Manicaland Chamber of SMEs

Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Develop

Manicaland MSMEs Business Expo 2024 in pictures. The event was officiated by Hon Senator Monica Mutsvangwa, the Minister of Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Develop. Thank you Hon. Minister and your team.

The event was supported by
Mercy Corps
ZB Financial Holdings
First Capital Bank Zimbabwe
Special thanks to our partners, together we will achieve the upper middle class economy by 2030

ITS THE MEGA EXPO

Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Develop
Zimbabwe Women's Microfinance Bank
ZimTrade Zimbabwe
SMEDCO
National Competitiveness Commission Zim

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Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Develop National Competitiveness Commission Zim MUTARE BUSINESS ADVERTS Mutare Community

Are you an Entrepreneur in Manicaland? Here is an event not to miss! Reserve your seat early to avoid inconveniences due to limited seats!

Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Develop
National Competitiveness Commission Zim
SMEDCO
Zimbabwe Women's Microfinance Bank

Manicaland SMEs Let's book our seats early to avoid last minute inconveniences!

Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Develop
National Competitiveness Commission Zim

ZimTrade Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Women's Microfinance Bank
SMEDCO

We are so proud of you Hon. DR. S.G.G. Nyoni. We are here today as Manicaland Chamber of SMEs all because of your great work. We are your brain child and we will forever be grateful for this great legacy. We wish you all the best in your new role in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. In the same vein Manicaland Chamber of SMEs would like to Congratulate our in coming Minister Hon. Monica Mutsvangwa. Welcome amai and we can't wait to have the ball rolling in your era Hon. Minister. We are eagerly waiting to take Zimbabwe to greater heights as SMEs as we work towards attaining Vision 2030.

Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Develop National Competitiveness Commission Zim ZimTrade




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In Chipinge, Jopa safe market tour by the delegation


Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Develop
National Competitiveness Commission Zim

Presents hand over by Chipinge District Chamber of SMEs Chairperson madam Violet Banda


Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Develop

In Chipinge, visitation of current work spaces of smes in chipinge (Project which is spearheaded by Chipinge District Chamber of SMEs)


Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Develop
National Competitiveness Commission Zim
Violet Banda

In Chipinge, The Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Develop Permanent Secretary Mr. Mhike, The Chief Director Engineer Gondo, DDC Chipinge, Min Officials having interaction with Chipinge Town Council.and Chipinge RDC on work space provision for SMEs



National Competitiveness Commission Zim

WHAT ARE YOU SELLING? ADVERTISE HERE

Dr Marambire

Food For Thought;

8 Reasons Why Small Business Fail

Today, allow me to combine reasons 5,6,7, and 8 to finish the series.

#5 Unsuccessful marketing and sales

Failing to effectively reach and engage targets results in low customer acquisition and retention rates. This limited revenue stream poses significant challenges to the long-term sustainability of many small businesses

#6 Competitive Pressure

Small businesses often face intense competition from larger, well established companies, lack of proper differentiation, and unique selling proposition, which gives them little to no control in the market, and ultimately, they are pushed out of the business.

#7 Over expansion or rapid growth.

While growth is generally desirable, expanding too quickly without adequate resources infrastructure or strategic planning strain many small businesses leading to financial instability and operational challenges, which eventually forces them out of the market

#8 Lack of adaptability

Markets evolve rapidly, and small businesses that fail to embrace new technologies, consumer trends, and innovation find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with the market that no longer exists.

Dr Marambire

Food For Thought;

8 Reasons Why Small Business Fail

4 limited resources

Many small businesses are self- funded. They rely on their resourcefulness and creativity, Insufficient funds restrict their operational capabilities, impeding their ability to launch or sustain the growth of their businesses. There are small businesses that have the potential to grow into multi-million companies. Unfortunately, such potential is suppressed by lack of resources.



If you look in Western Countries and Europe, multi-million companies grow as a result of stock exchange. They list their companies on stock exchange and sell shares to raise funding. They don't search for loans because a loan is not good for a business.

Small businesses don't favour or consider to list their companies on Stock Exchange because they lack knowledge on how to do it. They have poor cooperate governance and enjoy one man one band. Small businesses owner want control and ownership, greedy and not wanting to share. Quoter of an Elephant is but than a full chicken. It's better to own 20 % of 10 million than owning a $5000.00 networthy company.

When I got this information, I started the process so that my company could be listed on the stock exchange.

You may need to consider these too.

The Herdboy C.E.O, Dr

Dr Marambire

Food For Thought;

8 Reasons Why Small Business Fail

3. Copying mechanism

It is always easy to start a business model that is proven successful for others, however, the lack of unique products, services or value propositions hinders the ability to establish a distinctive market position making it difficult to attract customers and stand out among competitors. The general small business owners just copy from other business models. Very few people who have started something of their own, its just a matter of copying something already existing in the market. The unique approach is what will make your business stand out.

