The Vein of Inspiration

    Growing up being inspired by business personnels was a crime you would not dare to tell you kins, as ridicule would follow you in that instant. Though a few had folks who actually exposed them to the world of business without telling the price one had to pay to be part of it. I was one of the few drawn into the business at young age, though it was in the medical field. A field I detested due to the red tape I saw to exist. The reality of this world is never told in its totality as those we admire will photoshop their story of success, while giving you just a bite to reality.

    In this blog I am going to look into three different local heroes and heroine, who are found in the business world and the literature world. Being Zimbabwean one of my hero will regarded as an obvious case, as he has been celebrated accross the country and the continent. While other two might seem not likely but there way of doing things have made me to appreciate them more as look on their success cycle.

    My First local Hero is Nigel Chanakira. His story inspired me to see that the business world is not a clear cut success story road but a path that require consistancy and tenecity to move on not given regards to stones that you might stamble upon along the way. Having founded the one of the once most prolific banks in Zimbabwe coming from the ghetto, is something to arvel about. This because in most case we do not see that happening as it is difficult to sail above the fact that you come from ghetto and most business people not taking you seriously. The rise and fall of Kingdom Bank right in front of our eyes, exposed to the brutal side of business which most founders do not dare to talk about.

    Despite going through that difficult time, he did not give up on being a businessman but soldiered on. This lead to the reason why I see him as my local hero. The fact that he taught me that if you want to curve a mark on the world in business you have to fall once in a while. And embracing the lessons that comes from those faillures is how you grow in business. In recent years his desire to share his experience through coaching others makes me to hold him to a high standard.

    My second is Strive Masiwa. He is the founder of Econet Wireless telecommunication company, of which he did so at time where was strange for anyone to start a company as such. During that time if your family had someone who owned a cellphone was regarded as a rich family. Right now the situation have change as every family has more than one cellphone with them. His struggle to get the licence is well documented in the country and is one of the most celebrated story. These days Econet has become one of the most valuable company in Zimbabwe and being one regarded as the most innovative one. 

    For me, his business acumen fascinate me to a level I am afraid to acknowledge. I once hearda story of how he got to attract one of his executive by sarcificing a luxury car and peaks that was unheard off. For most of the business people I know of they do not do that even if they know that the person might be worth it. They value their own comfort over that of their employees, as they would want to be seen as a "Mbinga" a  trend that is now engraved in Zimbabwe business culture. With that in mind his wife heards a organization that focuse on empowering youths from marginalized community by awarding scholarships. This move makes me to admire him even further with a lesson that when you make it, make sure to uplift the community in his case the country he is from.

    My last and not the least is the most intriguing author to have come out of Zimbabwe that is Tsitsi Dangarembga. In high school I was never the one you would find reading novels. Most of the time I was told to do so I would feel like it was a punishment, which was not the case when I got to read her book (Nervous Conditions). This was the book that introduce me to the love of reading books. Her pen always amazed me on how she could capture a moment and engrave it onto paper. Making my introduction to protest literature which held history and highlighted the dangers that came with shifting culture without having something to balance it.

    Her book now seem to speak volume of how we needed to shape culture to give equal opportunities to both genders and not to focuse only on the male child. However, a balance is need to do so. As result I got drawn to the world of art unwillingly by her words that lead me to seek more literature from  the continent. Her activism beyond the pen, fighting for the rights of others even at expense of your own freedom. Made me to see a different light to her that our words should also be reflected by actions. Making me aware our actions speaks volume of our words.

    In conclusion, these three heroes and heroine have taught me lessons I have and am trying to apply in my life. These lessons can be summed up one statement that is: "Fear is just a denominator waiting to be bartered with courage to see succuss."

Fine Wine

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“As I sip past my thoughts

Mingling with ideas,

That seems to come alive on the pillow

Lost to the will power of fear

I ink my tale masked

Pleading for no one to pull my tail

And unveil my truth.”

 

There is this Shona proverb that I used to hear elders say to me growing up, and I always used to find it funny until it wasn’t. Because I am now grown and the words, they used to say now make more sense than they did in the past. “Kura uone”, meaning grow up and you will see. This short phrase has unravelled my life goals realizing what I used to think is not easy too as I thought. Soon after graduating with Business Management degree with major in Entrepreneurship, thought I would present myself as business thought leader which gave birth to bloated pen the blog.

