A digital copy of the Business News 24 (12 June edition). Zimbabwe's premier business news free sheet published by the Zimpapers Newspapers Group (1980) Limited and available every week day from 1530hrs to give a summary of the day's business news.

1. News Update as @ 1530 hours, Thursday 12 June 2014
Feedback: bh24admin@zimpapers.co.zwEmail: bh24feedback@zimpapers.co.zw
By Tawanda Musarurwa
• Kariba South Expansion pro-
ject to effectively begin following
board appointment
The Kariba South Expansion project
is set to start moving following the
appointment of a new board for the
new Zesa entity, the Kariba Hydro
Power Company. The Kariba Hydro
Power Company was set up to oversee
the construction of two new generating
units at Kariba Power Station of 150
Megawatts each.
But progress on the extension project
had stalled due to the lack of a board,
in view of several pre-conditions rang-
ing from monetary to technical issues
are yet to be settled. Today the Minis-
ter of Energy and Power Development
Dzikamai Mavhaire appointed the inau-
gural board of the Kariba Hydro Power
Company, along with the boards of
Zesa's other nine entities.
The Kariba Hydro Power Company will
be chaired by Engineer James Chiuta
Dube and Dr Cleopatra Matanhire-Mtisi
is the vice chairperson.
The company's managing director is
Engineer Noah Gwariro, who is also the
MD of the Zimbabwe Power Company.
Permanent secretary in the Ministry
of Energy and Power Development
Partson Mbiriri indicated that this par-
ticular board will have do with some
"hand-holding" because of the expe-
diency with which some key areas of
the project needed to be implemented.
The $355 million project is to build
two generators that will boost Kariba
South’s capacity from 750 megawatts
to 1 050MW.
China Export and Import Bank is to
provide US$320 million (90 percent of
projectcost)andGovernment,through
ZPC, will supplement the balance.
Meanwhile, new board members for
Zesa Holdings comprises of Dr Her-
bert Murerwa as chairman, Engineer
Benjamin Rafemoyo as vice chairman
and Engineer Joshua Chifamba as chief
executive officer.
Other members in the Zesa Holdings
board are Evelyn Kawonza, Simplisius
Chihambakwe, Dr Christine Masuta,
Farai Mavhiya, Godknows Mhonde and
Nyasha Mandeya. •
Kariba Hydro Power Company gets inaugural board

2. By Rumbidzayi Zinyuke
Government will not relax its policy on
the production of genetically modified
commodities in the country but will
work on imposing stiffer measures on
the import of horticultural and poultry
products.
Speaking at the launch of the US$2,4
billion agricultural revolving fund by
the Zanu-PF Youth League and Lasch
Enterpises Joint venture, Agriculture,
Mechanisation and Irrigation Develop-
ment Minister Joseph Made said farm-
ers should focus on producing these
products.
“We should start the programme by
producing those commodities that are
GMO free and I can assure you that we
willnotallowourcountrytobecontam-
inatedwiththesecommoditiesbecause
our population is very small relative to
the land base that we have,” he said.
He said farmers should take advantage
of the recent ban on GMO products
derived from soya bean and cereal
crops in countries such as Russia,
China and Mexico.
Minister Made said stringent measures
on imports could, however, only be
sustained by consistent supply of the
banned commodities.
“I am willing to put the stringent meas-
ures on condition that you promise
and undertake to make sure that you
are consistent in production. I don’t
think it would be a problem to get the
supermarkets to support you if you are
consistent and supply right through the
year,” he added.
Speaking at the same event, direc-
tor general of the joint venture Evans
Zininga said more than 800 000 tar-
geted farmers will benefit at least
$3000 worth of inputs each.
“Instead of giving them cash loans,
farmers will receive inputs and they will
have access to a ready market for their
produce courtesy of Agricultural Mar-
keting Authority,” he said.
He said by the end of the first year, the
programme should have more than 1
million farmers benefitting from it.
“And to avoid the culture of people who
donotpaybackloans,wewilldoathor-
oughinvestigationtoverifythecredibil-
ity of the recipients and the loans will
be insured by First Mutual Life so that
in the event a beneficiary dies before
paying back a loan, the company gets
its money back,” he added. •
NEWS2
Government will not accept GMO products: Made

