Online Reporter
Theseus Mauruki Shambare [email protected]
OUR country’s heroes are often remembered for the sacrifices they made to secure Zimbabwe’s freedom.
Nation-building, however, did not end at independence.Each generation is called upon to make its own contribution — whether on the farm, in the factory, in the classroom or through enterprise.
For many Zimbabweans, the opportunity to relocate to the United States in search of a better life would have been impossible to refuse.
For Mr Tinashe Chihota, however, choosing to stay became one of the defining decisions of his life.
The opportunity promised employment and, eventually, a pathway to American citizenship.
Friends and associates urged him to seize it, accumulate capital abroad and perhaps return later to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions.
But after months of prayer and reflection, he chose a different path.
He stayed.
For Mr Chihota, choosing Zimbabwe over a life abroad became his own contribution to the country’s next chapter — helping unlock industries capable of creating jobs, strengthening food security and expanding economic opportunities.
Today, the 36-year-old entrepreneur is the Founder and Managing Director of Fin Fish Suppliers (Private) Limited, a company through which he is pursuing an ambitious vision of transforming Zimbabwe’s aquaculture industry into a billion-dollar sector.
Looking back, he does not see his decision as turning his back on opportunity.
Rather, he sees it as placing his faith in Zimbabwe’s potential.
“I had an opportunity to relocate to the United States and was advised to go and work there before raising capital,” he recalled.
“The opportunity would have eventually made me a US citizen.
“After much prayer and reflection, I decided to stay and see my vision through.”
It was not the easiest decision.
By then, he had already spent years pursuing a dream many regarded as too ambitious.
Yet, for Mr Chihota, the journey had begun long before boardrooms, investment proposals and international partnerships.
It started in the fish markets where he first learnt that livelihoods could be built from Zimbabwe’s natural resources.
Lessons from humble beginnings
Long before Mr Chihota began speaking about billion-dollar industries, cage farming and international partnerships, he learnt some of life’s most enduring lessons from watching his parents work.
Growing up, he watched them earn a living through fish vending as they sought to formalise what was largely an informal trade.
They did not own a large commercial enterprise.
What they possessed instead was determination.
Every day became a lesson in perseverance, sacrifice and the dignity of honest work.
Their efforts introduced him to the realities of entrepreneurship long before he understood the language of business plans and investment capital.
“I understood that fish is an important source of protein for human health and also a major income driver,” he said.
“At that time and even today in some communities, fish is not always readily available.”
Those observations stayed with him.
As he later supplied fish to restaurants across Harare’s central business district, he began noticing opportunities hidden within the challenges confronting the sector.
Every winter, catches from wild fisheries declined, disrupting supplies and exposing the limitations of relying almost entirely on natural fish stocks.
He also watched his father’s business struggle to expand beyond a certain point despite years of hard work.
Rather than discouraging him, those experiences sharpened his resolve.
They convinced him that Zimbabwe’s future in fisheries could not depend solely on harvesting from rivers and lakes.
The country, he believed, needed to embrace organised aquaculture capable of producing fish consistently throughout the year.
“Being able to successfully deliver fish to numerous restaurants in the CBD, the winter period where wild fisheries struggle to make ends meet and limited growth to my father’s business were the three factors that really pushed me to start Fin Fish Suppliers,” he said.
The vision was straightforward.
Produce fish consistently.
Produce enough to meet demand.
Produce enough to help transform an industry.
Looking back, he says the greatest lesson he inherited from his parents was the belief that Zimbabwe’s resources, if properly harnessed, could create sustainable livelihoods for generations.
The five-year search for capital
If identifying the opportunity was the easy part, turning it into reality proved far more demanding.
Like many entrepreneurs with ambitious ideas, Mr Chihota soon discovered that vision alone could not build a business.
It required capital, partners and above all, patience.
For nearly five years, he knocked on countless doors in search of financial backing.
Some meetings ended with promises that never materialised.
Others ended almost as soon as they began.
Proposed collaborations with some non-governmental organisations failed to take off.
An anticipated partnership involving an Irish company also collapsed before it could gather momentum.
Time after time, the dream appeared to drift further from reach.
Still, he refused to abandon it.
“I literally pitched over 10 000 business plans to financial institutions, private financiers locally and abroad, but nothing came out of it,” he said.
“This took me close to five years.”
Each rejection tested his conviction.
Each unanswered proposal demanded another measure of resilience.