In the initial stages everything seemed to be on the right path, this was before the poetry bug took over me. With a few articles under the belt and dream organization to foster entrepreneur to rising generation was formed. However, the reality of this organization existing in real life was far from coming through as there were a lot, I need to learn in setting up an NGO like organization. The reason behind this was the fear of government laws that seemed to always been in loop of changes. Not any specific sponsors for the idea made things even worse as I was also starting in life.

However, this naïve outlook to life did not stop me because I was trying to set up a family business before tragic fell upon my family and the dream had to be placed on hold. During that time a lot change me and focus shifted towards needing something consistence. As result the dream was suspended and the thought leadership ambition was place on indefinite leave. One thing that remained was the entrepreneurship spirit as started exploring other ventures without any money.

The lesson I got to learn was that it was easier for me to complain about lacking something when I was growing up than it is to provide myself with things I craved. In the process of that realization, I got to find out that change is not leader or politician responsibility but any individual responsibility. Cause if you wait for leaders to enforce change you will be waiting for so long before anything happens. Politicians made me to see that clearly as often times I was frustrated by their policies, only to discover I am responsible for change that I yearn to see.

One thing I want leave here is that we are agents of change and our lives depend on it. For change is the only true currency that exist in this life than anything else and even biology taught us that cause before adolescent we are the same but during and after it the difference is clear as day. We change into something better but so should our mindset shift as well.

Words as Storytellers of US

 It's funny how we wait for others to tell our tale on our behalf. Of which most of the times that tale does not reflect who we really are but a commentary of someone trying to understand things that are complicated for them to do so.  Having said my peace first, the art of storytelling is ever evolving, though the sad part is that our stories have become more westernized than ever before. In a bid to be accepted globally, we have sought to embrace formulas that give us quick fame at the expense of being authentic. Thereby robbing ourselves the potential to sale our heritege from our own perspective.

Before we go forward we need to retrace our steps backwards on how stories used to influence our morale behaviour and how it is even today. Words were never written down but were shared by the fire by grandparents in the form of folklores. These folklores contained lesssons that were hidden at plain sight but however if one was to look deep into them they shaped our lives unaware. This is just to demostrate how powerful they were to convey a message effectively without even realising how "Sekuru Gudo and tsuro" tales panelbeated us to be who we are.

As times changed and we got a bit educated, the way we shared our tales changed but however we became lazy to share them ourselves and even research about them. Leading to era where most of our content does not reflect us and our words has become a morale deccay cause of concern. As we borrow culture we are not familar with and redress ourselves to fit in the western world. We have used words to tear down our own culture for the clicks and empty promises that seem inticing. Thereby adopting a culture that does not really give true.

In as much we do not see directly the influence of words, words have power to shape our tomorrow that is why some scholars pointed out that ink is more dangerous than a gun. For a society norms can be redifined by the words storytellers in that society share and create. Hence the notion of what is now perceived by the society where materails have become the standard of love...

"We have danced with the brush for so long

Unaware of the power we have

Yet bending to the will of lies

We choose to put on to cover our identity

As from the dust of Africa

We are made

But at the sight of cameras

We deny the rhythm that made us."

My dream is to see ourselves telling our stories to influence the world. Where our culture is celebrated for it upbring of well rounded individual rather than being discarded. Where we realize the power of the ink that stains our fingers rather than waitng for our mind to be corrupted. Where our art will finally come alive and speak volumes as the likes of Tsitsi Dangarembga, Chinua Achebe, Dambudzo Marechere and Zakas Mda etc did for the generation before us.

Business vs The masses

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 "Where the crowd is.

Is where money at."

 This have been the misconception held by many. As the society have held close on the belief that the masses are the major sign of something that is working. However most of the time when you realise that the masses are rushing in a certain direction it is always good to go the opposite direction." Better yet chart your own route and destination."As usually where the mass congregate, they will copy each other thereby diluting the market share in turn might as well damage the profitability of the venture.