3. 3 NEWS
By Lynn Murahwa
Education platform eLearning Solutions
is launching a new mobile platform
called mLearning (mobile learning)
next week designed specifically to inte-
grate their digital content for mobile
devices.
Elearning Solutions has scheduled the
launch for Tuesday morning at Meikles
Hotel to showcase their new product.
The platform mLearning offers stu-
dents and teachers a mobile space to
access learning material and an inter-
active virtual learning system. The
platform has been made available for
Windows, Android and Apple Operating
Systems.
The mLearning system is a payment
based platform and eLearning Solu-
tions has partnered with the country’s
mobile money platforms Ecocash, Tel-
ecash and One Wallet to allow users to
purchase learning material.
e-learning Solutions does not allow for
users to purchase ownership learning
material but rather purchase the ability
to access the information for a period
of time. The prices of the material vary
depending with the duration of the
license. According to eLearning Solu-
tions mLearning, has been traditionally
defined as "learning across multiple
contexts, through social and content
interactions, using personal electronic
devices. This, however, is a device
based definition, which ties mLearning
to technology.
e-learning Solutions defines mLearning
with respect to the mobility of learners,
and the learning experience focusing
onacademicandcontentaspectsofthe
mobile learning environment. M-learn-
ing offers three features within its sys-
tem mCourser, mLibro and mAuthor.
MCourser is a mobile-oriented web
based eLearning platform accessed
from any device that helps teachers
and students to work and interact dur-
ing the learning process.
MLibro is an offline extension to any
eLearning Platform enabling users to
work with interactivecontent on any of
their devices in an offline environment.
MAuthor addresses the growing
demand for digital mobile educational
content. It is a powerful yet easy to
use ePublishing solution designed to
help publishers and developers create
a wide variety of interactive digital con-
tentandimmediatelypublishitformul-
tiple platforms and uses. •
e-Solutions Learning launches mobile learning platform

