eBusiness Weekly
Note from ZNCC
The 2023 Women in Enterprise Conference and Awards (WECA) was held on September 29, 2023 at the Zimbali Events and Lifestyle Centre.
The event was attended by individuals and entrepreneurs from organisations emerging from ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), embassies, development partners, and the private sector from sectors such as ICT, financial services, education, construction, retail and wholesale, and manufacturing, among others.
The Chamber was celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Women’s Desk which was established in 2013.
Resolutions emanating from the conference deliberations are presented as part of the ZNCC Women’s Desk’s lobbying and advocacy, input into policy formulation and implementation to enhance business viability and foster accelerated women-owned business growth. WECA 2023 was running under the theme Transforming Economic Realities into Market Opportunities, which is the Chamber’s theme for the 2023 Calendar Year.
Official opening
The Director of Ceremonies, Tutsirai Jenje, welcomed esteemed delegates to the 10th Anniversary of the Women in Enterprise Conference and Awards (WECA). The esteemed delegates included the following, among others:
The Minister of Industry and Commerce, Hon Dr Sithembiso G. G. Nyoni;
The Deputy Ambassador of the Kingdom of Netherlands to Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, Her Excellency, Mrs. Eva van Woersem; and
The Deputy Ambassador of the Republic of Namibia to Zimbabwe; Her Excellency, Ms. Zemha Z. Gawachas
The welcoming was followed by the national anthem and prayer. In her works, Jenje highlighted that it was of vital importance that women entrepreneurs gather to share ideas and market insights to elevate their crafts in various areas. She then invited Lucy Marowa to give welcome remarks.
Welcome Remarks: Mrs Lucy Marowa — Women’s Desk Chairperson and CEO, National Blood Services Zim
Mrs Lucy Marowa
Marowa gave a background on ZNCC and the Women in Enterprise Conference and Awards which is a brainchild of the Women’s Desk. She highlighted that the Women’s Desk seeks to build entrepreneurship ecosystems that support women-owned MSMEs at all stages of development and across a sectors, including rural areas, and provide mechanisms to ensure that women benefit from access to finance.
Further, she reported that the ZNCC Women’s Desk was established in 2013, after the realisation that women were not taking part in mainstream business member organisations .
Thus, the main objective of the Women’s Desk (WD) is to help women create or scale up their businesses and to assist other women to grow in their chosen professions. The Women’s Desk is focused, on adding value to the Chamber’s mandate, by ensuring that the business potential of women entrepreneurs is unleashed through various initiatives.
According to Marowa, the 10th Anniversary of WECA was a special occasion for those who are affiliated with the Chamber and the Women’s Desk, and the lineup of topics was in line with such a high-level gathering which allows women to express their views on issues pertaining to women entrepreneurship.
In this regard, she called on all women to be part of Vision 2030 and enhance their significant contribution to the growth and prosperity of Zimbabwe.
The 2023 WECA came at a time when the Chamber, in partnership with UNDP Zimbabwe, was conducting Training Workshops for women entrepreneurs in various cities in Zimbabwe. By then, two training workshops had been successfully conducted in Chinhoyi and Masvingo.
The training was being administered through the ZNCC Training School which aims to empower the Zimbabwean business community through capacity building and skills enhancement initiatives and business linkages.
Guest of Honour’s Remarks: Hon Dr Sithembiso G. G. Nyoni — Minister of Industry and Commerce
In line with the theme: Transforming Economic Realities into Market Opportunities, Hon. S. G. G. Nyoni emphasised the need to change the mindset from perceiving challenges as stumbling blocks but opportunities.
The Minister further emphasised that in pursuit of Vision 2030, the advancement of women in business is not only key to addressing gender imbalances but key to the sustainable transformation of the economy.
Accordingly, the Government of Zimbabwe has been implementing quite a number of initiatives in partnership with developmental organisations and the private sector. The Minister of Industry and Commerce stressed that she would not want to hear anyone talking about challenges, but opportunities.
Whatever problem it maybe, it can be turned into an opportunity. Women were urged to rise up to the occasion and compete in any sector because whatever economic or social activity that a man could do, a woman could do also.
The government requires assistance from the players within the industry as opposed to just talking about challenges. She invited the women entrepreneurs to partner with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in the implementation of sustainable and transformative programmes towards attaining Vision 2030.
She then expressed sincere gratitude to ZNCC for spearheading workshops for women entrepreneurs and on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in Masvingo, Manicaland, Mashonaland West and Matabeleland North provinces.
Accordingly, the Conference presented all participants with a chance to learn from each other and empower one another.
The Government was said to be continuing with its efforts and reforms for a business-friendly operating environment and on AfCFTA, she reported that it was fundamental that women work towards increasing their exports into the continent. The event was officially opened.
Her story: An entrepreneur’s journey of challenges, perseverance, and triumph
Mrs Marah Hativagone — Managing director, Codchem & Past President, ZNCC
In pursuance of further studies, Mrs. Marah Hativagone had to quit her job after six years. The tax regime at that time drove her out of employment as the pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) was 56 percent.
Mrs Marah Hativagone
She sold her car which helped her raise start-up capital and she started selling quite a variety of consumer goods. Later on, she would supply Government hospitals with bandages. As water was a challenge, she drilled a borehole at her home and started to raise nursing plants which she would supply in and around Harare.
Thus, at one point in time, she would have four to five projects running including commuting the public to and from Chitungwiza. As she put aside more time to run her small diversified portfolio of businesses, Hativagone felt that she needed to invest in something sustainable and upon visiting the Ministry of Industry and Commerce for consultation, she developed an interest in manufacturing food ingredients.
This was also motivated by the fact that her husband was a chemist. She carried out research in this area and committed funds to develop flavours in her lounge until she was big enough to supply big companies like Schweppes. As her business was growing and employing people, she needed to upgrade her skills in managing the people and the organisation and thus, she went back to school to study in this respect.
Her major breakthrough was the US$200 000 finance facility for women-owned SMEs programme of the World Bank which she managed to put to good use. At this time, Hativagone employed her husband full-time to be well-invested in the manufacturing of food ingredients. She mentioned that the major reason why most SMEs do not survive beyond year five is the difficulty in managing growth.
She highlighted that it is important that an entrepreneur employs the right people for each job task and s/he could be better off bringing people who can mould or mentor you in your circle. She strongly urged women to be serious and unapologetic about what they seek to do and the key is always to maintain quality.
Her business has grown to the magnitude that it currently employs 70 people and hundreds more downstream through production linkages and has operational branches in other Southern African countries like Zambia. The business has also diversified into the manufacturing of the packaging materials.
The outbreak of Covid-19 was disturbing for her business, but they managed to recover because of resilience. In her submissions, she stressed that access to finance is key and requested that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce should assist in this respect.
Hativagone also served as the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce President, being the first female President after independence. She invited all willing women to approach her for advice. Indeed, this is just a highlight of Hativagone’s story and the journey continues as she seeks to unlock other opportunities and build her business which has been in operation for thirty-three years, to survive for at least fifty more years.
The director of ceremonies, Jenje asked the participants what little things each one of them can do to change their lives. This was a moment of reflection for many after hearing Hativagone’s story of perseverance and triumph.
This article was prepared by the ZNCC for Business Weekly.
