Chronicle Editor
Oliver Kazunga, Senior Reporter
FORMER Bulawayo Publicity Association (BPA) director, Mr Moreblessings Tshuma (30) says the Covid-19 pandemic was an eye-opener that saw him taking a risky decision to quit his job to form his own company.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, countries around the world including Zimbabwe implemented national lockdowns and travel restrictions as part of measures to curb the spread of the pandemic.
Economic activities globally were disrupted as a result of the outbreak of the pandemic as some companies were forced to suspend operations.
One of the sectors hardest hit by Covid-19 is the tourism sector and BPA being a tourism driven organisation that is donor-funded, was not spared.
In an interview, Mr Tshuma said as the country enforced its first national lockdown and travel restrictions in March 2020, the uncertainty of the situation that prevailed forced him to resign from his job and start his own company, Afroxcursion.
A holder of a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing Management from the National University of Science and Technology (Nust), Mr Tshuma formed his travel agency in June 2020.
“I started working for BPA as a marketing officer in 2018 working with the association’s late director Mrs Valerie Bell. In 2019 I was promoted director of the association.
I worked there until the outbreak of Covid-19 which was a real shocker for everyone and as a young person you start thinking of what to do next,” he said.
Mr Tshuma said like everyone else he was not certain as to when the lockdowns and travel restrictions were going to end and this pushed me to think of ways and means to survive.
“So, Covid-19 was an eye-opener and I then thought of why not try something in the tourism industry.”
Still at its infancy stage, Afroxcursion is presently run by four youths. We are four and we have other partners that we work with. Going forward, we are seeing ourselves as a household brand when it comes to local travel.
“We are also looking at going beyond our borders and one of our plans is a Cape to Cairo package where we are saying we want internationals or even Africans to experience Africa in a special way,” said Mr Tshuma.
He said they want to come up with this package whereby a tour that starts in Cape Town, South Africa passing through Zimbabwe in Bulawayo (Matopos) and then Victoria Falls, going to Tanzania and then Kenya and from there straight to Cairo in Egypt.
Mr Tshuma said when he decided to quit his job at BPA, his decision was met with criticism from family members and friends because everyone was not sure how the proposed enterprise was going to perform.
“But I took courage and I want to say I am not regretting the move,” said Mr Tshuma.
Born in Filabusi, Matabeleland South province on July 26, 1991, Mr Tshuma started working at Old Bulawayo under the museum’s regional office in Bulawayo in March 2010 as a tour guide after completing his Advanced Levels in 2009.
He did his primary education at Dulibadzimu Primary School in Beitbridge before proceeding to Mzingwane High School in Esigodini for Form One to Four.
For his Advanced Level, he attended Foundation College in Bulawayo.
In 2011, he did a Diploma in Travel and Tourism Marketing under the London Centre of Marketing.
Mr Tshuma was later transferred to Matopos National Park and Khami Ruins as a tour guide before his promotion as a curator assistant in the ethnology department at the museum regional office at Centenary Park in Bulawayo.
While working at the museum, Mr Tshuma also researched about fish from 2011 to 2018.
In 2016 he graduated with a Bcom in Marketing Management and an MBA in 2018.
“In 2014 I was now working in two departments and at the same time doing a degree in marketing at Nust. The management saw it fit to utilise my skills so I was doubling working in the marketing department and fish department until 2018 when I then moved to BPA,” he said.
“My work experience in the tourism industry has pushed me to realise there is a lot that Africa has to offer that the whole world really enjoys because with the interaction with various nationals you notice that we are so blessed and we don’t realise it,” said Mr Tshuma.
As a young person, he said, his focus is also on young people to encourage them to travel as well as taking up the challenges that lie ahead. — @KazungaOliver
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