Zimbabwean Voices

About

In this episode, I had the honor of having a conversation with acclaimed writer Virginia Phiri. In the first part, we discussed how Virginia's upbringing in the Zugali township shaped her aspirations and interests. Despite experiencing personal loss and struggle, Virginia remained curious and creative, harnessing her passion for the arts and literature. The second part focused on Virginia's career path and the importance of pursuing one's passions and taking risks, even in the face of challenges. In the third part, we highlighted the role of technology in helping writers share their work and protect their copyrights, emphasizing the need for support and advice from others. Virginia also discussed her passion for writing and the lack of support for African writers. Before concluding with the importance of preserving African stories and the need for better support systems for African artists and writers. Overall, Virginia inspired listeners to stay true to their passions and seek support in pursuing their creative endeavors.

Key Takeaways

1. One's environment and community can shape a person's aspirations and interests, and experiencing loss or struggle can be transformed into a source of creativity and curiosity.
2. Staying true to one's interests and passions can lead to a fulfilling career and creative opportunities, but it may require persistence and courage to break through barriers and gain recognition.
3. Technology has helped writers in terms of sharing their work and protecting their copyrights.
4. Seeking support and advice from others is important in pursuing one's passions.
5. There is a lack of support for African writers, and it is necessary to improve the support system for writers in the country.
6. Documenting and preserving African stories is important for future generations.

About

In this podcast, I had the honor of speaking with Ropafadzo Sibusiso Chidawu, Managing Director of Gombe Holdings. In our conversation, we discussed the challenges of succession in African family businesses. Ropa shared personal experiences and lessons learned in confronting personal and professional issues, embracing new talent and ideas, and providing adequate training for young people in family businesses. She also touched on the importance of investing in the creative economy and using art as a means of diversifying one's portfolio. As well as the need for a functioning supply chain, a sustainable creative economy, and social responsibility and representation when collecting art. The takeaway from this podcast is the need for open communication and conflict resolution, perseverance and problem-solving skills, and the willingness to push back against those who may hinder progress.

Key Takeaways

1. Succession in African family businesses can be challenging and requires open communication and conflict resolution.
2. The convergence of the corporate and creative world is important and investing in the creative economy can be beneficial.
3. Perseverance, problem-solving skills, and embracing new talent and ideas are key in navigating leadership and succession in family businesses.
4. Providing adequate training for young people in family businesses is important.
5. Art can be used as part of a strategy to diversify one's portfolio and social responsibility and representation should be considered when collecting art.
6. Difficult conversations are necessary for progress and gendered barriers must be pushed against to pave the way for future generations.

For episode 31 I had the honor of speaking with Prince Sivalo Mahlangu - a passionate cook, cultural activist, and host of the Magriza Made me cook Youtube channel.

In our conversation spoke about,

- Food as an expression of culture

- The path that led him to explore indigenous Zimbabwean food

- What he and his team have learned from documenting Zimbabwean cultural practices

The learn more about his team work check their Youtube Channel below:

https://www.youtube.com/@MagrizaMadeMeCook

Enjoy!

For episode 31 I had the honour of being interviewed by Kuda Mangwe the first guest of the Zimbabwean Voices Podcast.   

In our conversation, we spoke about parts of my story to date, my reason for starting the podcast, and my favourite moments thus far.   

Enjoy!

For episode 30 I had the pleasure of having a conversation with Kudzanai “Kayz” Tembo, national hockey player & the founder of Rising Stars; a media company with a focus on shedding light on Zimbabwe’s young sporting talent.

In his last year of high school, Kudzanai missed out on 2 hockey scholarships as a result of not having any video content to showcase.

Driven to ensure that this would never happen to anyone else he started Rising Stars and has now helped many young Zimbabwean athletes get scholarships and contracts at word class institutions around the world.

In our conversation, we spoke about his dream for the company and his ideas on what could be done in Zimbabwe to better nurture and retain talent.

Enjoy

For episode 29 I had the pleasure of speaking with Sifiso Mabena. She is a New York-based theatrical playwright and actress.

In our conversation, we spoke about her journey into theatre, her previous works, and her current project which reflects on the idea of uncovering truths and her interpretation of “home”.

Enjoy!

For episode 27 I had the honour of having a conversation with Alex Breitenstein the founder of Bereka.

Bereka is an innovative online logistics service provider that delivers Mukuru cash safely, securely, and conveniently to the doorstep of financially underserved communities.

In our conversation, we spoke about his entrepreneurial journey, the magnitude of the value of Bereka’s business model, and most importantly about the mindset of creating solutions to problems.

Enjoy!

