Chronicle Editor
Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
AT the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Richard Dzimiri suddenly had a “lightbulb” moment.
Before the pandemic locked down most of the globe, Dzimiri had carved out a reputation as a young banana vendor who was not afraid to move and prosper outside his comfort zone.
Money is not shy and by selling bananas on social media where many young people are pre-occupied with impressing strangers by sharing cosmetic details of their lives, Dzimiri had become Bulawayo’s most recognisable vendor.
However, Covid-19 arrived, poking holes into the financial and social fabric of the country as people had always known it.
The pandemic swept vendors off the streets, and where once Dzimiri used to roam with his wares, stray cats had made a playground as Bulawayo was empty even on business days.
It was in such unprecedented times that Dzimiri turned to his bicycle.
“In 2020 initially when Covid-19 arrived, vendors were eradicated from the city so we were forced to sell our wares out of it. I moved from selling bananas from a push-cart to a crate, which meant that I was now selling far less than I was before because a push-cart holds up to 800 bananas and a crate holds 120. I started selling bananas from a crate and doing door-to-door deliveries to my neighbours. It was a lot of work because I was crate load of 20kgs to and from my neighbourhood, which all in all was a distance of 20kms,” he told Sunday Life.
It was apt that Dzimiri had turned to the bicycle at his time of need. After all, when he found himself battling a bout of depression in 2017, he had had found it an ideal hobby to ease pressure on his tortured mind. Medical research has shown that exercise is also an effective treatment.
“For some people it works as well as antidepressants, although exercise alone isn’t enough for someone with severe depression,” says Dr Michael Craig Miller, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Thus, when depression set in, Dzimiri thought pedalling around Bulawayo might his way out.
“I got afflicted by depression sometime in 2017 and I discovered that in order to overcome it, you have to be active. You need something that brightens you up and makes you feel alive. So I got into cycling when I was 19 and I was just riding around 25km and I started meeting avid cyclists. I started cycling with pro-cyclists when I delivered bananas to a pro-cyclist’s home. He looked at me and he said “you look fit man” and he invited me for a ride. Ever since then I have never looked back,” he said.
A few years later, what began as a hobby has become a fully-fledged business for Dzimiri. After he was mugged and left for dead in June 2021 by robbers who dispossessed him of all his sales for the day, Dzimiri took a year off to introspect. In July, last year, having discarded the push-cart for the bicycle, he decided to implement fully an idea that had always been bubbling in his head.
“When Covid-19 subsided in the last quarter of 2020 I went back to the streets and started selling my bananas from the scotch cart but then I realised my delivery business had been providing convenience to my clients and actually doing well. People, including those from surrounding neighbourhoods, would order on WhatsApp and I would deliver on my bicycle.
“I then realised that the banana deliveries I was making were great and from there on I could deliver people’s things. What actually happened was, I delivered bananas for a client, and she asked me to also bring her vegetables due to the fact that in my community, a lot of people practice horticulture. I realised then that the idea I had initially of doing more than delivering bananas was potentially great so I then started charging people for deliveries,” he said.
From his humble hoarder bicycle, brought off a scrap yard in Mzilikazi then refurbished bit by bit, Dzimiri now runs a fully-fledged courier services, which sees him do everything from buying vegetables and takeaways to paying council bills and medical aid subscriptions for his clients. Those that want their services delivered from within their 5km radius of their location only need to pay US$5 while for an extra dollar is charged for every kilometre beyond that.
“We’ve got a market group in my community, so I pitched my idea just to dipstick it and they liked it. I started delivering horticultural products, broilers, LP gas, maize meal and a lot of other things for 5 rand per trip because I was just testing out the idea as someone who has never worked for an express company before. For those that wanted me to pay their medical aid, Nyaradzo funeral cover, council bills I was charging a dollar to town.
“I cover more places for more clients now so I raised the price in the last quarter of 2022. Earlier this year I raised the price to US$3 for people that want deliveries within a 10km radius. My clientele has grown so well over the last year. It has done well enough to keep my head above the water,” he said.
Dzimiri said his courier service was more lucrative than the banana business which made him famous initially.
“The running costs are very low. You don’t fuel it and the only thing you have to do is to keep on servicing and maintaining it. Greasing, oiling, tightening screws, that’s all you need to do. I recently bought a motor that I installed on my bike so I am constantly working towards getting better,” he said.
Dzimiri said that his business would not have been possible without a passion for cycling. While he is reaping the fruits of his hard work, he acknowledged that it was not a job for the faint-hearted, as it requires high levels of fitness.
“I am an avid cyclist and Bulawayo is quite a small town so I have no problem riding around. I have ridden 44km for a client and by myself I have ridden as far as Gweru. I am always active and I have covered as much as 225km from courier services. I don’t even regard it as work at all honestly.
“Fitness is very important if you want to work with me because I have to travel very long distances. I have an app that we call Strava which records my distance mileage, my speeds and records my app. I ride up to 125km per day and to ride that distance you have to very fit,” he said.
However, Dzimiri admitted that due to the physically intense nature of his business, it was hard to entice young people to join him in the venture.
“At the moment I am working by myself but I did buy another bike a month ago to get another guy to work with. Unfortunately this is not conventional and the work that I do requires a lot of fitness. A lot of boys are full of smoke in their chests and alcohol in their bellies. They’re not fit so it’s difficult to find help and it’s unfortunate I had to buy a bike before I could find help.
“I am earning much better in courier services. Due to my past business, I have leeway to pursue whatever I like, whatever idea grips me. I am not afraid because I feel very young, I feel very sociable and in that regard I have no fear. I leverage on the idea that I am young and I believe if you’re at that stage in your life you can pursue anything. I am that guy who has the ability to make anything look cool no matter how weird it may seem,” he said.
Online Reporter