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Mbulelo Mpofu, Showbiz Reporter
Bulawayo has long been known as the creative hub of the arts in Zimbabwe, but the city is showing signs of promise in the business sector with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) thriving. In 2022, local creative practitioner Nkosana George Mazibisa’s Matlive Business Incubation Centre hosted its inaugural business meeting dubbed the “Hustler’s Summit,” giving SMEs in the city a much-needed boost.
This year, the second instalment of the Hustler’s Summit will be held from March 23 to 25 at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair, under the theme, “Discover, Define, Deliver.” The summit will bring together entrepreneurs from across Zimbabwe and the continent to exchange ideas and learn from each other, with the aim of putting Bulawayo back on the map and restoring its yesteryear industrial hub moniker.
The Hustler’s Summit has become a platform for budding entrepreneurs to network, learn, and share ideas. Mazibisa has brought in international and continental juggernauts to the summit, such as Dumisani Lingamangali Ncube from Zambia, Xolani Nyali from South Africa, Mcolisi Stan Maphosa from the Kingdom of Eswatini, American’s Whit Mitchell, Jalene Case, and Francis Eberle as well as Nigerian Oche Casey Bridgeford.
Mazibisa, a serial entrepreneur and the brainchild behind the Hustler’s Summit, describes himself as a successful failure.
“Growing up, there were indications that entrepreneurship is an inherent thing in me and in the history of the city, our surname is etched in it. In Mpopoma, we have a grocery store named after our family koMazibisa because of our enterprising nature. From a tender age, I would try different things to see how I would fit into the world of enterprise. I didn’t see myself as having the impact I have now but I remember discussing in high school with friends that one day we will own businesses in Bulawayo and have an empire,” said Mazibisa.
According to Mazibisa, the idea of the Hustler’s Summit was necessitated by the hunger to harness the potential of the city’s youth and to restore its position as an industrial hub.
“After curating a lot of seminars around the country, we then decided to host a summit that would see people converging in Bulawayo and the target market would be the young people as they constitute the largest portion in the city’s demographics.
These are the people who are propelling the world in the direction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) which is part of the fourth industrial revolution. The idea was to target the youths who form a large chunk of the informal market to harness them as they venture into the corporate world without the requisite knowledge and skill set.”
Mazibisa, who has been to many places, still sees the City of Kings and Queens as his darling. Last year alone, he travelled 33 times across the globe, but he loves the city and relates to it more than any place in the world. This is because he sees Bulawayo as a cosmopolitan city with a cocktail of diverse cultures, and that makes it special.
“I love the city and I relate to it than any place in the world,” he said.
The author of the, The Winner That Never Won a book whose foreword was by Retired US Ambassador to Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Zimbabwe Harry Thomas Jnr is a serial contributor to the body of knowledge, penning entrepreneurially-charged content and his latest work is, The Adventist Economy.
Mazibisia is a perennial achiever having been part of the 20 African entrepreneurs from Tony Elumelu Foundation and Afrexim-bank who participated in the inaugural Intra Africa Trade Fair in Cairo in 2018, part of 10 youths picked by Hon Kirsty Coventry to conceptualise, plan and execute Youth Indaba in 2019, and being Forbes Africa 30 under 30. — @MbuleloMpofu
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