For episode 26 I had the honor of speaking with Zvataida “Zah” Chimedza who currently works as a host and producer at the American digital media company Barstool Sports. In our conversation, we covered how he pivoted from finance to media, untapped Zimbabwean stories, homesickness, and navigating a dream career as a Zimbabwean abroad.

Enjoy!

For episode 25 I had the honor of having a conversation with Michelle Nativel a leading digital content creator and the co-founder of the local dance studio - Dance Avenue. In our chat we spoke about the journey into content creation, opening her studio and the struggles that come with LGBT intolerance in the Zimbabwean community.

Enjoy!

For episode 23 I had. the honour of having a conversation with Tendai Jambga-Rokkones. 

A Zimbabwean wellness curator and yoga instructor with a passion for bringing enlightenment to the world. 

We touched on the impact of our ancestors, trauma, and reclaiming yoga as Africans in order to use it as a vehicle for healing, self-awareness & self-actualization. 

Enjoy!

For episode 22 I had the pleasure of having a conversation with Dominic Peters from the South African band Goldfish. Fun fact, Dom was born in Zimbabwe and spent his early childhood there before moving to Cape Town.

His parents are also both Zimbabwean and in our conversation, he mentioned that his mother comes from Gweru. Now it finally made sense why their best songs were peppered with Shona lyrics!

In our chat we spoke about his formative years, his journey to become a musician, and unpacked the underlying truths that run through all of Goldfish’s music.

Enjoy!

For episode 21 I had the honour of speaking with Tinashe  “Nash” Maoneni, the lead singer of the band Flying Bantu.

The essence of our conversation was about how they use their music as a way to inspire people to live life without boundaries.

To listen to our conversation, check out the link below:

Enjoy!

For episode 20 I had the honour of speaking with Kalai Barlow, the co-founder of Obsurca Film.

In our conversation, we touched on the value of representation, impostor syndrome, the battle between logic and intuition, and the importance of recognizing our shared humanity.

Enjoy!

For episode 19 I had the honour of speaking with Yara Hanssen.

Youth Olympic changemaker, an avid adventurer, and the Skotch Cart Company founder. Our conversation covered topics ranging from her background in Zimbabwean equestrian, her travel bug, and women empowerment.

Enjoy!

For Episode 18 I had the pleasure of having a conversation with Tadzie Madzima, the founder of Ignite Youth. A non profit organization based in Zimbabwe with a focus on helping young people find their purpose and then helping them to fan their inner flame.

Enjoy!

For episode 17, I had the pleasure to speak with Dr. Anesu Musvosvi. We had a great conversation about how he grew up in different parts of the world and his inspirational journey which saw him pivot from media to a career as a dentist. 

Enjoy!

“We were trying to plan a trip to Zim but when we were looking online all we were finding were pictures of rhinos, lions & Ghonarezhou if you're lucky.

Across the board, it was the same thing. Paida & I both traveled to places like Indonesia and you see pages like the Bali Bible that help you curate your whole trip off these simple pages that showcase all that there is to do in that country when you're on holiday.

We thought that there is nothing like that for Zim. Not every person wants to do a safari so we decided that if it's not there let's create it. Create something that showcases the other stuff that there is to do in Zim besides Victoria Falls” - Sindi Kayembe

@When in Zim

For episode 15, I had the pleasure of having a conversation with Dalumuzi Mhlanga, the founder of Notto Africa, a digital platform dedicated to helping people access affordable home loans.

Prior to starting Notto, Dalumuzi worked as Chief of Staff for the Econet Group.

As a highly decorated scholar, he completed his undergraduate degree at Harvard University and was thereafter awarded a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University for his postgraduate education.

During his studies, he also founded a non-profit organization that provided leadership training to thousands of school children in Zimbabwe.

In our conversation, we covered his journey to date and his passion for developing the African continent by uplifting the lives of its people.

Enjoy!

For episode 14, I had the honour of speaking with Mukudzei “King Kandoro” A Zimbabwean standup comedian.

In our conversation, we covered his journey to date, his career aspirations, and his desired future for the Zimbabwean arts community & comedy scene.

______________________________________

My favourite excerpt from our conversation:

“Art in Zimbabwe for the most part is being treated as a thing that is only available to people that go to private schools. Imagine treating fine art as a thing that is only available to private schools?

So from a structural perspective, open up community centers. These centers are already there but right now most of them are local bars. So open up community centers, let people play sports, and let people have art classes. If it's music, percussion.

There are these separations in art. Why is marimba an instrument that is played mainly in the ghetto but guitars, cellos, and violins up north?”

For episode 13, I had the honour of speaking with Nia. A Zimbabwean content creator, entrepreneur & author. In our conversation, we covered her story, passion for travel, content, and business.