4. The Minister for Energy and Power
Development Dzikamai Mavhaire
appointed board members for the var-
ious State Enterprises and Parastatals
boards today.
ZESA
The newly appointed board for Zesa
Holdings comprises of Dr Herbert Mur-
erwa as Chairman, Engineer Benjamin
Rafemoyo as Vice Chairman and Engi-
neer Joshua Chifamba as Chief Execu-
tive Officer. Other members in the Zesa
Holdings board are Evelyn Kawonza,
Simplisiuis Chihambakwe, Dr Chris-
tine Masuta, Farai Mavhiya, Godknows
Mhonde and Nyasha Mandeya.
ZPC
The appointed Chairman for Zimba-
bwe Power Company (ZPC) is Stanley
Kazhanje while Vice Chairperson is
Patrick Zhuwawo and Noah Gwariro
is the Managing Director. The rest of
the ZPC board is comprised of Clarissa
MUchengeti, Mr R S Borerwe, Takawira
Zengeya, Engineer Alban Nyakurima,
Thandiwe MLobane and Gertrude Chik-
wava.
ZETDC
The Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution
and Transmission Company (ZETDC)
appointed Chairman is Dr John Mvun-
dura while Nicholas Ncube is appointed
Vice Chairman and Engineer Julian
Chinembiri is the Managing Direc-
tor. The rest of the board comprises
of Zenzo Nsimbi, Cletus Nyachowe,
Rebecca Chidziva, Elasto Madzingira
and Getrude Mutasa.
ZENT
The Zesa Enterprises (ZENT (PVT)
board is comprised of Engineer Ernest
Muchayi as Chairman, Judy Nyamu-
chanja as Vice Chairperson and Tererai
Mutasa as the Managing Director. The
rest of the board is made up of Briga-
dierGeneralMashingaidze,MrsDhlem-
beu, Elias Musakwa and Roselune
Chitsveto.
Powertel
The Powertel (Private) Limited Board
comprises if Tsitsi Makova as Chairper-
son, Archibald Ndoro as Vice Chairman
and Samuel Maminimini as the Man-
aging Director. The other members
are Gertrude Takawira, Fred Kanzama,
Gerald Mlotshwa and Chaplin Chin-
yanga.
NOIC
TheNationalOilInfrastructireCompany
of Zimbabwe (NOIC) board Chairman
is Shingai Mutumbwa, Nancy Masay-
iwa as Vice Chairperson and Wilfred
Matukeni as Mannaging Director. The
restoftheboardismadeupofDrBara,
Mrs MAyowe, Brian Kaukonde, Jacob
Chademana and Musekiwa Kamab.
Petrol Trade
Petrol Trade has been appointed Wal-
ter Mutsauri as board Chairman, Zvi-
nechimwe Churu as Vice Chairman
and Tanaka SIkwila as the Acting
Chief Executive Officer. The rest of the
board has been appointed Shadreck
Chipanga, Tinayo Kangai, Petronella
Musarurwa, Raphael Tirivanhu, Ber-
nard Hove and Busisiwe Dube.
REA
The Rural Electrification Agency (REA)
board Chairman is Willard Chiwewe
while the Chief Executive Officer is
Joshua Mashamba. The rest of the
board comprises of Christinah MOyo,
FUngai Samuel Mbetsa, Christopher
Shumba, Josphat T Jaji, Felix Chik-
wowo, Midard Khumalo and Cecelia
Chitiyo.
ZERA
The board appointed for the Zimbabwe
Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA)
is Dr Esther Khosa as Chairpaerson,
Engineer Gloria Magombo as the
Chief Executive Officer, AirVice Mar-
shall Henry Muchena, Engineer Betty
Nhachi, Tedios Muzoroza, Todd Garfield
Nkiwane and Dr Irene Jeke •
4 ENERGY
Ministry of Energy and Power Development State Enterprises Boards in FULL
Minister Mavhaire

5. BH24 Reporter
Edgars Stores is eyeing exporting its
recently launched men’s casual cloth-
inglabel,Quote,toSouth Africafollow-
ing its acceptance on the local market.
The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange listed
firm in February this year launched
Quote, a men’s clothing brand as part
of initiatives to drive its sales volumes.
Edgars Stores sales and marketing
executive Peter Munyama told New
Ziana the planned move followed suc-
cess of the label in Zimbabwe. “We
are trying to get the fabric in Tanzania
so that we can be able to sell cloth-
ing in the huge South African mar-
ket,” he said. Although their products
can compete with any other in the
region, Edgars Zimbabwe cannot pen-
etrate the huge South African market
because of a bilateral trade agreement
between Zimbabwe and its southern
neighbour.
Zimbabwe has preferential access on
clothing to most parts of the world
on a single transformation basis. This
means that manufacturing of the gar-
ment must occur in Zimbabwe, but
thefabriccanoriginatefromanywhere.
But there are restrictive Rules of Origin
in the Southern African Development
Community (Sadc) region which main-
tain a double transformation rule on
clothing. This means in order to par-
ticipate in preferential access, clothing
must not only be manufactured within
Zimbabwe, but it must also be manu-
factured from fabric which was manu-
factured within SADC, to enjoy duty-
free access to regional markets, or
pricing for Zimbabwean products will
remain uncompetitive.
SADC governments have been seeking
to relax this rule through request for
waivers. Munyama said the number
of retail partners selling the Quote
brand locally had doubled since its
launch. Services of five retailers among
them, Topics, Barons and Raffles were
enlisted to push the label into the mar-
ket at its launch. “From the five retail
partners we started with, we have now
doubledto ten.TheseincludeCeembe,
Five Kings, to mention but a few.”
“A couple of indigenous partners have
also come on board to retail the Quote
clothing line,” he said. Munyama said
Edgars was currently selling summer
wear of the Quote men’s designer
clothes and demand was already high.
“We launched the brand in February
and then we were selling winter wear
until this June. The summer range
sales have already out competed the
winter clothing by 44 percent,” he said.
— New Ziana •
5 NEWS
Edgars eyeing SA market for quote label

