Dube: I am driven to see growth, transformation

United Kingdom-based life coach Ruth Kudzai Dube says her mission is to positively impact the world and leave it a better place.

Dube (RD) spoke about life in the UK as a migrant from Zimbabwe and what she does on the platform In Conversation with Trevor hosted by Alpha Media Holdings chairman Trevor Ncube (TN).

Below are excerpts from the interview.

TN:  Greetings, welcome to In Conversation with Trevor UK Series brought to you by the Nyaradzo Group.

Today I'm in conversation with Ruth Kudzai Dube, a career coach, a speaker and a leader.

Ruth Kudzai Dube, welcome to In Conversation with Trevor.

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 RD: Thanks Trevor for having me.

 TN: Why do you do what you do?

 RD: I'm driven to see growth and transformation. I think it's something that brings me such immense joy.

 My mission in this life is to positively impact the world, to leave the world in a better place.

And how I measure it is by measuring that transformation, that growth of the people that connect with me in whatever capacity, whether it's through coaching, whether it's through business or whatever it may look like.

 TN: What gives you the biggest joy in what you do?

 RD: Just being able to add, being able to influence and impact someone in the right way. I find that people come to me for solutions.

They are coming to me because they feel stuck in something and being able to use all my experiences to help them move forward. That is what gives me great joy.

 TN: What have been the defining moments in your life? When you look back now, where did you get all those experiences?

Let's just walk as briefly as we can through those seminal moments in your life.

 RD: I would say my defining moments; the day I was born. The day I moved to the UK when I was 11. That was very interesting. I faced bullying.

As you can imagine, this short girl with short hair coming from Zimbabwe and having to master the Queen's English, not the Zimbabwean English.

That was defining because it was just something that I was never prepared for and I had to quickly navigate.

I would say the day that I failed my A Levels is defining to this point, but I see the triumph.

 TN: Why is it defining?

 RD: Because that part of my story was when I realised that I have the power to change my story.

I didn't look at it and let that define me. So that was the moment that I realised who and what I was capable of. 

As you can imagine, as a young girl, you're going to college, the independence and you fall into the wrong crowds and you feel like you have a point to prove to your friends and you are not really thinking about school like that, which was strange because my GCSEs I passed with flying colours.

So I knew what I could do, but I recognised my shortfalls and why I got into that position.

But that day, I made a commitment to myself to always find out what I was capable of.

Failing A levels means you can't go to university, you can't do the degree you want to.

 TN: Which university did you go to?

 RD: I went to the University of Bedfordshire. I had to divert because I couldn't do my normal three-year degree.

And that year, Trevor, I believed in God, the biblical principles and Christian foundation is something that plays a big part of my life.

It was for that year only that there was this one specific course that was designed.

It was a foundation course. What it meant is that it was for people that didn't get the right grade.

So I wanted to do biological sciences. I had dreams of becoming a doctor and so it meant that I did two years as a foundation degree.

And then I went to top it up with one year from university. 

And at the end of it, I've done the three years, same as anyone who's gone to university in that time. As you can imagine, I never told anyone about this until I finished university.

Nobody knew what I did. And I would say, I'm going to the University of Bedfordshire, but it was an off-campus thing, and I would say, no, we're in different classes.

I had every excuse under the sun because you can imagine, it was shameful.

That year, I enrolled into that two-year, did my foundation. I even got work experience. And then in my third year, I went to the University of Bedfordshire.

Now with those that started two years earlier, I worked hard, Trevor.

On graduation day, I won the best performing student in the whole faculty. 

So that in itself is always defining to me. Every time I hit a setback or whenever I feel that I failed, I remember that, and I'm like, I turned that around. TN: And the big one, Mukauru Tours and Resorts? Yes. Again, as briefly as possible.

 BF: Mukauru Tours and Resorts was born out of the desire to bring back home opportunities for people to travel and have access to facilities, but also to build upmarket facilities for people who come on holiday or want to come and stay when they travel back home.

So we wanted to bring some of the things that people travel to Spain or to other parts of the world, like jet skiing and all that back home, so they could experience that.

 TN: You have created some brands. I mean, there's so many of them.... for 2025, you are thinking of doing something else, wellness travel.

 BF: Yes. So that's something that has been deep in my heart to bring Zimbabwe to the people in the diaspora, but not so much to us Zimbabweans, but the people that we support through our businesses in Chilton and Park Hill to enable them to experience the beauty of Zimbabwe.

So that's what we are going to be doing in 2025.

 TN: And the Byron Fundira Foundation?

BF: Yes. Like I said, most of what I do is based on wanting to give back.

And it was just a natural progression for me to think about how we cascade or share the knowledge that I've gained here with others, other young people who want to start up in business.

So we want to do mentorship programmes for young people who want to start up in business.

But I was then also approached by the African Philanthropy Forum to look at gender disparity programmes.

So I'm part of that initiative to look at gender inequalities and how we can bridge the gap between the male and female, girl child in Zimbabwe and across Africa.