$1 concept

Morris Mpala, MoB Capital Ltd
WE all know everyone likes to talk about the $1. Dollar this dollar that it’s the simple single paper note in the US$ denominations and since we are using the famous currency we have been caught on the $1 band wagon.

Your air time bonanzas are based on the $1, our prices are truncated at a $1 and the thinking is based on a $1. Aspirations start with a $1 and songs are based on the $1 notes.

In any case $1 million is just but a million $1s. Be calm and know it all starts with a $1 given that it’s easy to get a $1 therefore life has to be that easy. It’s just a sums total game.

We price things on the $1. $1 for two or for five — $1 price sale bonanza. We talk of living on a $1 per day.

We want $1 donations. Due to people’s obsession with the $1 it has seen it being used so much to the extent that we think the $1 is a healthy hazard.

In addition its physical condition is just filthy but its purchasing power is not altering any time soon. Of course Zimbabweans have managed to discount its value.

We want to explore the $1 concept where people put $1 towards common good for a consistent and religious cycle for the betterment of themselves or their communities.

Asking for a $1 isn’t much of a challenge. Assuming Bulawayo has a million people how much will it have by year end if we all contributed $1 monthly?

It will have $12 million in the first year, $24 million in the second year and $36 million third year. Imagine that!!

Truly speaking who will need a bank if it is not just to keep that money safe? Who will need expensive money? In Bulawayo we will be able to loan each other these monies and we will make it cheap for ourselves.

It is coming from a $ 1 then after two years we pay you back $2, which is 100 percent return.

That is a cool return on money invested. Who else pays such a return in the world?

It’s simple, it’s effective and it works. Some communities are running with it to the betterment of their communities rather waiting for freebies.

Save a $1 and make a billion difference in your community. We do not need big donations to make a difference but small consistent donations.

Talk is always cheap. Communities should learn to act and implement if they are to alleviate some of the challenges. Some schools have been built this way, deep tanks, banks have been formed this way, lives have been saved by this and so on.

The $1 note symbolises patience as they say that Rome wasn’t built on a day’s effort. What’s the challenge? The microwave syndrome (mentality) has killed us. We need everything khonapho khonapho. Instant businesses, instant empires, instant riches but that isn’t possible.

For us to think beyond now it has become a challenge. It’s like tomorrow doesn’t exist. We are simply getting defeated before we even begin.

Who can’t save a $1 or $1 equivalent. Isiphala Senkosi/Zunde Ramambo concept is a sophisticated $1 concept. It has helped uplift under privileged people in the communities.

Pension schemes are also elaborate $1 schemes, so are banks, so is insurance even life is just one big $1 concept fundamentally. It makes sense to be alive than dead but a time will come when it makes sense to be dead than alive. It gets complex like that but we hate complex discussions thus we will stick to our $1 contributions and let communities be winners.

Guess the biggest challenges Zimbabweans have is implementation. Always great ideas on paper but come to implementation we are lackadaisical.

That has cost us as a people and as a business nation.

I am yet to see a shop where everything is sold at $1. Maybe due to the fact that a $1 in Zimbabwe is worth 40 cents in terms of purchasing power, therefore, $1 shop will be difficult to implement. In some countries they do it and it has proved popular among shoppers.

All this is just manipulating the $1 and it being perceived as an easy to acquire note.

My prayers are that the next time we talk about a $1 Zimbabwe will have re-valued the $1 upwards because a $1 in Zimbabwe isn’t really a $1.

During Zimbabwe dollar era we talked so much about one cent now we talk much about a $1.

My friends and I used to bet using a dollar as we called it symbolic betting among colleagues to lessen the trauma once you lose the bet.

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Morris Mpala is the managing director of MoB Capital Limited, a Bulawayo headquartered micro-finance institution with a footprint across the country.