Entrepreneurship Zone: 29 December 2021 :: The ‘Chartered’ vendor who built own firm

Wed Dec 29 10:39:57 CAT 2021

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Entrepreneurship Zone: 29 December 2021 :: The ‘Chartered’ vendor who built own firm

 <http://www.zitf.co.zw/> 

When Jerrymore Nyazungu started selling airtime, he never imagined that one day he would own a company at a young age.

But as fate would have it, the entrepreneur found and is now the proud owner and proprietor of M&J Consultants, which he started in 2015.

His is an intriguing story of how perseverance pays off in the end.

>From being an airtime vendor in 2005, after finishing his tertiary education, and with the major goal of providing solutions that help businesses to grow, Nyazungu has successfully navigated the sometimes extremely difficult Zimbabwe business terrain.

A man of many talents Nyazungu is now also a board member of the Zimbabwe Chief Executive Officers’ (CEO) Network, a motivational speaker, author, and entrepreneur.

The 35-year-old entrepreneur was born and bred in Watsomba, Mutare and hails from a humble family that has its roots in the rural Manicaland area.

Nyazungu did his primary education at Nyakatsapa School, proceeded to do his O-Level studies at Marist Brothers High School in Nyanga and then Hartzell High School, in Nyanga as well, for A-Level schooling.

After high school, Nyazungu joined the “Great Trek” to the capital Harare, seeking to make a new start in life, and this was after failing to proceed to university.

As such, he secured employment with a Harare company, but did not stay long; making the bold decision to invest part of his last salary of $8,5 million to start his airtime vending business.

“I earned $8,5 million (Zimbabwe dollars monthly) from my last job, I used $4 million to pay my rent and invested the remaining $4,5 million to buy 5 airtime cards to start an airtime vending business.

“This is the time when inflation was at 1 200 percent, so I did not have enough capital to start this business; therefore I had to start with 5 airtime cards only.

Nyazungu said although it was a difficult experience surviving from airtime vending, he found the occupation to be a better way to earn a living and further his studies.

He said although life during the early days was unbearably tough, while doing his airtime vending business he started studying for the Chartered Institute of Secretaries (CIS) qualification, becoming a fully qualified Chartered Secretary in no time as well as

Registered Public Accountant.

Since the income from vending remained very low, Nyazungu decided to diversify and started selling cigarettes, sweets, and bananas at the corner of Willowvale Road and Patrenta in GlenView 4, until 2009.

During this period, Nyazungu said, he faced a lot of challenges including running battles with law enforcement, for operating from undesignated points, to food shortages.

“The challenges I faced included police raids whereupon our goods were confiscated almosteveryday. The other day I was beaten and sustained 14 cuts under my foot.

“Sometimes food was scarce and I ended up eating dried sugarcane because when it gets dry it becomes sweeter so I sometimes depended on that for lunch or breakfast.

“I sometimes survived on stale doughnuts at a time when there was no bread while doughnuts were all over the place — mostly homemade and freezits,” he said.

After realising that life remained tough, with little coming from the vending business, Nyazungu went back to being employed and secured a job with a local firm.

He claims the employer was abusive and did not pay well. It is at that point that he met one Fredrick Manyangarirwa who completely changed his life story.

“The Damascus moment came when I met Fredrick Manyangarirwa, a commissioner of oaths. With my CIS qualification, he advised me not continue looking for employment but to start a companies registration firm because for one to register companies in Zimbabwe they must be a Chartered Secretary, a lawyer or a Chartered Accountant,” he said.

He started facilitating company registrations while companies employed in his second job. Nyazungu said he realised he could make millions from the company registration business.

“After noticing the challenges at work, I told my friend, it was better to try something but unfortunately he lost his job the very month he was about to leave the organisation.

Nyazungu, a passionate entrepreneur, decided to work with other entrepreneurs, seizing the opportunity to empower others while earning a living for himself.