A very great example to Zimbabwe is the fowl project. Back in the days only hand few people were running the fowl project and it was really lucrative. And there was the issue of quality conformances which were at par with big organization. Due to this many people entered into this space and a lot started to be lost as it became a competition on the pricing. Which was good at first until the competition became toxic and the use of GMO became a reality. As a result unfair practice became rampant and chickens began to be sold at  six weeks.

The case study above highlight some of the two major impact of following the crowd. As from its inception it begins as a good thing and create much need competition that drives business growth however it becomes problematic when the masses join. For the emergence of ill practices will surge for everybody will be trying to get an edge of another leading to cutting corners. The moment cutting corner trend emerge the customer is most likely to suffer as they might end being sold a poor quality product or service.

As an individual pursuing entrepreneur activities, you should try to create trends that the mass will try follow. But when they do that you would have created your authority in the area. This will make the standard and you will have an edge from your competitors. This can be visible seen in the paint industry how people view Plascon and Dulux as the standards of quality.

"Escape competition through authenticity. In business, the masses are never right." (Micheal Makasi 2021) The Above quote highlights how one can be differentiated in business. This will give you an advantage over your competitors in the long run.

The Power Validation When Marketing Your Products Or Services.

 Of late I have been going through alot of documents trying to figure out why sometimes we buy things at the words of our peers. It might seem funny to most us that our friends can influence how we choose to spend money. This is the reason why most businesses us testimonials as part of their marketing campaigns.

 Do not underestimate the power that this marketing strategy carries. As it stand to appeal to our human nature of wanting to belong to socitial grouping. This need is what they seek to use to get us buying different products.

However when using this strategy they is a lot of things one have to consider. First and foremost, one need to define their target group or groups. Two need to figureout the norms that glue the group together. This enable the entrepreneur to know how best to craft his or her message not to offend the targeted clientele(in this instance group) effectively.

Once this two things are clearly defined, the entrepreneur will need to move on to finding out the people who are influential onto those groups settings. These are the people that they target first to use their products or service and ask for their feedback. Once they have them the entreprenuer can us this feedback as testimonies. which in turn (s)he use to appeal to the rest of targeted grouping. Thereby appealing to the egos of those groups and having a validation that stand as a stamp of approval for them to trust the brand.

What is the role of mission and vision statement in business

Entrepreneurs need to write down there mission and vision statement when establishing new entities or realigning existing business that have shifted there focus. The statement helps in creating a road map which the organization will seek to follow as it tries to address problems or opportunities that might have encouraged the establishment of that entity. Bain & Company (2017) defined a mission statement as "the company’s business, its objectives and its approach to reach those objectives." This outlines that in the mission statement the entrepreneur will reveal what the entity will be all about and also what they want to achieve or address in pursuing the idea together with the action that need to be in place for the success implementation of those ideas.  The desired future position of the company was regarded as the vision by Bain & Company(2017). Both vision and mission statement work hand in hand as the mission statement addresses the now factor while the  vision creates a clear picture of where you want to go.

The two statement will help in the establishment of the objectives and goals that the entity will seek to follow. Thus the strategies that will be used by the company will determined by the mission and vision statement. The entity will have an overall mission and vision statement which will be used to formulate mission and vision statement of functional departments within the organization with soul purpose of creating enabling environment to the success of the business. The mission statement is the one that addresses the creation of the corporate identity that will be used to  build the culture of the organization. This is because the objectives that a used on the day to day running of the organization are directly derived from the mission statement. Corporate culture is how the organization relate and operate within the internally  and the external environment. Thus there conduct of business and interactions with the internal and external environment.  According to Investopedia, "Corporate culture refers to the beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company's employees and management interact and handle outside business transactions.

