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was born in 1945 — died at the Avenues Clinic yesterday.
He had cancer of the colon which was diagnosed three weeks ago.
Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere last night said he had received the news of Mr Mkondo’s demise with shock and sadness.
“It is with a deep sense of shock and sadness that we received the news of the death of a gallant black business leader Cde Paul Mkondo.
“He was the vice president of the Indigenous Business Development Centre and a dedicated empowerment crusader and his death leaves a void that is difficult to fill.
“He was 100 percent committed to the empowerment of the black people. We remember the long journey that he travelled in setting up the first black-owned insurance company in Zimbabwe. He was a huge inspiration to many Zimbabweans.
“He was the chairman of Danhiko Trust where he organised support for the institution that looked after disadvantaged and disabled children.
“Our nation has lost a dedicated, humble and loving father. We want to send our deepest condolences to the Mkondo family at this dark moment in their life.’’
The insurance guru is survived by two sons, two daughters and seven grandchildren.
Mr Simon Mkondo said his brother would be buried in Toma Village, Chief Svosve’s area in Hwedza, over the weekend.
Mr Mkondo played a very prominent role in marketing the insurance industry and educating the public about insurance through a radio programme called “Mari Nehupenyu Hwevanhu” that he presented between 1970 and 1989 when he was with Southampton Life Assurance Company.
He was also the first black Zimbabwean to open a nightclub for African patrons called Mutanga Modern Restaurant in Highfield, Harare, in 1968 after which he joined Southampton as an agent in 1969.
Mr Mkondo rose through the ranks to become a director at the time of his departure from the company in 1989.
During the same year, he formed Paul Mkondo Insurance Brokers, the PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) Real Estate Agency in 1992 and Paul Mkondo Life Assurance in 2004, all of which he was managing at the time of his death.
Mr Mkondo was vice president of the Real Estate Council of Zimbabwe and chairman of Danhiko Project whose patron is the First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe. He was also a member of the Million-Dollar Round Table based in the United States for over 30 years.
The Million-Dollar Round Table is an elite grouping of top agents who write insurance and is made up of one percent of the world’s top insurance writers.
Mr Mkondo was also the president of the Zimbabwe Taxi Operators’ Association in the early 1990s and a proponent of indigenisation, a role he articulated well during his tenure as the vice president of the Indigenous Business Development Centre that he assumed in 1994.
Mr Simon Mkondo said they had lost a great personality in the family.
“We have lost a team leader, a hard worker, unifier who united all family members. He built the Mkondo name through the major role that he played in the insurance industry where he technically built the industry to the state that it is today. Some of the gurus in the insurance industry today passed through his hands.”
Mourners are gathered at no 184 Marimba Park, Harare.
Online Reporter