“I worked with 4 500 SMEs up to 2014, briefly all was well but then things started getting bad for the Zimbabwean economy. Some people say during those years the economy was good but to the contrary, I was suffering and not earning enough. It then started M&J with a laptop valued at about US$50 because I had an idea.

“I saw an opportunity — company registration being a service industry, did not require a lot of capital, since I could pay my US$60 monthly rent for a shared office.

“Anything you see in these offices that were built from scratch were actually using strapping whereby after getting profit you buy a chair, a table until everything is done,” Mr Nyazungu said.

His first employee was his younger sister who when she started did not even have a proper chair to sit on, but on a stool given by the person whom they were sharing the office with.

Determined to touch the skies, Nyazungu said he was able to grow his company with the support from his family, but mainly his wife who rendered a lot of support and also his brother who worked at the company.

“I got married in 2012 and my wife was and is still supportive. So you just need that support because it is good to have someone who believes in you and without any doubt, I always say that the team which fills the best players are the ones that win.

“So, I have got a wonderful team at home,” Nyazungu said.

The business has grown through leaps and bounds and now employs about 54 people.

The company has faced a lot of challenges in its efforts to grow as it has had to use town resources to expand. Nyazungu said many banks only want to support already established businesses and normally frown upon struggling entities.

M&J expansion continues to grow, organically, using money generated internally although this has made it difficult to expand and employ more people.

Nyazungu said although the economy was facing challenges, the difficult times also presented opportunities. Nyazungu said M&J was on its way to becoming the Mackenzie of Africa.

The Zimbabwean entrepreneur’s vision is to grow the company sustainably until it can employ over 1 500 workers across Africa.

He said his first biggest achievement thus far was providing employment to the youths.

As the company grows, Nyazungu said he has been able to get recognition and has signed deals with bigger companies such as BancABC “where we are supposed to help entrepreneurs and small-medium enterprises (SMEs) with funding.”

He also signed a deal with Zi-FM to help SMEs with access to radio broadcasting in order to advertise and grow their businesses. In recognition of his sterling efforts, Nyazungu was voted into the top 10 Junior Chamber International (JCI) young influential people.

In 2020 he was awarded by Megafest the Young Business Executive of the Year, Platinum Category whilst M&J was recognised as one of the Most Customer-Focused Companies under the Gold Category.

Nyazungu has written a book titled “The Chartered Vendor,” which sold about 1 100 copies in 3 months.

He said he wrote the book to promote the culture of business reading among entrepreneurs and those who are coming from school so that they could learn from someone who has experience in business.

Nyazungu’s company intends to open branches across Africa after successfully establishing in Zambia in 2021.

The company plans to open a new branch in 2022 in a country yet to be announced.

This, he said, would help bring foreign currency back home while spreading the entrepreneurship message outside Zimbabwe — across the entire continent.

“We should not give excuses or blame the Government for the challenges we face, but we should be able to contribute towards building the economy for it is not the duty of the Government alone, therefore, we need to change our mindset because it is the biggest challenge that we have.-The Herald 

 <https://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/how-this-dutch-entrepreneur-built-an-organic-agribusiness-company-in-east-africa/130160/?relatedposts_hit=1&relatedposts_origin=130486&relatedposts_position=0> 

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DISCLAIMER: This report has been prepared by Bulls ‘n Bears, a division of Faith Capital (Pvt) Ltd for general information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for any securities. The information contained in this report has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation or warranty is made or guarantee given as to its accuracy or completeness. All opinions expressed and recommendations made are subject to change without notice. Securities or financial instruments mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors. Securities of emerging and mid-size growth companies typically involve a higher degree of risk and more volatility than the securities of more established companies. Neither Faith Capital nor any other member of Bulls ‘n Bears nor any other person, accepts any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this report or its contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. Recipients of this report shall be solely responsible for making their own independent investigation into the business, financial condition and future prospects of any companies referred to in this report. Other  Indices quoted herein are for guideline purposes only and sourced from third parties.

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