Victor Tawanda Madzedze
Last week on Friday, I went to the Zimbabwe Agricultural Show doing the usual business development and networking. While we weren’t exhibiting, I always try to pitch up and see what’s going on in the market.
One of the few highlights for me was meeting Netsai Lindiwe Sabau. She is the business development manager for Glenrise Investments, a company focusing on engineering, mining and mining support and tourism. Glenrise is a good client of Yarutso Car Rental and I have worked with Netsai numerous times. I joked with her and said: “You smile for the camera, but when it comes to work you don’t joke around.”
I had a conversation with Kudzai Mudhanyana. He is a brand manager at CBZ Holdings Limited. Among other brands that he takes care of is CBZ Agro-yield. He took me on a journey explaining on how CBZ is playing a pivotal role in the production of wheat in Zimbabwe. He also spelt out his role, which is to stimulate interest in farmers for funding. The farmers ultimately execute the production of wheat. Kudzai is a young, smart brand manager who I believe will dominate Zimbabwe’s corporate space in the near future.
Did you know that you can protect your intellectual property at US$80? Shocking right? Imagine your brand being infringed just because of $80. That’s a conversation I had with the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) stand staff and the entity aligns with what one of my advisors, Chad Chawanda, who always speaks about that. You can’t be serious about business if you can’t trademark or patent your business or brand, he often says.
Lastly, I had the pleasure of meeting my classmates from the Midlands State University (MSU), Patience Tsikira-Chikombero and Charlotte Munatsi. Patience is the marketing and sales manager at Adam Bede Holdings and Charlotte is a marketing executive at the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA). Both surely killing in their respective careers while looking lively and healthy too.
- Victor Tawanda Madzedze is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Yarutso Investments, a holding company for Yarutso Car Rental and Yarutso Adventure Services. Yarutso Investments has operations in Zambia and Zimbabwe.