Chronicle Editor
Rutendo Nyeve, Features Correspondent
TO emphasise the importance of beginning and never looking back they say a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step and to urge patience they often say Rome was not built in a single day.
These are common inspirational adages that aptly applies to the lives of many people who have made it in life from humble beginnings.
But how humble can humble be? Could it be from selling vegetables in Chegutu and renting in the high-density suburb of New Lobengula to owning mansions in the capital’s leafy suburb of Borrowdale Brook and others?
Could it be coming to Zimbabwe with only two pairs of trousers and starting off with a small tuck-shop only to end up with 11 shops, building a complex and being a Deputy Minister? Perhaps this is believable.
But how does a secondary school pupil get almost every teacher at school owing him money double his boarding school fees?
Now these are the untold stories of some of Zimbabwe’s successful business players that inspired Bulawayo’s young entrepreneurs when a panel of speakers that was led by the Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce Cde Raj Modi, Dr Philip Chiyangwa and Unimills founder and CEO Davis Muhambi spoke about how they made it through the art of entrepreneurship and networking.
Of interest was the panel’s sharing of how they started up until how they became successful business people at a dinner hosted by Youth Network Connect in partnership with Affirmative Action Group (AAG) Bulawayo chapter and other stakeholders.
Cde Modi the Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce and Member of Parliament for Bulawayo South constituency said he came to Zimbabwe in 1982 when he was still single.
“I got married here in Zimbabwe. I came with two pairs of clothes and 50 dollars in my pocket. I bought my air ticket through our Indian community and I paid for it in installments when I was now in Zimbabwe. I got a job at a clothing shop and worked for eight months. I was doing everything like mopping the floor and cleaning the shop.
“After eight months my wife was pregnant and we got into a crisis that needed $30. We did not have that money so I approached my boss and told him my situation.
“He refused to give me the money and told me I should look for another job if I want. I left and looked for another job where I was paid $250 against $150 that my previous employer was paying me. I worked for Mr Naran for eight years and that’s how I learnt supermarket business,” said Cde Modi.
This marked the turning point for Cde Modi who then ventured into business starting with a small tuck-shop that employed two people.
“After that I opened my small business. I rented a small space where my wife and two employees used to work.
My wife left because she wasn’t sure whether I would make it or not. I grew from there and expanded the shop up until I built Bellevue Spar in 1999. I’ve since grown to having 11 supermarkets across the city and I’m employing more than 600 people now. My encouragement is dream big, nothing can stop you,” he said.
For Zvimba South legislator and Cosafa president as well as founding leader of AAG Dr Chiyangwa, it was not easy.
The fortunes were not served on a silver platter neither was it a stroll in the park.
Dr Chiyangwa now owns one of the most expensive fleet of cars in the country, and lives in a very spacious mansion in Harare. But who would believe that he started off selling vegetables in Chegutu with his mother.
“I used to wake up early morning going to the farms to buy vegetables and selling them in town. I first got employed at York House here in Bulawayo in 1978. I then left in 1980 to join Dunlop as an industrial engineering assistant. I used to stay in New Lobengula and I know Bulawayo very well. I then went to Willovale Motor Industries in Harare.
But in all these companies I used to buy scrap from the company and sell it,” said Dr Chiyangwa.
Cde Muhambi also drove home the message to the gathering of Bulawayo young entrepreneurs when he said nothing was impossible where there was a will, effort and right mindset.
Known by many for driving top of the range vehicles, the Unimills founder and director retraced his entrepreneurship back from high school.Unimills is one of the largest milling companies with a production capacity of 11 tonnes per hour while the largest miller in the city, National Foods has a production capacity of 12 tonnes per hour.
But how did the 40-year-old Cde Muhambi establish such a business and managed to drive a Mercedes Benz S-Class at the age of 22.
“I started entrepreneurship at Guinea Fowl High School.
This was the time when cellphones were first introduced in the country. A brand-new Nokia 5110 was going for about $4 000 which was double my school fees. So, I started buying second hand phones and changing their covers at Unity Village which made them appear new.
“I bought one and sold it to one of my teachers at double the price and that’s how all teachers got attracted to my business. I was given a free pass every month end so that I come to Bulawayo and buy the phones for them. I made so much money that at one time almost every teacher owed me at school,” said Cde Muhambi.
He then ventured into mining after coming back from university. The desire to formalise his business saw him establishing Unimills that has grown to greater heights.
The three said sharing their stories should inspire youths to work hard towards achieving their goals and shun a life of drugs.
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