adminThupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
BALANCING business imperatives and family demands has never been easy especially for women.
It takes determination and sacrifice.Anna Muleya, the co-director of Lanaheil Investments, a Beitbridge-based young thriving firm, exudes such rare attributes.
Running the company with her husband, Hosea, Anna, 44, has risen to become one of the most outstanding and successful female entrepreneurs in the border town.
The couple founded the company in 1999 starting off with a small restaurant popularly known as A’s Kitchen. They later ventured into money lending and eventually into the customs clearing industry.
Today the couple owns one of the biggest clearing companies in the country, Lanaheil Clearing and LA California Night Club, Purple Heart Leisure Centre, Q-Lite supermarket, a farm with over 300 head of cattle and several other properties. They employ 29 people from the border town.
“We were both employed as customs clearing agents and decided to start our own business in 1999 and agreed that I should lead the business unit while my husband remained formally employed at Freight Forwarders until the company completely took off,” said Anna.
“Since then we’ve maintained a hands-on approach and personalised services to most of our clients. The idea has seen us growing from strength to strength.
“When we realised growing interest in fast foods and money lending, we went into customs clearing fulltime and established Lanaheil Clearing and also acquired LA California Night Club in 2002.”
Anna said their company has opened a new branch in Harare and they were looking at opening more branches at other ports across the country.
She described Lanaheil Investments as her baby adding that her husband had been very supportive throughout their road to success.
Anna is one of the first women to introduce commuter omnibuses in the border town during her days as the leader of the “Golden Sisters” women’s club.
“The club had 10 women from around the town and we used to give each other start-up capital at the end of each month subject to the tabling of sound business proposals. This is a concept I brought from South Africa and helped in shaping business empires of most of the successful women in Beitbridge,” she said.
Anna, who holds Doctorate in Business Administration, says financial discipline and acquainting oneself with challenges of any economic sector is critical in building a strong business empire.
“Lanaheil Investments is built on professionalism and that is our greatest weapon, which has helped us to maintain over 50 big regular clients for our customs unit. Furthermore it is also important to keep your employees motivated,” she said.
“It’s important for people to be passionate about their jobs or set targets in life. In business you also need to employ experts for it to remain relevant and viable. In our case we’ve Wisdom Jiyane and Ester Chakanyuka, both veterans in the customs and forwarding business.
“My road to success has never been an easy one because one needs to balance work and family time. The fortunate part is that we work together with my husband so most of the time we’re together. However I’ve never had enough time for the children but I make sure I’m available when it matters most especially the weekends and school related issues.”
The entrepreneur challenged the youth, especially the girl child, to focus more on their studies to become successful in their different career paths.
“It’s sad to see young girls rushing into early marriages. Marriage is part of nature but people should look beyond being a mother and focus on building a career path that will see them playing a very critical role in the economic development of their families and the country as a whole,” she said.
Despite the harsh economic environment, Anna said she was working towards investing in real estate.
She, however, complained of proliferation of bogus players in the clearing agents sector and urged Zimra to restore sanity.
“This is a serious problem and we’re calling on Zimra to urgently look into the issue of registering these companies and clearing agents in the interest of restoring dignity to this industry,” said Anna.
“The continuous change of rules and regulations with regards to imports and exports is also affecting our businesses because in most cases we are never given ample time to educate our clients or align operations.”
Online Reporter