SERVANT-LEADERSHIP APPLICABILITY ZIMBABWE ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURES

Servant-leadership is term which was first pointed out by Robert K Greenleaf in 1970. However if we go into history we will discover that this leadership system was already there though it is predominately found in the religious cycles. The leadership system assist in the motivation and also promoting the fulfillment of job satisfaction for subordinates. ".... The great leader is seen as servant first..." Robert K Greenleaf. The practise of the

leadership strategy is when the manage become the servant of the subordinates and serves them so that they can do better. Thus the manager assist the subordinates in doing his or her task so that better result are produced instead of the manager just revealing the tasks that will have been conducted by the subordinate. According to Larry Spears (1996) defined servant-leadership as; "…A new kind of leadership model – a model which puts serving others as the number one priority. Servant-leadership emphasizes increased service to others; a holistic approach to work; promoting a sense of community; and the sharing of power in decision-making."

This leadership helps the organization to grow through the encouragement by the leader for the achievement of greatness by his or her subordinates. Therefore for the management style to work properly there is need for the leader to have the patience and the motive to see your subordinates achieve greatness. The implementation of the system in Zimbabwe organization can result in the growth of those companies at the same time will lead to having highly motivated stuff that does not Shane to go to work every morning. The managers will need to be selfless for the system to work which presents a challenge to most of the organizations in the country who are of the view that subordinates need to forced to work (Douglas Mcgregor's theory X). As result the manager believe he or she have to be feared so that work can be done on time, the practice of this kind of system is mainly seen in a lot government institutions to the extend that the top management will award themselves hefty salaries because they regard themselves important for the survival of the organization. 

Servant-leadership is of the view that work, people and community are inseparable condition that leads to the success or downfall of organization. The notion behind this style is that the work is for the people in as much the people are of the work. Thus the leadership style seek to address that for the organization to flourish there is need by the manager to realize that success is banked on having highly motivated skilled workforce who seek to achieve their desired end result with all their effort. The adoption of this leadership style will require the complete transformation of the way managers think of their role towards their subordinates. They need to also understand that the success of their subordinates also reflect on them so it will beneficial to them if they assist their subordinates to carrying out their prescribed task. This also support by other motivational theory in business thus the Hawthorne Effect which was conducted by Elton Mayo (1927- 32). In this study the results showed that people perform better when they know that their are being observed. However with servant-leadership it goes further from just observing to providing assist to your subordinates.

This leadership system have a high potential of transforming most organization in Zimbabwe if adopted. However the mindset of the entire organisation will have to shift the management have to let go the fear that their subordinates replace them. When this is achieved the management will find it easy to go and assist their subordinates in conducting their task and also a close look of the system mighty also result in the cut back on time taken to identify problems to implementing solutions. The management team will need also to change their approach towards associating with their subordinates.

Building Zimbabwe to greatness

Zimbabwe have been experience some rough patch over the years, the main cause of this issues have been because of lack foreign direct investment and shutdown of many industries. This have led to slowing down of the economic growth which was facilitated by our poor policies. The policies were adopted in the late 90s caused a stir to foreign direct investment. Some of these policies are Indigestion policy, land reform policy and the rampant raise of corruption within the country. According to African Development Bank Group cited that the reason why Zimbabwe is in this predicament is because of, " economy continues to face structural challenges from high informality, weak domestic demand, high public debt, weak investor confidence, and a challenging political environment."

The economy have become more of retail economy as the mushrooming of shops selling imported groceries have become the order of the day. There are very few companies that are still manufacturing for export therefore as a result the countries have got a 'Negative GDP' resulting in trade deficit. Oxford Dictionary had this to say about trade deficit, "The amount by which the cost of a country's imports exceeds the value of its exports." Most of this companies that are still manufacturing there have dilapidated machinery that render their produce very noncompetitive in the global village we now live in. Due to weak investor confidence has resulted in most of the companies finding it hard to find external source credit lines as most of the investors afraid to loose their money as there is high risk of unfair policies being enforced on them.

The lack of proper governance and accountability by most of the officers who holds top offices have resulted in the country experiencing high level of corruption. This have led to few individuals getting rich at the expense of the public, a good example of the factor mentioned about can be the disappearance of the $15 billion dollars that was realized from the sale of diamonds. According to the Herald of 28 April 2016, there was an article which talked about the government launching an investigation in the disappearance of the money. The high volume of unemployment have led to high level of vendors in the Central Business District as they seek to make a living.