Most importantly, we spoke about how she is using her platform to shed a positive light on Zimbabwe
______________________________________

My favourite excerpt from our conversation:

“I have a platform and with a platform people always want you do something with it. So for me showcasing the beauty of Zimbabwe. That is doing something.”

Enjoy!

For the final episode of Season 1, I had the privilege of talking to Zimbabwean athlete Farai Mudariki. Currently playing his rugby in France we spoke of his journey to where is now and the lesson he has picked up on the way.

In our conversation some of the key takeaways include:

• Meditation & being present in each moment
• The importance of representation
• Use reference points to help guide you
• Helping others find their inner greatness

My favorite excerpt from our conversation

_____________________________________________

"This is this duty I have, as a Zimbabwean athlete, I'm not only playing to earn a decent amount of money. I'm a representation of a life you can build for yourself.

I actually went to visit St. John's prep when I was back home recently and I went to speak to the kids. And these guys were in grade seven, some of them were in grade five. Initially, I was speaking to them thinking they may not be listening to me but I was shocked at the quality of the questions they were asked afterward.

Questions like sorry, sir. Can you tell me if I wanted to play professional rugby can I build a life for myself and send my kid to school? And the feedback that I got from Mr. Mbundire and Welly who are the coaches, was that the talk was so good we need to do that again but at assembly, because these kids were phoning their parents telling them that “we had Farai who is a professional rugby player who came to speak to us today he gave us the rugby jersey. He was sitting here a couple of years ago. Mr. Mbundire was his coach and if Mr. Mbundire is my coach now, maybe I can also do the same thing.

So I have a huge role to play in the sense of representation."

Be Inspired!

For episode 10 I had the privilege of having a great conversation with leading Zimbabwe health & fitness coach Otis Goredema. With over 25 years of experience in the bodybuilding industry, Otis has trained Zimbabweans of all shapes and sizes and has used his platform to bring transformation to the lives of the people he touches.

In our conversation some of the key takeaways include:

• Rebuilding your body
• Empowering others through fitness
• Being an ally for representation in women's bodybuilding

My favorite excerpt from our conversation

"Basically, I had finished school and I was dropping my baby sister at Gateway and I was coming back home. After having dropped her I was at an intersection where I was stationary and I got hit in the back literally by a bus and that bus forced me into oncoming traffic and in the oncoming traffic there was a truck. Remember, I'm repeating what I was told and if I remember correctly, I probably was in my pijama shorts, with my driver's license left at home, just wanting to go visit my sister come back and go to bed.

I broke all my ribs, I broke my hands, I cracked one bone in my leg, and then, of course, I had lacerations from the windscreen of the car. I spent some time in the ICU on ventilator machines and this is coming from a guy who was physically strong at that age, I had a nice body from bodybuilding, I looked good and suddenly I'm confined to bed where I can't even feed myself.

I actually managed to make the front page of the Herald news. Because they took a picture of the accident, which I still have saved somewhere. It was a miracle that a person was hit by a truck and survived. For me to survive. I give all glory and thanks to God.

I went through rehabilitation. In my head, I think an epiphany came and I said, the day I get better. I'm gonna make sure I have a strong body and I'm going to make sure that I make other people physically stronger.

Now, I can tell you with appreciation now that one of the best things that ever happened to me was the car accident because I realised from then that if there's anything for lack of a better term to use that the devil can get you with is vanity. My body was gone, My face without spot or blemish was now full of scars and then I realised there's a lot more to life than the physical. So by the time you met me, I was that person who believed it's not about what you become, it's about who you become.  You can become a giver, you can become a generous person... So personal training and training people is just me trying to express and change people into who they should become confident with themselves and do that without vanity. So to me, it's not really about the bodybuilding it's about, changing humans"

Be Inspired!

"When we started Miss Deaf PrideTrust our main goal was to empower young women who are deaf. and to also fight for their rights so that they can stand for their rights because we found that there was constitutional illiteracy, in the deaf community.

So we did many workshops, to try to educate them so that people don’t abuse their rights. From the feedback we had from the workshops, we found out that it was their first time finding out about their rights to education, rights to information, and everything…

Now, if something happens within the community, it's easy for them to identify that they've been abused, and now they are now coming to our office and reporting so many different cases which is a great achievement.

We also set up the first Miss Deaf Pride Zimbabwe Pagent in 2019. It was a national competition, with girls from all four corners of the country. The winning Queen of the competition went to compete at the Miss Deaf Pride Africa in Seychelles and she was awarded the first Princess award which means as Zimbabweans we are doing great things in Africa.

Now she is based in Gweru and empowering other deaf people in her community by doing workshops which is great. We are doing this for the sake of the deaf community because we don't want people to view us as a charity. we want the deaf community to be an empowered community"

For Episode 8 I had the privilege of having a great conversation with Lungile Tshuma,  founder of the Tshuma Foundation. A great guy with a passion for Zimbabwe. Born in Bulawayo, Lungi has lived in 4 different countries and built a life initially through the sport of rugby.

