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The Manyara Irene Muyenziwa (MIM) Foundation is seeking to correct gender-influenced economic imbalances by extending to women some development projects that are set to improve their lives.
Manyara Irene Muyenziwa, the MIM Founder, yesterday convened a workshop in Harare that touched on a number of available lucrative projects for women.
“As women, and historically in Zimbabwe and the rest of Africa, we were assigned to tilling the land and cultivating crops. Men used to provide the inputs. At MIM Foundation, we are coming with a new narrative where women should be active participants across the entire value chain.
“We are saying to our womenfolk, let’s embark on projects like poultry. Considering poultry, we are not looking at keeping small numbers of chicken. We want a real business where we are saying let’s keep at least 5 000 broilers and 5 000 layer chickens at one goal per individual. Poultry is a real business. Look at Irvine’s Company, for example, they are supplying the country, Southern Africa, and the entire African continent. I am saying to fellow women, let’s jump on to such real businesses,” Muyenziwa said.
Another participant who identified herself as Ellen encouraged women to take up the timber business to supply locals and for exports.
“In Zimbabwe, the timber business is one sector dominated by men. The demand for timber is high. Look at the business that is going on at the Glenview 8 Industrial Complex. The carpenters there are supplying doors, kitchen units, wardrobes, dining and lounge suites, and so forth, countrywide, and on a daily basis. As women, we are saying let’s go in there starting from forest plantations, going up the transport business to furniture-making and its sale,” Ellen said.
It also emerged that there are also low-hanging fruits in the real-estate business. The demand for accommodation in both rural and urban areas is soaring. Women, by their nature, are good salespeople and the real-estate sector is a good launchpad for women to engage in business.
On the other hand, with the demand for renewable energy going up, women who attended the business workshop at MIM Foundation offices were encouraged to venture into solar farming. Muyenziwa also encouraged women to get into mining – a male-dominated sector that is poised to become a US$12 billion economy in five years from now.