BUY Zimbabwe founder Munyaradzi Hwengwere says entrepreneurs need to enter into economic alliances to improve Zimbabwe’s economy.
Speaking at an entrepreneurial business seminar last week called: Expanding Opportunities Through Meet-ups, which was aimed at encouraging networking between start-up business owners and entrepreneurs, Hwengwere said young people needed to be trustworthy to expand their networks.
“We have young people who have realised the power of networks, but instead of getting frustrated about it, they have decided to come together and become the network itself. There is a need for us to realise the opportunities that come with networks and leverage on the opportunities in Zimbabwe and across the world towards success and improve the ecosystems of the economy in Zimbabwe,” Hwengwere said during the event which was organised Yarutso Car Rentals and Yarutso Adventure founder, Victor Madzedze.
“There is a need to improve attitude, eagerness and the ability to fulfil promises, which are the fundamentals of competence in networking. Humility must walk together with intelligence, focus, hard work and trust and this is one of the challenges most young people have that they are not willing to learn and that leads to arrogance.”
He urged young people to be humble enough to learn from those more experienced to expand networks and ecosystems.
Chief executive officer of Qupa Micro-finance — an entity under ZB Financing Holdings Limited — Jade Tsokodayi said entrepreneurs must utilise all sources of financing around them when starting businesses.
The CEO noted that this would avoid the debt crises that come with borrowing from micro-financing institutions.
Tsokodayi encouraged entrepreneurs to establish their businesses first before approaching micro financing institutions.
“So, for financing, do not look further than yourself, you need to make sure that you redeem all and everything around you. When you are more established you then approach micro-finance institutions like us. When you are still starting, the cost of financing could be exorbitant and you might end up in debt instead of flourishing as a business,” he said.
“When starting, utilise family, friends and the fools around you. So many people are so successful due to their uncles who had money. Some are up there because they had friends who were well established, and some are successful because they had fools out there with the money, but without ideas.”
He encouraged small businesses to bank their money so that they have traceable financial statements that are necessary when one needs to get financing from micro-finance institutions for capital.
Tsokodayi also said entrepreneurs should see micro-finance institutions as partners rather than loan sharks.
“If you borrow, please pay for you to maintain relationships with these financial institutions. Remember, if you are a bad creditor, you are blacklisted from getting any form of financing. This is a form of professionalism that any business needs and when it gets to a point that you are blacklisted, being successful will be very hard,” he said.
“When you are confident that you are established, you come to us, and we will take you through every process to proper financing. We will need you to put all your financial statements on the table. We have realised that most people are missing out on basic financial services because they do not bank their money.”
Tsokodayi urged entrepreneurs to have several lines of income to sustain their businesses, while embracing networking in their business plans in the process.
“When establishing your businesses, never rely on one source of income. Do not put all your eggs in one basket. When you decide to be an entrepreneur, never lose focus and the reason why you started in the first place. Networking is also the key to success,” he added.