A lot of people are selling clothes, and there is one business that stands out because of a unique approach in clothes style, advertising, and display. It is important to distinguish your business from others.

Let me give a practical example when I started building materials and retail business. There were many big shops selling building materials in my area with even lower prices that I could not beat. I launched a unique service in the building materials retail business that made my business stand out. I offered free transport for deliveries to my customers. Even though my prices were a bit higher than my competitors, people would prefer purchasing from my shop because of free transport.

I managed to afford free transport because I had a 2-tone truck, I was driving it myself, and fuel was affordable. So transport was not a big cost for me, particularly on heavy products such as timber and cement. I was costing an extra $1 per bag of cement when hiring independent transport while my cement was just $0.50 higher than others but comes with free transport. My cement would end up being cheaper for customers.

The same applies to timber. It would cast $150 to $200 to hire transport to carry timber so people ended up preferring to buy from me.

Most customers did have storage for building materials on their site, I allowed them to buy, and we kept their goods at our shop, and they would collect only when they wanted to use it. This was a service that was not provided by big shops, so customers preferred to buy from us. It becomes an advantage for us because we were able to sell on product to more than 2 people at a time. This enables us to grow our income and stock so rapidly.

When you want to provide unique services, you need to know what your competitors are not doing, provide something that customers will not find anywhere else. But be careful in doing this. Don't end up running a loss trying to be unique. A good analysis will be needed to make sure that you don't operate at loss.

In order to stand out as a business, be unique, yes, copy from others, but do it in your own way. At school, the teacher used to say don't copy from your colleague and copy the name, where necessary put your own signature.

Thr Herdboy C.E.O, Dr

Dr Marambire

Food For Thought;

8 Reasons why Small Business Fail

Food For Thought;

8 Reasons why Small Business Fail

2) Lack of Mentorship and support.

Many small business owners are the first generation of entrepreneurs in their families and circles. They are trying to figure everything out by themselves. The lack of support and access to experienced mentors makes it challenging for them to make informed decisions and overcome the various challenges associated with running a successful business.

This is why there are a lot of mistakes that Small Business owners make in the process of growing their businesses. It is very unfortunate that some of the mistakes put them out of business forever. If the person could have proper guidance, such a business could have been saved. This refers to financial management,recruitment, company governance, etc.


It is important to find a mentor, o good mentor should be someone in the same line of business like yourself. A mentor should be someone with a reputable character. A good mentor should be a person with integrity. A good mentor should be someone who is not jealous. Good mentor is not about popularity. I would prefer a mentor who is grounded and quite.

Most popular people are not good entrepreneurs, check what is making the person popular. Some of popularity is a means of tricking people and cheating them out of their hard earned money. A good popularity should be backed by visible evidence of their work such as the companies that they have built, number of employees they have, legitimacy of their businesses.

It wrong that people would seek Mentorship to social media celebrities who live a fake life online while struggling in their real life.

Mentorship is a very serious thing that should never be taken lightly. I receive so many messages from people requesting me to mentor them. I am doing a good job in mentoring a lot of you through these Facebook posts because I use practical examples of what I am doing.

Mentorship is not about one on one sessions. You can be mentored by a person that you have never met.

I have a number of mentors that I learn from. Strive Masiyiwa being my biggest mentor. I only met Strive Masiyiwa in person and spoke to him for not more that 15 seconds at a conference but I learned more through his page. The knowledge I learned from him helped me to be the business person I am today because his lessons are practical.

The Herdboy C.E.O,Dr

Dr Marambire

Food For Thought;

8 Reasons Why Small Business Fail

I want to write a series about 8 common reasons why Small Businesses fails. In these series, I want to articulate fundamental reasons that lead to small businesses failing to run sustainable and long-term businesses.

Challenge number #1

Inadequate Plan and Strategy

Many small business owners start their entrepreneurial journey as a way to means. The business will not have a formula. This means they may start a business without understanding customer's needs,preferences, and competition. Also, they may lack the necessary skills, knowledge, and training to run a sustainable business model.


It is important to go through a training so that one will be equipped and obtain knowledge on how to run a sustainable business. Also it is important for small business owners to know how to scale up through proper business structures. Once the business shows good potential,it is necessary for the owner to attend as many workshops as possible where he/she can learn skills through practical lessons from others, create a good network and exposure. One can never grow in isolation.

At the end of these 8 series, I want us to be in a position to grow our business and avoid all these common mistakes. Don't miss these series.

I promise that in the second week of August 2023, I will hold a business seminar in Harare. Dates and time will be revealed soon.

