By Gilbert Sikanyika

Doctor Kudzanai Vere belongs to the group of African young Turks determined to conquer the world and leave permanent foot-steps on the sands of life.

I have known Dr. Vere through social interactions over the years and I have come to know him as a pragmatic, hard-working, and purpose-driven person. He sets high goals and when he attains those goals, he sets even higher goals. He places a high premium on his aspirations. He challenges himself to challenge challenges in his life. He does not take “no” for an answer…He knocks, knocks, and keeps knocking until doors of opportunities fling open before him. He is tenacious and aggressive in his daily operations. He does not wait for opportunities; instead, he creates opportunities for himself. He is a workaholic if ever there was one.

He was compelled to stop school in form 4 due to family financial constraints but that could not deter him from pursuing his dreams. He started working as a Receiving and Costing Clerk at Redstar in Nyanga in Zimbabwe and he rose through the ranks to become Branch Manager within a spell of three years. He was arguably the youngest Branch Manager heading a Blue Chips Company when he was only 22 years old.

Doctor Vere has “A coat of many colours.” He is an entrepreneur, Author, and Speaker of international repute. He enjoys developing people in areas such as Entrepreneurship, Personal Development, Practical Business Management, Organizational Development, Financial Literacy, and Leadership Development.

Just what makes him tick

He gets inspiration from motivating himself and others. His life gets better when he impacts lives in Business related issues. He was born in a family of 10 in a remote area of Zimbabwe in Nyanga. He went to Maereka primary school, Nyatate school, and Mapako High School. He has also attended: Zimbabwe Open University, British College Of Professional Management, Coppetstone University among others. He has:

• Diploma in Accounting
• Diploma In Accounting In Business Management
• Bcom Accounting
• Certified Public Accountancy
  -Master of Arts in Leadeship and Management
  -Registered Public Accounting
  -Certified Forensic
  -Doctorate in Phylosophy in Entrepreneurship among others.

Dr. Vere is also a notable and versatile writer whose books such as Becoming A Person Of Impact and Exceed Beyond The Ordinary have blessed multitudes of people. It seems he is a “Jack of all trades and master of everything.”

His books have impacted the hordes of people from all walks of life because of the nuggets of life they carry. His presence is being felt almost everywhere and so far so good. Although he never completed formal education, he is a self-made man who has managed to school himself and has acquired a string of diplomas and degrees and was recently conferred with a Doctorial degree in recognition of his teachings and passion for entrepreneurship.

“The whole of my adult life I have been learning business at times passively and at other times actively. I have vast years of business management, ” he said. His ultimate goal in life is to become an oasis of inspiration in Business circles. He is married to a lovely lady Fortune who is the Managing Director of the family business empire. Doctor Vere is also blessed with a wife and five children.

Gilbert Sikanyika is a Writing Prophet based in Zambia

In this digital era, information sharing is now being done everyone. Information is being shared on almost any subject n be it politics, business, science among many other topics.  This includes information on motivation. Almost everyone is now a motivational speaker. Some of these people provide vague information. In times like this, if you are looking for uplifting and inspiring information, it is better to get that information from people who have experienced life, someone who has passed the test of times.  A great man once said that even someone who is still starting out in life is writing about how to make it in life. You just wonder what he or she will be talking about considering that they are still trying to make it. Therefore it’s not everything you get from social media that is credible.

As a writer, I am always studying and learning through research, I have had to follow some pages from Zimbabwe. These pages have always been consistent in publishing update to date information on entrepreneurship, business and motivation.  If you an entrepreneur or someone who is looking for some uplifting content, you need to check out these pages

STARTUPBIZ

It is the blog page for a research firm based in Harare, STARTUPBIZ. They are passionate about entrepreneurship. The information published on the website has helped many in making business decisions especially for startups that are growing their businesses. They post links to their written articles on business ideas, business tips, business news, personal finance, entrepreneur interviews, and profiles. In addition to that they have also a Whats App platform where they share the same content on daily content. I for one, I started following them in 2017 and ever since, I have never regretted following them. Their works on business and entrepreneurship have stood the test of time and also the information relevant to what’s happening around us

THE ENTREPRENEURIAL MAGAZINE

This is online magazine with some hard copies of its publication around. They are a startup media firm that publishes diversified content on business such as leadership, business opportunities, business models, statutory requirements, supply chain manages as well as investment and finance. Their special focus is on SMEs and aspiring entrepreneurs. they have published 2 editions so far but they are promising to be a go-to source on the content they are publishing, surely they are the first of their kind on the Zimbabwean media landscape. Daily, they share links to their site on articles that help you make a better decision in your start-up business. If you are an entrepreneur and you have not yet followed them on Facebook, do so now and thank me later.

