Big dreams, big goals, where do I start?

About seven years ago I registered my first business, Vital Manufacturing and started a fascinating journey in entrepreneurship. You may have some fancy Oxford or Harvard definition for entrepreneurship but to me, it’s about building a person’s ability to set goals and achieve them, even when there is a risk of loss and negative outcomes or worse, the stigma that follows the tag of being a failure. As you read through this blog, my fears, struggles wins, and setbacks are woven through these paragraphs to illuminate, motivate and inspire you in your own journey.

My entrepreneurial adventure began in 2016, when I attended a Pitch Night following my final year of college. Pitch Night is an event where start-ups and SMEs pitch to a diverse audience. It was at this event that I was introduced to brilliant young entrepreneurs who were doing something I thought was impossible. These young people were my age and from my town, and they were addressing challenges in the city at various levels through their businesses. The start-ups and SMEs that pitched were at different stages of growth, but I did not see size; I saw liberated creativity. The fact that they were not waiting until they had 10 years of professional experience in some field inspired me.

I started following most of the start-ups and SMEs on social media, and you won’t believe this; there was more to the story. These entrepreneurs weren’t just developing their companies; they were also networking with other professionals around the world, winning prizes, and otherwise “influencing” society. At 23 years of age, these young professionals were working with big corporations, solving real problems on the market and getting entrepreneurship awards. I was sold for the second time. To put this in perspective, these young people were engaging in activities that I had imagined myself engaging in when I reached the age of forty. They were speaking about their experiences on various business platforms, developing prospects for self-employment, and traveling around the world.

Exploring my options

Eager to learn more about entrepreneurship and how I can build a business, I became a regular participant in pitch night. This was held once every two months. As I listened closely and interacted with the organizers, I began to share my concepts and ideas and eventually bought formulations from a laboratory in SA and registered a chemical manufacturing business. 2016 saw the registration of my first company, Vital Manufacturing Pvt Ltd.  I struggled to make enough time for my SME because I was employed in a full-time position. However, my job gave me the much-needed capital to start.

My hopes of opening a business one day were now becoming a reality.  I worked on this business for a year, even though I later stopped this project altogether. For me, it was the start of a lifetime quest to acquire the knowledge and attitude required to succeed as an entrepreneur. I was lacking not only physical skills but something much deeper than that. In my second blog, I’m going to talk about the growth mindset.

A community for growth.

There is no standard pathway to becoming an entrepreneur. Everyone has their own journey, but there are some common patterns that are similar for most. Pitch night gave me a platform to build a vision community. A community where I could get advice, encouragement, resources, and inspiration from seasoned entrepreneurs and accomplished professionals. Being in Zimbabwe and Africa, I can say I am one of the few who are lucky. I was no different from most entrepreneurs, who start out with just an idea and a wish for success. If you want to build a successful career as either an entrepreneur or professional in your industry, then you need to work on building a strong professional network.

My perceptions of who I was and what I was capable of were changing as a result of interactions with this new community. Beliefs about my ability to effectively engage, network, articulate, and speak on professional matters. The journey of personal transformation is a fulfilling process of self-discovery. 

If you find yourself in a similar predicament as I was seven years ago, with clear goals but not sure of where to start, I have put together a worksheet to help you start building your vision, community, and network. This worksheet is inspired by my experiences and the different books I’ve read. The worksheet will guide you and help you identify the most suitable partners, mentors, and communities to build your career, start-up, or SME.

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Jim Rohn

Since 2016, I have worked with various entrepreneurship ecosystem players from Zimbabwe and various countries across Africa. I realize that I was privy, and not many young people have access to the information that I received. In 2016, The Tech Village was one of the few innovation hubs in Zimbabwe. Since then, private companies and the government have established more hubs. However, more work is yet to be done to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystems that can build the next wave of innovation for the Zimbabwean economy and Africa. This ecosystem is even more crucial in the fight against climate change and the digital revolution, which calls for faster-evolving technologies and more sustainable business models in record time.

What I saw of the innovation ecosystem at the beginning of my journey was very limited. It was not the full story. The depth of the struggle of a young professional trying to gain credibility and trust in a new industry in Africa can never be fully explained. Trust of the market, clients, and industry stakeholders (I’m going to write a separate blog on gaining credibility and some of the strategies I’ve utilized.) Even after getting acknowledgement, you get to the next layer of the problem. Despite all the challenges, we still have a breed of brave and excellent young Africans—a suppressed brilliance that is not manifesting. Africa’s biggest resource is not the minerals underground but the energy and passion for change in its young population. After all these years, I have so many questions and feel strongly about the treatment of innovators by the corporate system. A system deeply rooted in the culture of a people and manifesting in the organizations and institutions. We need systemic change to support solutions for Zimbabwe as we prepare to participate in a global village and thrive in the global economy.

Can the best of African talent thrive IN Africa?

Love God, love people, make a difference and be freaking awesome!