For many people, five years of disappointment would have been reason enough to walk away.
But for Mr Chihota, it became another chapter in a journey he believed had a greater purpose.
He credits his faith for carrying him through the uncertainty.
“It was really my faith in God that kept me going. It was God’s strength and grace.”
Looking back, he says the setbacks strengthened his resolve, refined his vision and prepared him for opportunities that would eventually emerge.
Sometimes, he says, progress is measured not by how quickly doors open, but by the determination to keep knocking.
That determination would soon take him beyond Zimbabwe’s borders.
The Zambia experience that changed the dream
Sometimes, all it takes is seeing what is possible.
After years of setbacks, Mr Chihota travelled to neighbouring Zambia, where he encountered an aquaculture industry operating on a scale he had previously only imagined.
The visit became more than a study tour.
It became a glimpse into the future he believed Zimbabwe could build.
Like many Zimbabweans before him who crossed borders in pursuit of a better future for their country rather than themselves, Mr Chihota travelled not to begin a new life elsewhere, but to learn, build partnerships and return home with ideas he believed could help transform Zimbabwe’s aquaculture sector.
At the Aller Aqua manufacturing plant, he saw how investment, technology and innovation had combined to create a world-class fish feed production facility.
“The Aller Aqua plant is breathtaking,” he said.
“It is a five-storey building with soundproof rooms where, if there is grinding, you cannot hear it walking in the corridor.”
The impressive infrastructure left a lasting impression.
But it was not the buildings that inspired him most.
It was what they represented.
They demonstrated how deliberate investment in aquaculture could transform an industry, create jobs and stimulate economic activity far beyond fish production itself.
His journey also took him to Yalelo Zambia’s operations on Lake Kariba, where he witnessed modern cage farming, hatchery systems and large-scale harvesting techniques.
There, he saw an integrated value chain in action.
“The experience opened my eyes,” he said.
“I wanted to partner with them and establish something similar or even better in Zimbabwe.”
In that moment, the dream became bigger than building a successful company.
It became about helping build an industry.
Rather than asking what Zambia had achieved, he returned home asking a different question.
Why not Zimbabwe?
Turning vision into action
Returning from Zambia with renewed conviction was only the beginning.
The greater challenge lay in translating inspiration into practical solutions for Zimbabwe’s aquaculture sector.
For Mr Chihota, success would not be measured by what he had seen across the border.
It would be measured by what he could help build at home.
His engagements with farmers across the country revealed a common concern.
Access to quality fish feed remained one of the biggest obstacles to sustainable and profitable aquaculture.
“After travelling across the country and engaging with farmers, we realised that one of the biggest challenges affecting sustainable fish farming was the quality of feed available on the market,” he said.
Rather than accepting the challenge as inevitable, he searched for a solution.
That search eventually extended beyond Zimbabwe’s borders, not in pursuit of permanent opportunities abroad, but in search of partners prepared to invest in Zimbabwe’s potential.
It led to a partnership with Danish aquaculture company Aller Aqua, which brought internationally recognised fish feed technology to Zimbabwe.
For Mr Chihota, the partnership extends beyond importing a product.
It is about transferring knowledge, improving productivity and equipping Zimbabwean farmers with the tools they need to compete.
“Our vision is not just to sell feed. It is to help farmers succeed, reduce production cycles, improve efficiency and build a sustainable aquaculture industry in Zimbabwe.”
The company is also pursuing cage-based fish production in Binga, where it plans to harness the vast waters of Lake Kariba.
To him, the project represents more than another business venture.
It is a demonstration of how Zimbabwe’s natural resources can be transformed into productive assets that generate employment, strengthen food security and stimulate rural industrialisation.
“These cages are not just about producing fish,” he said.
“They represent jobs, opportunities for communities, demand for feed, logistics, processing and a complete ecosystem that can grow around aquaculture.
“Every successful cage means more livelihoods being created here at home.”
For Mr Chihota, that is the real measure of progress.
Not simply growing a company but helping create an industry capable of empowering communities, retaining talent and contributing to Zimbabwe’s economic transformation.
If the liberation generation fought to secure Zimbabwe’s political independence, he believes his generation has the responsibility to strengthen its economic future by building industries, creating employment and ensuring the country’s resources generate prosperity for its people.
For him, the dream has never been simply about building a successful company.
It has been about helping build Zimbabwe.