MOTIMAGZ MAGAZINE

It is an online magazine owned and published by a young man named Tinashe Bonde who is the founder of Africa Pride Motivation. I started following this magazine last year around June.  There is one thing I have noted about them as a writer who is trying to make it; they have inspired to become a better writer by what they share and post on their Facebook page. They post motivation quotes and links to their website. Whatever you are looking for be it motivation, business tips, testimonies on the ones who have made it already, you will find the content. If you are addicted to success and you haven’t followed and liked their Facebook page, you are missing out a lot.

GEORGE BILLIONARE MUNENGWA

He is an award winning Zimbabwean businessman with a strong marketing background. Before founding ProAir, George Munengwa started off as a marketer at another air conditioning services provider in Zimbabwe from 2009 to 2012, he then established  ProAir in June 2012 with the goal to “Make the weather behave 365 days of the year indoors” at the same time bringing heating & cooling air conditioning solutions to the citizens of Zimbabwe at an affordable price. Munengwa also seats on Spidex Media board and is the organizing secretary for 2Brigade Mash East chapter E11

Today ProAir has become one of the most sought after air conditioning companies in the country and has won several awards including:

• Zimbabwe Leadership Awards: Zimbabwe Top Leadership Excellence Air Conditioning Company of the Year 2015
• Zimbabwe Business Awards: Top Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Company of the Year 2015
• Megafest Business Awards: Most Consistent Organisation of the Year 2017 Winner

On his Facebook page, he regularly posts motivational quotes, insights on business, marketing and habits that should be developed by an entrepreneur. If you an aspiring entrepreneur, this is a must follow Facebook page. You will learn a lot from the tried and tested practitioners in the business world.

ENTREPRENEURSZW

Entrepreneurszw is a group of female consultants who work together for the empowerment of women and girls ages 8-40. They offer training, funding, and networking opportunities in addition to promoting a savings and investment culture in women and girls.

The Key areas they focus on are

• Entrepreneurial Training
• Financial Empowerment
• Investments
• Associate
• Personal Development

In addition they have a magazine that encourages women to venture into entrepreneurship. They discovered that entrepreneurship has been dominated by men, fewer women are into entrepreneurship. This has been attributed to lack of information. Hence on their Facebook page they post inspiring and uplifting messages encouraging women to start businesses. They also celebrate women who are already into entrepreneurship. This is a must follow Facebook page especially for young women. However there is no harm if men follow the page too; there is a lot to learn.

DR FAITH NYAMUKAPA

Dr Faith Nyamukapa is a dedicated Christian, young multi- award-winning female entrepreneur, a goal-oriented businesswoman who runs KinderCare Zimbabwe and Transplex Investments, and a Philanthropist. She is also a qualified accountant by profession. Her passion is to work with children, developing strategies for Organisations, and empowering women who run preschool businesses in Zimbabwe.

Executive Appointments

Trustee for Econet Wireless Group Pension Fund Board-Employee representative from February (2012- July 2015)

Trustee for Education Support Systems Trust (ESST) Zimbabwe – March 2016 to date

It is a Trust that helps to advance education in Zimbabwe and information documentation of all communities in Zimbabwe for use by NGOs.

Awards

1. 2nd Runner Up Women in Accounting & Investment Sector 2016 – Megafest Business Awards

Megafest is a passionate advocate of women in business, celebrating their achievements, now in its 8th year, the Women’s Awards are about more than simply recognising and rewarding the courage, leadership and creativity of Zimbabwe’s most brilliant business women-they play a critical role in raising the profile of women in business.

2. Executive Director of the Year Award- Women’s Heritage Society World Organisation – Award ceremony in November 2016

3. Organisation of the Year Award- KinderCare Zimbabwe Women’s Heritage Society World Organisation (Early Childhood Development Category). Award ceremony in November 2016

4. Brand of the Year Award – KinderCare Zimbabwe. Women’s Heritage Society World Organisation. Award ceremony in November 2016

5. Top Female Academic Philanthropist of the Year Award- Philanthropy Institute of Zimbabwe. November 2016.

6. Early Childhood Development Philanthropist of the Year Award – Philanthropy Institute of Zimbabwe. Award ceremony in November 2016

7. Pan African Humanitarian Award on Enterprise and Community Development 2016 –Anantara The Palm, Dubai

Honorary Non-Academic awards- 2016

1. Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters Degree from the International Institute of Philanthropy (IIP) 13 July 2016

2. Honorary Doctorate in Business Leadership, DBL –International Women’s University-Mauritius ( 2016)

3. Honorary Master’s Degree in Business Leadership ,MBL- International Women’s University-Mauritius ( 2016)

You can tell from the above that she is a go to person for inspiration. Indeed she is a role model to many. Why not follow her on her Facebook page where she shares her experiences in the corporate world. She regularly posts update content on what’s happening around in the business and corporate world. One of the great scientists, Sir Isaac Newton once said, “In order to see to further, I stand on the shoulders of the giants’’. What he meant is that you need someone who has been there to show you the direction to be there too. I personally believe she is one of the giants in the business world.  There is a lot to learn if you follow her especially if you are looking forward to being in the business world.