6. BH24

7. By Tawanda Musarurwa
TheMinistryofIndustryandCommerce
has set up private sector advisory com-
mittees on Ease of Doing Business and
Imports, respectively.
According to the Industry and Com-
merce Minister Mike Bimha, the advi-
sory committees will play a key role
in presenting the challenges industry
is facing in respect of the two areas to
Government.
Minister Bimha said the advisory com-
mittees are ad hoc, and advise his min-
istry and not Cabinet.
"Their role is to make analysis, inves-
tigations and to come up with recom-
mendations contained in a report that
Government will then consider," said
Minister Bimha.
"It is in the interest of Government
to engage the private sector, and the
private sector can also benefit from
knowing where Government is coming
from."
The two commitees where announced
this afternoon by the minister. The
advisory committee on Ease of Doing
Business will be chaired by Moreen
Chitewe. It will also include Brian
Kagondo, Adam Molayi, Clifford
Simbeya and Osbourne Majuru.
The advisory committee on Imports
will be chaired by Mike Nyabadza and
its members include Tracey Mutiviri,
James Maphosa, Eve Gadzikwa and
Busiso Moyo.
The issues of a difficult and costly oper-
ating environment and the effect of
cheap imports are very topical in local
industry.
Minister Bimha said the committees
have an initial deadline of the end of
July to make their first report back. •
7 NEWS
Ministry of Industry and Commerce sets up private sector advisory committees

8. The local bourse continues on a posi-
tive trend moving up 0.79 percent on
yesterday.
The Industrial Index gained 1.41 points
to close at 180.43 points.
Heavyweight Delta added 2 cents to
117 cents, while TSL was up a cent to
30 cents.
Telecoms giant Econet advanced 0.41
cents to 71.41 cents and cement man-
ufacturer PPC gained 0.20 cents to set-
tle at 216 cents.
Turnall was up 0.15 cents to close at
2.25 cents.
On the downside, Colcom slipped a
cent to 21 cents, while Willdale slipped
0.02 cents to trade at 0.08 cents and
ZPI eased 0.01 cents to 0.80 cents.
Turnover today jumped to $7.7 million
on the back of a special bargain in CBZ
worth $5.1 million.
Theminingindexadvanced1.15points
(or 2.67 percent) to close at 44.27
points on the back of gains by Riozim
which was up a cent to 20 cents,
Falgold also gained, adding 0.50 cents
to trade at 2 cents as Bindura added
0.04 cents to close at 3.20 cents.
Hwange maintained previous trading
levels.
— BH24 Reporter •
8 ZSE REVIEW
Equities maintains bullish trend

