Working Your New Business by Chrophet Muchinezuro

In 2004, I resigned from my job at Piggott Maskew in Bulawayo. I was 22 years old at the time. All I knew was that I wanted to start my own business but had no idea what business I would be in. With the ability to read, a great work ethic and a bucket full of ambition, I started my first business selling vegetables and a few other supplies at the gate of the house I rented in Sizinda. In no time, I ran out of money and closed the business. This would not be the last time though, for eight years straight I attempted seven other ventures and failed one after the other. My last fatal failure was in 2012 where my boutique closed because my landlord was subletting to me without the owner’s consent. As much as I didn’t make money, I picked a dozen valuable lessons from each failure. The main reason I failed was that I had no mentor; there was basically no one I could ask for wisdom from. All people around me were either broke or just vendors, but I knew that I wanted something more than vending. In 2013, I attempted again and this time I had a surge of money. Everything changed! Some great mentors picked me up and began to guide me. It has been 10 years non stop, several more failures and wins happened along the way. One win erases the scars from a dozen failures. As of this writing I have my entrepreneurial fingerprints in three countries in education, real estate, retail and agribusiness.