Zimbabwe need a lot effort to facilitate turnaround strategies that should first start with our culture of conducting business. This can only be effective if we have a shared vision as a country and the desire to pursue the vision as one. For instance the United State of America that unite the states in the pursuit of better livelihood for their citizens which they call "the American dream". Our laws should not have loopholes where you find out that certain individuals above the law. There ems that forces should be system that forces accountability to the highest level and proper corporate governance. In turn this two will bring about the necessary development required in these country to start having a direction. We need to come up with investor friend policies that shows clear where we stand what we want to achieve and also promoting other source of foreign currencies from citizens outside the country.

Eyeglass gaze into asbestos and the global market: A Shabani Mashava case study

Over the years the global trends in mining shifted, some of the minerals that used to be of value have lost their value because of advancement of new technology. Some minerals we have subdued due to research being done in developing countries that have led to discovery of the health hazards associated with them. Asbestos is one of those minerals that have been found to be hazardous to health of humans. This issue have resulted in some of the mines that used to be profitable downsizing as result of decline of the demand for the product. In Zimbabwe we had one such mine which sustained the livelihood of the people of the town the mine operated in.

According to Coakley .G.J (2004) pointed out that asbestos was providing about 5.4% out of 804.3 million which was being contributed by the mining sector of Zimbabwe. However the shift and banning of the use of products in some countries began as early as 1998 and in 2003 South Africa joined the block of countries that banned asbestos due to health hazard it presented. Between the period of 2003 to 2004 Shabani Mashava Mine employed about 3 500 people and was a major source of welfare in Zvishavane.

This is a case study of Shabani Mashava mine located in Zvishavane and the relation to the global trend. In the early 2000 the government of Zimbabwe placed the mine under judicial management which led to the collapse of the operation of the entire organisation and resulting the retrenchment of the mine workers. This had a negative impact of the welfare of the people who live in Zvishavane that heavily depended on the organisation. There was a lot of confrontation between the government and the shareholder. The core business of the mine was mining of asbestos and exporting the minerals to various countries.

The advert of tiles and zinc sheets reduced the market share of asbestos which further worsened by the discovery of it harmful nature to human health. Recently the community in Zvishavane aged the current government to resuscitate the operations of the mine. This research is to figure out whether it is worth it for the government of Zimbabwe and also figure out whether there is still a viable market for the mineral. As we seek to understand the impact the reopening of the mine to relation to the local and global markets and the extent to which the mining of the mineral.

Joshi .T.K and Gupta .R.K(2004) said, “Aggressive marketing of asbestos is continuing in these regions after shrinkage of the market due to restrictions and bans imposed on the use of asbestos in many developed regions where its use is down to insignificant levels." This was in reference to developing countries that have embarked in major strive to keep promoting the use of asbestos despite the fact that most countries  from Europe and Some part of Asia have banned the use of asbestos to protect their citizens and reduces the health bills. As been outlined in the research the resuscitation of the Shabani Mashava Mine is not really viable as it may lead to the advent of health problems in the town which in the long run may prove costly for the country.

The United Kingdom have moved to ban the use of asbestos in construction of building there are in the process of removing asbestos that was already on buildings. This have a negative impact on the mining operations as they will have to downsize business also with the consideration that the use of asbestos in the UK is now indeed strict control. United State of America in there geological survey conducted in 2017 shows that the domestic use of asbestos products was banned in the country and have been encouraging the use of alternative products that does not contain asbestos.

Why is market research important in business?

Market research is one of the most important activity one have to do before engaging in any business activity when starting up or introducing a new product or service. According to the University of Salford Manchester(2016) defined market research as "the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of useful information about the market for planning and growth of the business activity." Market research is when an entrepreneur investigates whether the desired venture is favourable. It is also necessary when coming up with a business plan. It assist potential investors to see whether it is worth while for them to invest their money in the projects. This is because the market research outline the potential the proposed venture have to succeed in the current market. The research assist the entrepreneur to see their potential market segment they could penetrate and the readiness of the potential customers to purchase your products and services. Thus the target market, which we define as the segment of people we expect to sale our product or service. Some scholars like G Zaltman(1997), have argued that market research is one of the most important initiative that an entrepreneurs or individuals have to engage in before investing any resources in a project.