9. Over the past few years, the term infra-
structure sharing has been brandied
about especially in the telecommunica-
tions industry.
Zimbabwe has one of the most dynamic
industries which have been growing at a
phenomenal pace. Not only is the pene-
trationrateforvoicecallsat103percent,
internetpenetrationisnowat40percent
making Zimbabwe one of the most pen-
etrated markets on the continent.
This means the three major players in
the industry, Econet, NetOne and Telecel
have been hard at work to make sure
they service every part of the nation.
Base station after base station has been
erected while trenches that are millions
of kilometres long have been dug for the
fibre optic cables.
While this is a good thing, the infra-
structure has not been shared. Each
company is doing their own thing. And
they have been constantly blaming each
other for the failure to integrate their
infrastructure. Econet says the others
want a parasitic relationship where they
ride on the back of technologies already
createdbythemwhileotherssayEconet
snubs them because they think they are
capable of doing it alone. Who then is to
blame? Should Government come in to
refereesuchamatch?Econethasdonea
lotoverthepastdecade,wehavetogive
them that. They have introduced a lot of
firsts in the industry. NetOne and Telecel
on the other hand have been doing a lot
of following. NetOne has over the years
built an impressive base station base.
Theyhavecoverageinalmosteverypart
of the country and Telecel is also follow-
ing suit.
But why then are they failing to come
together and combine forces to create a
stronger telecoms industry? We cannot
deny that Econet has worked hard to be
where they are in terms of infrastruc-
ture as well as innovations. They have
brought so many firsts in the country
that we cannot blame them for feeling
a bit overprotective of such an achieve-
ment. Econet yesterday launched an
internationalservicethatwillmakesend-
ing money from the diaspora a whole lot
easier and cheaper. this is exactly what
the country needs , but they were quick
to say they would not share it with oth-
ers.
“We went and we negotiated with World
Remit on behalf of Econet not anyone
else. It is up to the others to go and
engage them as well, we have no prob-
lem. They should be aggressive enough
if they want to survive in this industry.
But it is ok if they copy from us,” Cuth-
bert Tembedza, Ecocash chief executive
said. Hereiswhatwethink:First,Econet
should also shoulder their share of the
blame. They cannot act as if they are all
innocentinthis.Theyhaveoverthepast
been a bit bullish and they also do not
want to share their infrastructure. They
have told themselves that we have the
capacity and so we can go it alone’. but
thatshouldnotbethecase.Theyshould
not be selfish!
Second, our regulator has failed to bring
these companies to work together and
as such new measures should be intro-
duced. Potraz should introduce penalties
for companies that keep digging up to
install their cables without first working
out a sharing option with others. We
cannot have them defiling our beautiful
country for their selfish reasons so they
should feel the pinch for doing it alone.
lastly, Econet is very right in that players
should be aggressive in telecommunica-
tion. Netone and Telecel cannot ride on
the back of Econet’s success.
They should go out and create their own
‘firsts’andstopmoaningwhenothersdo
it. •
9 BH24 COMMENT
Telecoms infrastructure sharing a necessity
enjoy the CAIO ride!

10. BH24

11. The world’s three largest platinum
companies and the biggest union at
their South African mines agreed on
proposals that the labour organisation
will take to its members in a bid to end
a 20-week pay strike.
“‘In-principle’ undertakings have been
reached with the leadership of the
Association of Mineworkers and Con-
struction Union in respect of wages
and conditions of employment,” Impala
Platinum Holdings, Anglo American
Platinum Ltd, and Lonmin said in a joint
statements. Platinum and palladium
prices dropped on the news.
The companies expect to get a
response from the union tomorrow.
The AMCU is meeting members at
mines today to get their views on the
proposal. Workers at Impala, where
AMCU leader Joseph Mathunjwa held
his first rally, agreed on the proposals
in principle, he said at the gathering.
More than 70,000 members of the
union have been on a strike over pay
since Jan. 23. Producers say workers
have missed out on 9.9 billion rand
($926 million) in wages and that they
have lost 22.1 billion rand in revenue.
The country’s mines minister said June
9 he was withdrawing from efforts to
resolve the walkout, which has dis-
rupted production in the country that
accounts for about 70 percent of global
mined platinum production.
“It was getting to the point where there
was very limited visibility after the min-
ister left the process so this is coming
as a surprise,” Tyler Broda, a Lon-
don-based mining analyst at Nomura
InternationalPlc,saidbyphone.“That’s
what the equities and the metal prices
are showing at the moment.”
Impala shares rose 1.7 percent to
114.99 rand by 2:28 p.m. in Johan-
nesburg. Anglo American Platinum
declined 0.5 percent to 476 rand, while
Lonmin surged 7 percent 253.3 pence
in London.
Platinum for immediate delivery fell 3
percent to $1,437.38 an ounce and
palladium sank 4.1 percent to $825.60
an ounce.
“This is not an offer,” Impala spokes-
man Johan Theron said by phone.
“The only agreement we have is that
the union will go back to members and
refresh its mandate.” The companies
and the AMCU will hold further talks
should union member respond posi-
tively, Theron said. —Bloomberg •
11 REGIONAL News
Platinum Union agrees on pay plan to end South Africa strike

