adminLovemore Zigara Midlands Correspondent
KEVIN Systrom, the founder of a social network site, Instagram, once said: “Every start up should address a real and demonstrate need in the world. If you build a solution to a problem it’s so easy to sell your product to the world.”His words resonate well with Gweru-based Tinashe Manzungu’s meteoric rise in the property industry.
In a country where tertiary institutions churn out thousands of graduates each year, finding employment has become a challenge especially given the rampant company closures.
While others dream of getting a job, Manzungu, 29, is preoccupied with creating jobs for others.
The youthful entrepreneur is the founder and chief executive officer of Tinshel Properties, a property development company based in Gweru.
With council housing waiting list hovering around 23,000, Tinshel Properties has become a game changer in housing development.
The young firm has availed 4,000 housing stands to home seekers in Montrose suburb, which contributes to the 56,760 target on new housing development set by the government for the Midlands by 2018.
Manzungu says he was inspired to start the company after noticing biting accommodation shortages in the town.
“I took it upon myself that I would want to make a difference in making sure that every Zimbabwean has decent accommodation.
“This is how Tinshel Properties was born in 2012. In July of that year we serviced 110 stands in Montrose, which was our first phase in the servicing of stands,” said Manzungu, a holder of an Environmental Science Degree from the Midlands State University.
“By October we had finished and this gave us the zeal to continue since it was very successful.”
To date the property firm has done phase four of a similar project in Montrose focusing on low income earners including those in the informal sector.
The company has acquired Sekope Farm adjacent to Montrose Plots where it is servicing 1, 200 housing stands at a cost of $8, 4 million and the stands should be ready by August.
Manzungu’s career in the property business began in 2010 when he worked for the Zimbabwe Housing Projects Trust where he rose through the ranks to become a provincial projects manager.
He later quit and set up Tinshel, which now has operations in Kwekwe, Kadoma, Masvingo, Norton and Chinhoyi.
“We’ve already embarked on Nesby Housing Scheme, which is a low density suburb in Kwekwe where 433 stands are being serviced and in Kadoma where 800 housing stands are being developed at Cherrybank high density suburb.
“We’ve already purchased land in Masvingo, Chinhoyi and Norton and very soon we’ll be developing stands as we seek to have a footprint in every town in Zimbabwe,” said Manzungu.
The company has set its focus on becoming a holding entity with departments such as brick moulding, timber production, and transport hire services as well as housing planning and designing.
The company is planning to have an advisory and consultancy arm, which will also be part of the holding company.
Manzungu said his target was to open 35 branches in the next two years to offer low cost housing to Zimbabweans before spreading his wings to the SADC region starting with Malawi and Zambia in the next five years.
True to Eleanor Roosevelt’s saying that “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams,” Manzungu believes he could easily become Africa’s biggest property magnate in the mould of Donald Trump.
The young entrepreneur employs 45 people and has already bagged awards starting with the Zimbabwe Chamber of Small to Medium Enterprises who honoured him with the entrepreneur of the year accolade for the Midlands last year.
This year, Manzungu is a nominee for the businessman of the year award in the SMEs category in the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) awards slated for June 6.
Online Reporter