Through the platform of playing for the Zimbabwe U20 & Senior rugby team, 8 years ago he got a scholarship to attend Lindenwood University in the USA where he studied International Relations. More recently, however,  he has pivoted into a career in business having recently finished his MBA and Washington University in St Louis.

In his own words “Sport was my first platform, then I pivoted to business”. “I wanted to elevate my skills so I could be someone of value in the business world so I decide to apply to an elite business school”.

At the core of his ambitions in both sport and business, his driving motivation has always been "to represent Zimbabweans, do well, and have an impact". His belief is that "a lot of the problems that are being solved in Zimbabwe and on the African continent are in small businesses and entrepreneur’s hands”

In going to business school his aim was to gain the skills that would equip him with the resources to help create new businesses that are innovative, solve problems that are going to make people wealthier, and expose talent to opportunities.

Like many Zimbabweans, he has had to build a life abroad. However, what stands out about Lungi is that he has intentionally chosen to use all the opportunities he has been given to pay it forward to other young Zimbabwean rugby players through the establishment of the Tshuma Foundation

“The foundation is based on the simple idea that I am where I am because the world said I was talented. But there are others that are also talented that deserve the same opportunity. The foundation is a scholarship for a talented rugby player to go to Lindenwood University. But the important thing is that it’s based on character. The recipient of the scholarship must be a good person, an ambassador, a leader and to have an impact on people around them in a positive way. Which is more important than their sporting talent.

It’s not like I’m a millionaire or I’m killing it but I have a lot of opportunities. I have more opportunities than a lot of people. And it wasn’t easy for me to get here but it could be easier… and it’s me just trying to pave the way for other talented people so that they can do the same for others. We’re trying to create a domino effect of paying it forward for Zimbabweans”

For episode 6, I had the honour of having a conversation with musician Declan Mackay of the Mackayz band. A proud Zimbabwean who has managed to carve out a niche for himself through music. To be completely honest, I was fascinated to hear about and share Declan’s journey as it offers a different story to the dominant narrative of white Zimbabwean men always being tied to farming... From our conversation I learned about:

- Living authentically

- Supporting yourself through art

- The power of a community supporting its artists

Enjoy

For episode 5, I had the privilege of having a conversation with Hilton Mudariki, the national captain of the Zimbabwe Sables rugby team. We touched on the highs and lows of his journey as an athlete and his current desire to leave a positive legacy for the future of Zimbabwe Rugby.

Our key takeaways from our conversation included:
- Speaking things into existence
- The power of exposure
- Being open to change
- The merits of hard work
- Zimbabwean resilience
- The benefits of surrounding yourself with people that encourage you

Enjoy

For Episode 4, I had the privilege of having a conversation with entrepreneur and make-up artist, Jacque Mgido. From her story, we learn about the process of leveraging success abroad to invest in Zimbabwe whilst simultaneously build a global cosmetics brand

In our conversation some of the key takeaways include:

• Pushing through failure
• The struggle in building a global brand
• Investing in your country
• Empowering young women
• Changing lIves

Enjoy!

For Episode 3, I recently had the privilege of speaking with Tine Jakarasi, founder of the As I am Foundation. She shared stories from her journey in creating her foundation (As I am), the Take a Child to School Initiative (TACTS), being recognized as an Obama Young Leader and most importantly, learning to use her challenges with endometriosis to help other Zimbabwean women.

In our conversation some of the key takeaways include:

• Using your life and platform to empower others
• Turning pain into power
• Making a change and being part of the solution

Enjoy!

For Episode 2,  I had the privilege of speaking with Zimbabwean race car driver, Axcil Jefferies. I thought this conversation would be useful for both parents and young people to shed light on what some consider a less conventional career path. Through forging his path, I believe he has shifted the narrative of what Africans can be on a global stage.

In our conversation some of the key takeaways include:

• The importance of family support
• The process of blazing a new trail
• Learning to enjoy each moment
• The power in believing that anything is possible

Enjoy x

For Episode 1, I had the privilege of speaking with Kuda Mangwe, the host of 'Face the Nation', a tv show  on the Zimbabwean Broadcasting Network where issues related to public policy implementation and viewers are given an opportunity to question public office holders. The reason why I thought this conversation would be useful, was to get his reflections on what we need to do as young people to shift the Zimbabwean narrative for the better

In our conversation some of the key takeaways include:

• Challenging bias & echo-chambers
• Growing the entertainment industry in Zimbabwe
• Being inspired to make plans

Enjoy!