurs in need of various services but not knowing where to get it or even afford to pay for it.
Next week we will finalise a legal capacity building framework for the SME sector. We are fortunate to have a lawyer who has volunteered to help the SME sector with all legal issues. We have asked the community to state what it is they would like her to cover and some of the responses we got are as follows:
Member 1: We would like her to cover partnership agreements investment Agreements drafts business contracts IP issues Arbitration
Member 2: She should try and cover ;
1) business agreements
2) transaction lagalities
3) trade legal requirement
4) export lagalities
5) representation of sme Players in litigation – funded through subscriptions
6) legal operation requiremnts package for sme in Zimbabwe
Member 3: Dealing with bad debtors. Law of contracts btwn parties/ individuals zvatofanira kutarisa wen entering into contracts. Advice of forms of partnerships/companies with less risk. Company/ trustee/ cooperative formation
Member 4: I think assistance with partnership agreements would really help as well as information on tax laws and how they affect our businesses. Perhaps she could also provide advice on company types that are legal in Zim and how best to select an option suitable to you business. I always wonder about trusts and foundations in reference to commercial applicability.
ZBIN is going to do a Live Facebook Feature on our Facebook Page tomorrow at 3:00pm where we will explain how the Volunteer Programme will work. Do not miss the feature on our page Zim Business Ideas and Network.
For those interested in joining our programme, do send an email to vicmunemo@yahoo.com or use this phone number +263774081808