12. 12 DIARY OF EVENTS
The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.
POWER GENERATION STATS
Gen Station
12 June 2014
Energy
(Megawatts)
Hwange 442 MW
Kariba 750 MW
Harare 44 MW
Munyati 32 MW
Bulawayo 22 MW
Imports 24 MW
Total 1314 MW
13 June 2014 - Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe 2nd Shareholders Forum &
Responsible Investing in Zimbabwe Conference 2014 Place : Cresta Lodge, Harare, Time : 8am -2pm
26 June - Masimba Holdings Limited Thirty-Ninth Annual General Meeting of Members for the
period ended 31 December 2013, Place: 44 Tilbury Road, Willowvale, Harare, Zimbabwe, Time: 12:00
THE BH24 DIARY

13. BH24

14. 14 zse
ZSE
Movers CHANGE Today Price USc SHAKERS Change TODAY Price USc
Falgold 33.33% 2.00 Willdale -20.00% 0.08
RTG 10.00% 1.10 Colcom -4.55% 21.00
Turnall 7.14% 2.25 ZPI -1.23% 0.80
RioZim 5.26% 20.00
TSL 3.45% 30.00
Barclays 2.86% 3.60
Delta 1.74% 117.00
BNC 1.27% 3.20
Indices
Index Previous Today Move Change
Industrial 179.02 180.43 +1.41 points +0.79%
Mining 43.12 44.27 +1.15 points +2.67%
Stocks Exchange

15. 15 AFRICA StockS
Botswana 8,664.65 -11.96 -0.14% 12July
Cote dIvoire 246.37 +2.18 +0.89% 07Mar
Egypt 7,949.60 -75.68 -0.94% 06Mar
Ghana 2,343.98 +9.46 +0.41% 06June
Kenya 4,881.56 +12.30 +0.25% 06June
Malawi 12,662.47 +0.00 +0.00% 07Mar
Mauritius 2,074.51 -3.51 -0.17% 07Mar
Morocco 9,544.10 +21.01 +0.22% 07Mar
Nigeria 41,529.11 -40.98 -0.10% 06June
Rwanda 131.27 +0.00 +0.00% 24Oct
Tanzania 2,018.97 +25.40 +1.27% 07Mar
Tunisia 4,624.39 -39.32 -0.84% 07Mar
Uganda 1,503.90 +0.81 +0.05% 10Sep
Zambia 4,242.74 +14.95 +0.35% 10April
Zimbabwe 178.58 +1.54 +0.87% 06June
African stock round up Commodity Prices
Name Price
Crude Oil 1,300.91 -0.21%
Spot Gold USD/oz 1,292.63 -0.26%
Spot Silver USD/oz 19.38 -0.46%
Spot Platinum USD/oz 1,421.25 -0.33%
Spot Palladium USD/oz 798.50 -0.64%
LME Copper USD/t 6,770 -0.18%
LME Aluminium USD/t 1,780 -1.17%
LME Nickel USD/t 18,230 -1.73%
LME Lead USD/t 2,095 -1.41%
Quote of the day —"The history
of the world is the histo-
ry of a few people who had
faith in themselves." - Swa-
mi Vivekananda
Globalshareholder.com