By Rodreck Matsveru (Sir Rody)

Tutor/ Exam Coach / Writer / Columnist

0775701788

rodreck16@gmail.com

Emotional Intelligence

You probably know someone who is academically gifted but when it comes to their personal relationships they are so creepy or someone who is so successful in areas of business but they can’t just control their emotions or relate well with others. This is one of the most important skills you need to master and it is often overlooked or not properly understood or implemented but believe me without emotional intelligence you won’t go far.

Emotional intelligence (also known as Emotional Quotient) according to Help Guide organization can be defined as the ability or know how to use and manage your emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict. From this definition, you can see that emotional intelligence is a measure and we can assess ourselves and the good news is it can be mastered or improved. Just think of how you empathize with others, communicate, deal with challenges, stress, and conflicts. According to Daniel Goleman, the psychologist of emotional intelligence, he divided emotional intelligence into five main elements are Motivation, Empathy, Social Skills, Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation.

Under self-awareness, we are looking at sub-components like emotional awareness which is the ability and considerations of your own emotions and those of others; self-confidence, and self-assessment. Under self-regulation we are looking at self-control, trustworthiness, adaptability, conscientiousness; Motivation we are looking at sub-components like your optimism and commitment; Empathy we are looking at things like understanding others and developing them, leveraging diversity and your ser-vice and lastly, under Social Skills, we are look-ing at things like influence, leadership, conflict-management, cooperation, and communication.

Emotional intelligence is a very important skill that affects every other part of your life, it affects your relationships, spirituality, health, school, work, relationships, etc. and why can’t we make an effort to work on it this 2021. Remember it as an ongoing journey, let’s just start and we keep going. By looking at the above components we can assess ourselves and improve accordingly. There are many ways and tools you can effectively use to improve your emotions that include recognizing and naming your emotions, asking for feedback, responding instead of reacting, maintaining a positive attitude, etc. I greatly advise you to get professional help particularly from an Emotional Intelligence coach and International Coaching and Mentoring Foundation (ICMF) boasts of qualified and top-notch ones.

Critical Thinking

Here is one best or on-demand skill especial-ly with employers or when you working on your project, startup, or business. Critical thinking is the ability to logically, rationally, and clearly think through situations and problems to effectively solve them. Critical Thinking is self-directed, self-discipline, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. To improve the critical thinking skills you need to be observant, curious, intro-spect, identify biases, and being objective in your approaches. You also need to analyze the problem at hand and determine possible out-comes or what you need to achieve which is to identify and reframe the real problem.

Negotiation

How well do you negotiate through situations, deals, and dealing with others? Negotiation is a method by which we humans settle our differences, remember that as human be-ings we will also have differences, we will not necessarily agree from the point go, have the same line of thinking, etc. Negotiation skills are the qualities that allow to or more parties to compromise or agree while trying to avoid argument and dispute
Negotiation is used in many situations for example business, relationships, family, government & international systems, and many others.

Negotiation includes skills and ability to effectively communicate, pursued, strategize and cooperate, rapport building, and decision making. For every negotiation you must set your goal upfront, what is it that you want to get out of the negotiation process, don’t just negotiate for the sake of negotiation but you should set clear what you want of the negotiation process. You have to have your best or highest that you can go for; what is the least or lowest you can go for and what’s your plan B (if it fails to work). With persuasion, you are able to convince others to buy into you, support your ideas, take action, support you, etc.

Team Work & Collaboration

Life is not a solo journey, it is all about teamwork and collaborations. Even for business, if you aim to go big you need to have a team and according to Jack Ma, “You need the right people with you, not the best people”. Sometimes we need the right people, the people who believe in the same vision as you, who want to work with you, and who fits into what you intend o achieve. Teamwork and collaboration are a mixture of interpersonal, problem solving, and communication skills needed for a group to effectively work together for an intended cause or towards a common goal.

The main difference between teamwork and collaboration is that teamwork each individual is working individually whilst with collaboration they work collaboratively. Teamwork and collaboration help increase efficiency and productivity by maximizing on each other’s specialities, skills, talents, capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. Each can effectively focus on what they can do best and it helps boost productivity. Instead of going after you won, here we are able to work towards the group’s common goals. High-performance teams include members with a balance of skills, diversity of knowledge, perspectives, views, gender, race, age, views etc.

Time Management

They always say time is money and it is the currency of life, we have to take care and properly use our time. management is an essential skill that we master in 2021 beyond and this is will mean that you are able to work smarter and do more in less time. According to Wikipedia, time management is the process of planning and exercising conscious control of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity.

