‘A story of tenacity and hunger for education’

By In Conversation With Trevor | Oct. 22, 2023

Entrepreneur Thelma Chimbganda says failing at school pushed her to scale great heights in life instead of putting her down.

Chimbganda (TC), the co-founder and chief executive officer of Beyond Borders Logistics and Tsoka International, shared her story of resilience and determination to succeed with Alpha Media Holdings chairman Trevor Ncube (TN) on the platform In Conversation with Trevor.

Below are excerpts from the interview.

TN: Thelma Chimbganda, welcome to In Conversation With Trevor.

TC: Thank you so much Trevor for having me. It is an absolute pleasure.

TN: It is a pleasure and a blessing having you. Your story Thelma is absolutely amazing; inspirational.

As I was looking at your story I [said] to myself, this is a story of failing, but never giving up.

TC: Absolutely.

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TN: It is a story of tenacity and hunger for education. Do I sum it right?

TC: You do Trevor, you absolutely do, because if I had not failed, if I had not experienced what I have gone through in terms of business and personal life as well I do not think I would be having this moment yeah.

TN: So let us talk about the moments of failure that have gotten you here in business and in life.

Shall we start when you wanted to do your first degree and could not continue? Share that story with us?

TC: Well, Trevor that one it began when I failed my ‘A’ Levels. I did not expect that to happen because I was a hard worker.

I failed to get the adequate points to get into university.

I think this is the first time I am actually sharing the points that I got! It has been such an embarrassment to me.

I got five points at ‘A’ Level. I could not get into the top universities in Zimbabwe, so for me to deal with that I sort of shut down.

Shut down from everyone from everything and I told my parents I needed a gap year because I could not wrap my head around [it] because I was so young at that time.

TN: How young were you?

TC: That was about 17 or 18 years old.

TN: Ok

TC: Yeah so failure was something new to me, and I said I just want to gap year.

My parents were on board, they were very supportive, they are still supportive, and I waited for a year and then I was eager to go to university because I was looking at my peers, they were now in second year and I was still at home.

I am like okay what is happening, everyone is now moving, but regardless my parents said ‘Ok where do you want to go’?

I said Chinhoyi University of Technology, and I could not get in the conventional programme because of my points.

The other option was to settle for a parallel programme.

So, I took it on board, like this is my failure [and] I need to carry it, I need to move forward, I need to go to school.

I went to university, I was studying business management and entrepreneurship.

TN: Perhaps before we go to university, where you were studying business management and entrepreneurship, you said something that I want us to go back to.

You said when you failed your ‘A’ Levels you shut down?

You closed yourself from everybody else? Describe that space for us?

TC: That is a difficult space because we do not know what failure is, especially at that young age.

You are just cruising through life, you are used to getting what you want, you have got your parents providing everything for you.

In that moment because I had done well at Grade 7, those are the little milestones that I had at that time.

I had done well at Grade 7, I had done well at ‘O’ Level, surprised everyone.

So for ‘A’ Level I was very confident that I was going to do great.

So that space was very difficult for me, I did not know how to process it, what it was and what it meant for me.

Also, I think embarrassed as well, to share because everyone was sharing, everyone was applying to universities [saying] I got 10 points, 14 points, 15 points and I have five points.

How do you explain that? How do people react? And also, just being measured I think, because in Zimbabwe education is very important.

I think it was like people how would they look at me with five points?

Am I going to be labelled as somebody who's daft? I am not intelligent?

So it was really difficult for me and I think that is when I lost touch with a lot of people because I just completely cut myself off.

I could not explain it, yeah.

TN: So you finally make it to Chinhoyi University? Shall we go there?

TC: I was at Chinhoyi, it was a fresh start because everyone else was a year ahead.

So I was kind of like starting [anew], which was very fine with me, new people, they did not know my failure and I was not obliged to...

TN: To explain.

TC: Yes. I was not obliged to explain it to them. And I am there, I am enjoying university.

I am set out to say I am going to succeed. I am going to do well and 2008 happened.

Our economy took a downturn, my parents, my mother was a civil servant at that time, my dad was a businessperson but he was not doing so well, he was also struggling in his business.

We did not know where to get the US dollars from at that time, and we could not afford the fees.

Almost on a daily basis we had to pay accommodation fees per night and it was not sustainable given where I was coming from.

We had no one to call, my parents had no one to ask for help from, and my mother decided to resign from the formal employment and she relocated to Malawi.

In Malawi at that time the economy was better, it was performing well and my dad was like ‘you know what we cannot keep up with the fees and the changes that [are] happening currently, you cannot eat while you still at school, so go to where mama is...’

TN: Wow.

TC: ...and start afresh. So, it was kind of like another failure, another setback because now I am midway.

I was now in my first year second semester [and] I had to drop that and go and start afresh again. So I am not new to...

TN: To failure.

TC: ...to starting again yes. I am not new to rising up. I thrive in those environments yeah.

TN: So you go to Malawi to do what where?

TC: I went to Malawi to do chartered management accounting with SIMA at Malawi College of Accounting.

So instead of getting a university degree I was now pursuing a professional course. I was there for about two years, yeah.

TN: And you got your professional qualification?

TC: Yes, finally.

TN: Right. And then from there?

TC: From there I decided to come back home because I am drawn to Zimbabwe, it is in me.

I am sure maybe if I stayed in Malawi because of the professional course I had done I could have gotten a really nice job, but I cannot stay away from Zimbabwe.

I love Zimbabwe that much.

TN: Why?

TC: I think because all that I know and all that I am, especially my roots, my parents, they were here, they are here.

So being away from home I was like being drawn away from the love that I know, from the support that I know and whenever I have got a problem I know my parents are a phone call away, they are a visit away, they are a bus away.

TN: So did your mom come back with you?

TC: My mom stayed on for another year and then she came back.

So, it was my dad who was here with my other sister and I was with my mom in Malawi.

I had to come back home because everything I know and love is here, yeah.

TN: And then what did you come to do?

TC: I came back to Zimbabwe. I tried to look for a job and I was told that the professional course I had done, it was easy for you to get a job with it.

I applied, never got a response from any of the organisations that I applied to. And my dad as I mentioned before, he was an entrepreneur, he was a very special guy. He passed away in January 2021...