16. Oil prices hit a three-month peak on
Thursday on worries escalating vio-
lence in Iraq may disrupt supply while
European shares stabilised near 6-1/2-
year highs with gains capped by global
growth concerns.
Investors have become increasingly
anxious after militants from an al-Qa-
eda splinter group captured Mosul,
the OPEC producer's second largest
city, and appeared to be making rapid
advances towards the Shi'ite-led gov-
ernment in Baghdad.
Brent futures - an international oil
benchmark sensitive to geopolitical
turmoil - jumped more than $2 to
$112.29 a barrel, the highest since
early March.
"I would entirely ascribe this move to
the insurrection in the north of Iraq ...
The fear is that it will cause a threat to
Iraqi oil exports," Christopher Bellew, a
trader at Jefferies Bache, said.
"If this conflict knocked out Iraq as an
exporter, that would have significant
impact on prices ... How high could
theygo?Itdependsonwhathappens."
Events in Iraq and renewed concerns
about the pace of global growth made
investors tread cautiously in riskier
assets.
European, U.S. and Asian shares
retreated from multi-year and record
peaks reached this week after the
World Bank cut its global growth fore-
cast.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top
European shares was slightly up on the
day at 1,393.75 points, hovering just
below the 1,398.65 peak hit earlier on
Wednesday. U.S. stock index futures
pointed to a steady to slightly higher
open on Wall Street, as investors look
for further impetus to keep buying.
"After such a good rally, it's not the
time to buy right now, it's better just to
sit on your gains. The market is quite
vulnerable to negative news at the
moment," said Philippe de Vandiere,
analyst at Altedia Investment Consult-
ing, in Paris.
"On the longer term however, earn-
ings in Europe will start to recover in
the next few months, which should lift
stocks going forward." — Reuters •
16 INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Oil at three-month high on Iraq anxiety, stocks steady

17. By Greg Kawere
Zimbabwe’s technology sector has seen
unprecedented growth over the last
3 years but it is my belief that this falls
short of the full potential that Zimba-
bwe’s technology sector can realize.
Zimbabwehasoneofthehighestliteracy
rates in the world which makes Zimba-
bwebestplacedtotakethecrownofthe
leading technology innovator in Africa.
The reasoning is that the technology
sector is a knowledge intensive industry,
so countries like Zimbabwe with a high
literacy rate and a good education sys-
tem should be leaders in the technology
sector.
Its obvious that this is not the case in
Zimbabwe, the problem is that the high
literacy rate in Zimbabwe is not translat-
ing into tangible economic growth lead-
ing to a scenario where we have one of
the worlds highest unemployment rates.
Its almost impossible to talk about tech-
nology innovation & not talk about HP,
Apple,Google&IntelwhichareallSilicon
Valley companies. How can Zimbabwe
replicate Silicon Valley’s success in tech-
nology innovation.
I believe that for Zimbabwe’s technology
sector to realize its full potential there
needs to be strong linkages between
1.EntrepreneursusingtheLeanStart-up
model
Mentors
Investors (individual & institutional)
Education institutions (universities, col-
leges & schools)
Technology Journalists
Start-up events
Networking & coordination
Entrepreneurs using the Lean
Start-upmodel
We need entrepreneurs who are pre-
pared to boot-strap their business until
they have produced a product which
they continuously iterate with feedback
from their early customers using the
resources that they have.
The lean start-up model was used by
Google, Facebook & HP which are all bil-
lion dollar companies. The lesson is you
needtodevelopaproductbeforelooking
for funding.
The role of external funding is not to get
market validation but to fund the expan-
sion of a product that has already been
validated by customers to reach more
customers.
It is also important for entrepreneurs in
Zimbabwe to realize that business fail-
ure is invaluable experience and not an
mark of incompetence. So fail fast & fail
cheapthatistosay.Learnfromyourpast
mistakes & move on with the hindsight
of the experience gained for your future
endeavors.
Mentors
We need successful entrepreneurs to
be mentors to the younger generation
of entrepreneurs. The work being done
by Strive Masiyiwa through his Facebook
17 Analysis
How Zimbabwe’s technology sector can realise its full potential

