Online Reporter
Let’s Talk Ladies
Dr Thandiwe Chidzungu
There is a warmth and humility about Ms Primrose January that seems worlds apart from the image one might expect of a business-minded woman who has built her career around entrepreneurship.
From a little girl growing up in Warren Park, Harare, and learning about business at the age of eight, to the visionary behind Zimbabwe Unrecognised Women and Men in Business (ZUWIB), Ms January is building more than businesses — she is building a legacy of visibility, courage and opportunity.
At just eight years old, she was already working alongside her brother in his electrical-fencing business.
What may have seemed like an ordinary childhood experience would quietly shape the woman she would become, teaching her early lessons about responsibility, hard work and business.
By 18, Ms January was working as a management trainee in South Africa, when she was given the opportunity to manage a seven-room establishment in a tourist town.
The experience introduced her to leadership at an age when many young people are still finding their feet.
Another life-changing opportunity soon followed: recognition from one of the country’s few seven-star hotels.
The experience significantly increased her earning capacity and broadened her professional horizons.
Even while building her career, Ms January was building businesses. She sold handbags and wigs to colleagues while simultaneously running a chicken project back home in Zimbabwe.
What began with 50 chickens grew to 100 and eventually 500.
“I have always been multi-business-minded,” she says.
That entrepreneurial restlessness has become one of the defining features of her journey.
After graduating from the University of Cape Town with a degree in Tourism and Hospitality Management, Ms January returned to Zimbabwe.
About 11 years ago, she started her hair and cosmetics business from the boot of her car. There was no perfect office, elaborate launch or guarantee of success. There was simply an idea, determination and the willingness to start.
Eventually, the boot became a shop.
The shop became a growing business, and her entrepreneurial journey expanded into cosmetics, wigs, hair salon and spa services, fashion, food, spa equipment, hair and beauty products, as well as personal brands. Today, these interests form part of her wider entrepreneurial journey, ‘Bend the Trend Collection by Primmy”.
Yet, remarkably, Ms January’s most meaningful creation is not another business.
It is an idea born from a dream – a golden envelope.
The birth of ZUWIB
The story of ZUWIB is deeply personal to Ms January.
As a Christian, she says she pays attention to what she believes God places on her heart.
At the time, she was already thriving in business. But she also understood something many entrepreneurs experience: The work can be significant even when the recognition is not.
Then she had a dream.
In it, she received a golden envelope bearing four letters: ZUWIB.
When she woke up, the idea remained with her.
Ms January believes the dream marked the beginning of a vision God had placed on her heart — a platform that would look beyond the business itself and discover the entrepreneur behind it.
For her, “unrecognised” does not mean unsuccessful.
It represents the countless entrepreneurs building businesses from homes, cars, small shops and informal spaces; women and men creating jobs, supporting families and contributing to the economy while their stories remain largely unnoticed.
“I know personally what it means to build and thrive without necessarily receiving recognition that reflects the work being done,” she says.
And so ZUWIB was born with a simple but powerful message: We see you. Your work matters.
Your contribution matters.
Recognition with purpose
For Ms January, recognition should never end with a trophy.
ZUWIB seeks to connect entrepreneurs with visibility, meaningful networks, partnerships, mentorship, business opportunities and access to markets.
“A trophy can sit on a shelf,” she says, “but the real impact is what happens afterwards.”
That impact could mean access to a new market, a new customer, a valuable collaboration or a partnership that helps a business grow.
Her approach to selecting nominees reflects this philosophy.
ZUWIB looks beyond popularity and business size, considering impact, resilience, innovation, leadership, growth, job creation, consistency and community contribution.
The aim is to recognise substance, not simply visibility.
Building bridges
Although Ms January is passionate about empowering women, she deliberately chose to make ZUWIB inclusive of both women and men.
For her, entrepreneurship is an ecosystem.
Women and men employ one another, partner with one another and build businesses together.
Empowering women does not require excluding men.
“I wanted ZUWIB to be a platform where people are recognised for what they are building and the impact they are making,” she explains.
Her philosophy is simple: build bridges, not walls.
Lessons in leadership
Leading ZUWIB has also taught Ms January that leadership is about far more than recognition.
It requires listening, making difficult decisions, managing disappointment and remaining committed to a vision even when others do not immediately understand it.
One lesson, she says, stands above the rest:
“The measure of leadership is not how many people know your name, but how many lives become better because you chose to lead.”
For Ms January, personal fame is not the goal.
Her greatest achievement is helping other people’s names become known.
Ms January believes Zimbabwe has no shortage of entrepreneurial spirit.
Its people are resilient, innovative and resourceful. But resilience alone is not enough.
Entrepreneurs also need access to finance, markets, mentorship, technology, business development and meaningful networks.
Ms January sees ZUWIB as bigger than an annual celebration or a collection of awards. She wants to build an ecosystem of opportunity — something that continues empowering entrepreneurs long after she is no longer at the centre of it.
“ZUWIB saw me before the world saw me,” she says.
Through ZUWIB, Ms January is building a legacy of women and men who know that they matter — and who now have the visibility, networks and opportunities to prove it.
