Chronicle Editor
Flora Fadzai Sibanda, [email protected]
MRS Judith Ncube famously known as Gogo Zimele from Tsholotsho is known for giving business advice to women in her district as a way of giving back to the community that supported her retail business.
Mrs Ncube said she started her business in 1998 in Tsholotsho from scratch as she had no capital.
She said she would do piece jobs for fellow villagers and also sold buckets as well as roasted maize.
“I used to wake up very early in the morning to sell roasted maize at the bus stop and most of my customers were workers on their way to work,” said Mrs Ncube.
She said she was saving some of the money she raised but it was not much.
Mrs Ncube said when she heard that an official from the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises was assisting women in Tsholotsho to start businesses, she mobilised other women and approached him.
“He told us that he had money from the ministry and all those interested in starting a business were free to borrow. I was among the few brave ones who decided to take the risk and borrowed the money,” said Mrs Ncube.
She said she built a shop that she named Zimele in order to send a message that she was independent and doing her own things without relying on anyone.
Mrs Ncube now has a chain of supermarkets and she is even renting out some of her retail shops.
She said as a way of giving back to the community that helped her grow, she employs a number of locals but mostly women.
“I believe in empowering women as empowered women uplift their families and communities,” said Mrs Ncube.
She said the secret to success is being prepared to take a risk as she and other women did when they borrowed money to start their businesses.
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