18. pagedeservesspecialmentionasagood
example of how successful entrepre-
neurs can mentor the younger genera-
tion to start their own businesses.
What we now need is for coordinated
effort among successful entrepreneurs
through technology hubs, professional
societies, education institutions & var-
ious other forums to interact with the
younger generation to encourage them
andguidethemintheirjourneyasentre-
preneurs.
Investors
Banks, high net individuals & private
equity companies need to realize that
therearemanyopportunitiesintheZim-
babwe technology sector. All they need
to do is to understand how the technol-
ogy sector works so that they fund the
right opportunities in the Zimbabwe
technology sector.
Technology journalist will play an impor-
tant role in highlighting the opportunities
& also acting as a critical link between
investors & entrepreneurs. This model
is already showing signs of success as
shown by the central role that Techzim
(Zimbabwean technology blog) has
played in the growth of Zimbabwe’s
technology sector.
Education institutions (universities,
colleges,schools)
Zimbabwe has more than enough uni-
versities, but what is lacking is a culture
of innovation & entrepreneurship among
Zimbabwean students & graduates.
Our universities need to be centers of
technology innovation by creating part-
nerships between the growing number
of technology hubs, boot-camps, hack-
erthons start-up competitions. We need
thesetechnologyeventstotargetcollege
& university graduates. It is also critical
that universities partner with the private
sector to fund technology research &
innovation.
The high unemployment amongst Zim-
babwean graduates means that entre-
preneurshipismostlikelytheonlyoption
thatcollege&universitygraduateshave.
So it is important that the Zimbabwean
education system teaches & encourages
entrepreneurship from primary school to
university & partners with the govern-
ment & private sector in having start-up
competitions & creating university based
technology hubs to create a steady
stream of entrepreneurs. We need col-
leges & universities to be at the centre of
the technology ecosystem since it is evi-
dent from the likes of Bill Gates, Michael
Dell,
Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg & Dave
Packardthatstudentsmakegreatentre-
preneurs.
Technologyjournalists
The best people to critic & also publi-
cize technology entrepreneurship to the
world are technology blogs & technology
journalists. Technology journalists also
help in validating the technology profes-
sion as a critical business function to the
operations of businesses.
Technology journalists are also a critical
link between investors & entrepreneurs
as they both play the role of educating
investors on the opportunities in the
technology sector & also highlighting
good technology start-ups. This is done
through their articles & the events that
most technology blogs have from time
to time.
Technologyevents
We need monthly, quarterly, bi-annual
or yearly conferences, boot-camps,
hackethons & various other technology
events to keep the technology ecosys-
tem alive & running. So far Zimbabwe
has two technology hubs (Hypercube &
MuzindaUmuziHub),theyearlystart-up
competition&technologyevents(Broad-
band Forum e.t.c) by Techzim.
Limitations of funds is the obvious rea-
sonwhymostoftheseeventsarelimited
to Harare, but effort should be made to
decentralized these events to to other
parts of Zimbabwe & also potentially
have locally initiated technology events
in schools, colleges & universities.
Networking & Coordination
To round it off we need technology pro-
fessionalstobebettercoordinated&net-
worked amongst themselves & with the
otheractorsinthetechnologyecosystem
from the education institutions, venture
capital firms & technology journalist.
The efforts happening at the Facebook
group ICT PROFESSIONALS IN ZIM-
BABWE are part of that processing of
having technology professionals in Zim-
babwe better organized & coordinated
towards having Zimbabwe’s technology
sector realizing its full potential.
Greg Kawere. Kawere is the CEO of
WebID a technology research com-
panybasedinPretoria,SouthAfrica
www.webidgroup.com •
18 Analysis