The Herdboy C.E.O,Dr

SMEs let's advertise our businesses Here!

Manicaland Chamber of SMEs participated in the ZimTrade Zimbabwe Outward Mission. Eight Enterprises participated which are Thando Timbers which is into poles treatment and distribution. These have already started exporting into Mozambique, Zambia and Malawi. Prolific Spring Holdings and Jamden also participated under the Agriculture sector. Oasis Refineries which are into cooking pil manufacturing together with Raven Service Stations had one representative. Charamba Enterprises trading as Mega Bulk also participated in this mission. All these are from Mutare District. Chipinge was represented by Mambakwedza Enterprises which specializes in baobab beverages, Buhera District was represented by Miracle Vocation College who are into life skills education, Mutasa District represented by PinkRose Primary Private school.
The Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Develop also accompanied these SMEs as a way of supporting this organization represented by the Provincial Development Officer.

Manicaland Chamber of SMEs of SMEs is extremely grateful to these partners for the great support they continue to receive from them.

Great business connections were established through this mission. The Enterprises are considering investing in Mozambique as well and part of businesses' growth. The fact is that SMEs that participated in this Outward Mission will not remain the same.

Mr. Jaji, Our Facilitator of the SMEs Competitiveness Seminar in Mutare.

Empowering Small Businesses: Golden Peacock hosts a successful seminar for SMEs, providing valuable insights and strategies for growth and success.

ZimTrade Regional Manager Admire Jongwe - presenting on Positioning SMEs for Export Market Pe*******on & Development

Empowering SMEs for global success:

Insights from Mr. A. Jongwe, Regional Development Manager at Zimtrade at the SMEs Competitiveness Seminar in Mutare.





ZNCC Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries SME Association of Zimbabwe ZimTrade Zimbabwe

"It is sad that small and medium enterprises are not getting the finance and loans that can allow them to grow because of certain restrictions that we have. There are legal restrictions that will not allow our SMEs to grow." said Dr. Eng. T. Garikayi at the SMEs Seminar in Mutare.

Go over the report on the SMEs Seminar that was covered by Manica Post on June 15, 2023.
https://www.manicapost.co.zw/high-production-costs-choke-smes/




ZNCC Ministry of Industry and Commerce Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries SME Association of Zimbabwe Talon Christian Garie

*‘Be innovative to stay competitive’*

NewsDay
Local News By CLAYTON MASEKESA

The Harare Institute of Technology pro-vice chancellor, Talon Garikayi, said SMEs should create value for their businesses through innovation.
SMALL and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Zimbabwe have been urged to be innovative in their production processes to be competitive on local and international markets.

This came out during the National Competitiveness Commission (NCC) seminar for SMEs held at a hotel in Mutare last Friday.

Addressing SMEs who attended the seminar, the Harare Institute of Technology pro-vice chancellor, Talon Garikayi, said SMEs should create value for their businesses through innovation.

“SMEs now need to be creative they should be kept aware of the impact of new technologies,” he said.

Garikayi said SMEs were facing stiff competition from products from China, South Africa and the US, among others.

“We have seen an influx of foreign products on the local market and it is now very important for the SMEs to implement new significant and improved product processes by introducing new marketing methods and innovation on business practices,” he said.

Garikayi said businesses should interact with customers and strategic partners.

“It is important to innovative by getting feedback from customers and strategic stakeholders so that the SMEs get information on the emerging changes on the market. This will help them to strategise and adapt,” Garikayi said.

He said SMEs should add value by improving products or services.

“They should now go through dynamic transformation that brings the ability of them to continuously create new forms of competitive advantages,” Garikayi said.

“The SMEs remain as the drivers of Zimbabwe's economy. So the high degree of innovation gives flexibility and adaptability to new markets, which enables them to increase the capacity for resource utilisation in the economy.”

Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution secretary, Edgar Seenza, said Zimbabwe should concentrate on areas of competitive advantage and perfect them.

“As a starting point, as a country we must concentrate on areas of competitive advantage and then perfect those areas so that we market Zimbabwe on the continent,” he said.

“It is no longer time to behave ordinary, but produce efficiently with the expected quality and price for the intended market. There is no space for uncompetitive industries on the global market otherwise we end up a supermarket.”

He said the best way to survive in the SMEs sector was to initiate the process to compete with giants.

Manicaland SMEs chairperson Kudzai Makore said it was important for them to be innovative.

“Information is power. It is important for us to be empowered. The SMEs are now the backbone of the economy. We now need to work hard and implement innovative strategies in our businesses so that we compete and pe*****te bigger local and international markets,” Makore said.

“The SMEs are entities of economic growth and I want to encourage my colleagues to implement innovative programmes to improve our competitiveness.”

The SMEs came from all districts of Manicaland province.