Market research help an entrepreneur to identify whether there are other players(competitors) in the industry that (s)he want to venture into or whether there are substitute products or services for what they want to offer. The presence of competitors will also change the dynamics of the proposed entity as they have to consider what they will bring that is unique from the products or services existing in the market. The understanding of the existence of competitors will lead into the research of the potential market share the proposed venture might pose when it start operating. Which will outline the potential strategies that the entrepreneur will use when launching the product or service. These strategies will include the level of marketing that the entrepreneur will need to engage in order to make their product or service to appeal to they intended customers.

Market research also shows the entrepreneur how spread out (geographical dispensation) the target customer are which will also assist incoming up with marketing strategy. The entrepreneur will be able to identify whether to use online marketing or to use traditional marketing as part of marketing strategy. Marketing strategy is sometimes referred to as Strategic marketing. Peter Drucker(1973) said,“ Strategic marketing as seen as a process consisting of: analyzing environmental, market competitive and business factors affecting the corporation and its business units, identifying market opportunities and threats and forecasting future trends in business areas of interest for the enterprise , and participating in setting objectives and formulating corporate and business unit strategies. Selecting market target strategies for the product-markets in each business unit, establishing marketing objectives as well as developing , implementing and managing the marketing program positioning strategies in order to meet market target needs”.

 A marketing strategy is the a initiative(policy) that a firm or entrepreneur adopt in order reach the their intend customer. This only possible when you are able to identify your target customers, customer behaviour, the places they love to hangout, and their age. For instance when establishing a college one of the strategies that the entrepreneur will end considering in their marketing strategy may include using social media as marketing tool due to the fact that most of their potential customers are students who spend most of their time online.

 The market research will also help the entrepreneur identify the most suitable pricing strategy that can be implemented for the venture to have successfully launch. This strategy will be determine by the type of customer you are targeting. Thus if you target customers are up scale if you use price penetration strategy they may end up not engaging in the product or service as they might be perceive to be of low quality.In that regard the entrepreneur would have better of use price premier in that type of a market segment. Market research is the foundation that is necessary in setting strategies that guarantee the success of the products or services as it identifies a couple of elements that have the potential of affecting them.

Business plan is an essential tool for success

Over the years we have seen people who have brilliant business ideas who throw them in the drain or poorly implement them which led to failure of the initiative. Some of the people either had no idea on how to write a business plan while others did not see the importance of writing one. In this article we are going to seek to try and outline the importance of having a business plan. A business plan is like a traveling plan. One can not embark on a journey without making logistic on how much it will cost for them to reach their intended destination. A business plan is document that outlines the idea of venture an individual seek to pursue. It  outlines the necessary resources that mighty be required for the venture to be successful. 

According to Entrepreneur.com defined a business plan as "a road map that provides directions so a business can plan its future and helps it avoid bumps in the road." This shows that a business plan is a crucial document that help the entrepreneur have direction and help them to keep focus on the attainment of successful implementation of the business idea. In this direction it include the future milestone the organization would seek to achieve thus setting future growth that is intended to be followed in the pursuit of growing the business idea.

We have already pointed out that it gives organisation direction, which helps in the identifying the necessary resources that will be required for the venture to grow. Thus it will assist the entrepreneur to avoid either over stuffing or under sourcing of materials necessary for the operations of the entity. A business plan clearly shows the entrepreneur of the skills that the entity will require initially together with what the organization already have before it commences operation. The skills that will be required is to complement the one the founder have with others so that organizational success can be attained.

It also shows the potential threats the institution would face that create amply time for the group to be prepared for the occurrence of the threat. Chapman S argued that a business plan assist the entrepreneur in convincing others to join him or her as the individual seek to pursue the idea. Thus the document will contain information that clearly outline the vision, goals, objective, market and objective that will have been identified. As a result it will act as tool that the individual will use to source for investors who would love to see the idea grow into a full fleshed business. Most small business do not have business plans because they were born out of opportunity but lacks the vision that they seek to achieve. With this in mind the entrepreneur will not be ready for any changes that might occur in the industry and will not see the need to reinvest profit to facilitate growth.