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Saturday the 4th of November 2023 became a day to remember for the Bulawayo residents, especially those inclined to entrepreneurship and business when the Institute Of Entrepreneurs Zimbabwe was officially launched.
This launch attracted the Minister of State for Devolution and Provincial Affairs for Bulawayo Metropolitan, Hon. Judith Ncube who was ably represented by Madam Thabane Ntando and Tapiwa Chikomo as she was out in Egypt on the day. Some officials from the Ministry of Youth and Women Affairs also graced the occasion.
Bulawayo will never be the the same again in terms of business and entrepreneurship for the institute targets everyone passionate about starting a business, those who have already started, going down to primary, secondary, college, and even university students.
Entrepreneurship must be introduced to students at an early age so that in their growth journey and as they transition into adulthood, they will have already started their businesses and contribute in their unique way to the local, national, and global economy.
In a speech read on her behalf, Hon Ncube thanked the Institute for aligning its mission and vision to the Africa Agenda 2063, Vision 2030, SDGs, and NDS1. The institute seeks to sustain economies through entrepreneurship development and as such, this will eradicate poverty and ease issues of substance abuse in youth since drug and substance abuse is mainly caused by idleness.
In his address, the Chief Executive Officer of the Institute, Dr Kudzanai Vere thrilled people with his passionately delivered powerful speech. He took people through the Entrepreneurship SYRINGE, the important Ss in the word BUSINESS, the valuable four Es, and the Six Pack approach to becoming an entrepreneur of impact. He also invited everyone in the business to add their business to his powerful marketing and business application PBNI, which allows all businesses within an area to be located easily by their potential clients. This is a powerful innovation by Dr. Kudzanai Vere which will bring ease of marketing to the business landscape.
Dr Vere told those who attended that, starting a business has become so easy that everyone can do it that’s the reason why we have seen in recent times a proliferation of small businesses in almost every town of the country. What’s difficult to many are the other three Ss, and how to them Support, Sustain, and Succeed in business. This cannot be learned from our conventional institutions which remained too academic even after Professor Murwira’s declaration of Education 5.0.
The institute is therefore getting into every town in Zimbabwe where there is economic activity happening to capacity those who would have started their businesses may be out of the economic environment, while others find themselves in through passion, while some might have had a technical skill but without the understanding of how the same business is sustainably run. This is the gap the Institute Of Entrepreneurs Zimbabwe seeks to fill.
The institute is working with almost all the banks in Zimbabwe and most of the corporates. Once the institute has trained fail fail-proof entrepreneurs, these will become fertile ground for every lending financial institution. This is how relevant banks are to the whole ecosystem.
Established corporates such as Delta Beverages, Varun, Dendairy, Metro Peach, N Richards, Dairibord, and others will also see their businesses grow as the capacity of their customers improves. If for instance, an SME was buying two trucks of sparkling drinks before the entrepreneurship training and their subsequent growth, they will afterwards be doubling that and this means business growth to these wholesalers and manufacturers.
The institute only started off with Bulawayo and they are going to establish chapters in every town of Zimbabwe so that learning is decentralized. The new Bulawayo Chapter Chairperson, Dr Nothando Moyo promised to uphold the ethos of the institution and pledged to take up the challenge to capacity the Bulawayo community with practical entrepreneurship skills.
Nashua Zimbabwe, an Automated Business Solutions company was well represented by their Director, Oscar Fredricks, and team who also assisted with the event. The Ministry of Women Affairs and Youth vowed to mobilize almost everyone in Bulawayo next week for an Annual Entrepreneurship Event for the Institute. They really saw the need to have everyone trained so that Bulawayo could go back to its Industrial City Status.