My Own Boss bounces back

Sophia Chese Arts Correspondent
After two years of hibernation, My Own Boss, an entrepreneurial reality television programme, is expected to make a return to the small screen soon. The show will have a new format in which winners will not get cash prizes but raise their own capital as part of the competition.

The last edition of the show, season five, was held in 2013 and saw Ngonidzashe Muzondo (pictured right) walking away the winner. Muzondo has since taken over as the executive producer of the show. In an interview with The Herald Entertainment, Muzondo said he was happy to be leading this year’s edition of the reality show.

“The programme seeks to identify, nurture, educate and expose raw entrepreneurial talent into the business world,’’ he said. He said they want to help the youths to become business people at the same time reducing the number of unemployed in the country.

“In light of the need to build entrepreneurial capacity in youths to mitigate the effects of unemployment, develop business lessons and concepts for television audiences in the digital era, MOB is transitioning its business model and this will culminate in the upcoming season six of the reality show,” he said.

Muzondo said they have partnered with Zimbabwe Institute of Management to effectively impart relevant skills in aspiring entreprenuers. He also said the judging criteria were based on task profitability, leadership skills, communication, innovation and exploration of new opportunities.

“This year the winner will not be given cash prizes but instead tasks that will generate money so that they start their own projects,” he said.

In the fifth edition of the MOB, each contestant was given real business tasks and within 48 hours to a week, the task was completed and a review of the task was done with seasoned business executives and entreprenuers in the boardroom. The head anchor was Dr Phillip Chiyangwa, whose job was to mentor the contestants.

Muzondo excelled in the task and showed entrepreneurial ingenuity and creativity when he successfully conducted an activation for National Foods that generated some money.