Time management comes with many benefits that include stress relief, more time by properly scheduling and doing things on time among many others. There are many tips for time management to try out that include setting time limits for each task, having a to-do-list and following on it diligently, prioritizing and removing non-essential tasks, and setting SMART goals. To succeed in time-management you need to be focused on your life and goals as it helps you to effectively achieve more in less time.

Adaptability

With the ever-growing demand for modern life and uncertainties, it now demands that we be more adaptable like never before. Adaptability can be defined as one’s flexibility or ability to quickly respond to changing trends, innovation, destabilization, etc. To become more adaptable you need to be growth-orientated, always seeking ways and opportunities to grow and make yourself better. Another way is always to be on the look-out for change, trends, innovation, etc. especially within your line of industry, community, economy, and societies, and go beyond that but to embrace and accept the change that comes with it.

It requires you to be flexible that means learning something new, gain a new skill or behavior. Adaptability is very important also when working on projects, developing strategies, and implementing new ideas. It allows you to survive, develop, create, learn, and succeed in life as it encompasses a lot of elements such as positive thinking, self-management, and decision-making skills.

Hope was born and raised in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and he did his A level at Mpopoma High School and O level at Ihlathi High School. Apart from his academic successes, he was also a multi National Chess Scholars Champion winner. Hope later on received a scholarship to go and study at the Harvard
University and just after college he went on to found Tuverl which has to date received several awards and recognition. They recently came out first at the Georgetown Africa Business Conference Pitch Competition which was
held in early February 2020 at Georgetown University in Washington DC. Tuverl also won the World Bank Youth Summit Pitch Competition in early December 2019 held at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington DC.

In mid-December 2019 Tuverl also won the YouthConnekt Sustainable Development Goals Video Competition. They have also participated in several pitch competitions, winning the Fan Favourite prize at the RevRoad Pitch Competition in Provo, Utah, and finishing 3rd place at the Harvard China Forum Pitch Competition in Cambridge, Massachusetts in early April 2019. Tuverl participated in the Mass Challenge Accelerator Boston Cohort in 2018 and were part 10th cohort of Halcyon Incubator Program from January – June 2019. Tuverl is also a recent Startup Battlefield 2020 finalist, the pitch competition was held virtually in September 2020.

Problem Statement

It can’t be innovation without problem-solving and Turvel application is there to solve or address a wide range of problems. In most African countries, Public Transport is an industry that is run by private companies; millions of small to medium enterprises and individuals, whose buses, minibusses, and individual cars operate without any schedules or timetables. This makes Public Transport very unreliable to commuters, who lose valuable productive time while waiting for transportation or in transit, as a result. Drivers also waste time, fuel, and man-hours trying to locate
commuters along their designated routes or park in one place waiting for commuters to find them.

This is highly inefficient. The Covid-19 era came with new and many
challenges for commuters as Public Transportation was grounded by the government to minimize non-essential movement and reduce the risk of exposing the public to the Coronavirus. This left people who do not own their own personal vehicles with few to no options for safe essential travel.

While some have welcomed the reintroduction of ZUPCO as the sole provider of Public Transport, there have numerous complaints about long lines at bus stops, too few buses in circulation, and the general lack of social distancing while in transit.

Solution

After assessing these challenges in the 1st few months of the covid19 pandemic, Tuverl went on to develop its intercity carpooling service that is meant to make travelling safer, easier and cheaper during the Covid19 pandemic. After downloading and signing up on the Tuverl App, commuters can search for peer-to-peer trips that originate from a city or town of their choosing to another city or town in Zimbabwe. They can pay for these trips using mobile money payments, such as Ecocash, OneMoney and Telecash.

We plan to support more payment methods in due course. On the Tuverl App, users who have their own personal vehicles can register to be drivers.
Once registration is complete and their profiles have been verified, drivers can create trips from one city or town to another. Drivers have control over the pricing of the available seats in their vehicles. As such drivers can make
extra money during a trip they were already planning to make. Picking up passengers along the road, when drivers travel on pre-planned trips between cities and towns is an old practice. Most Zimbabwean commuters know this as hitchhiking or simply hiking.

Tuverl has found a way to make it a lot easier for drivers to find commuters or passengers, by adding a technology layer that makes it faster for drivers to connect with commuters. As the economy opens up, Lockdown regulations are relaxed, and travel restrictions are removed, it is important to give commuters more options for travelling safely. Commuters and drivers can download the Tuverl App on the following links.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?
id=com.tuverl.android .
People who are interested in our work can follow
us on the following links.
Website: http://wwww.tuverl.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tuverl
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tuverl
Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/
store/apps/details?id=com.tuverl.android