For Entrepreneurs, SMEs & Cooperatives
Friday, 5 July 2025
Vol. 1 | Issue 1

🧭 1. Capital & Market Conditions: Snapshot of the Week

🌾 2. Key Commodities & Input Prices (Sector-Wide Watch)

🔍 3. What It All Means – Weekly Market Themes

🔸 Credit Markets Tighten

• Lending costs continue upward, especially for uncollateralized SMEs.

• Strategy: Tap into cooperative guarantees, community revolving funds, or ZWMB partner windows for structured capital access.

🔸 Input Inflation Rising

• Across agriculture and processing, costs rose ~5–20% this week.

• Action: Pre-buy or co-purchase inputs via producer groups. Explore storage credit to delay processing until price stabilizes.

🔸 Energy Cost Volatility

• Diesel and electricity trends threaten processors (especially leather, grain milling, and cement operations).

• Action: Explore solar leasing models or co-op power backup pooling.

🔭 4. Entrepreneur Outlook & Strategic Positioning

🤝 5. Empowerment & Special Focus – Supporting Disadvantaged Groups

• All Women Capital Partners Novice Level (USD 5/mo) now includes agricultural input finance via ZWMB.

• Better Sisters Foundation launching capital access mentorship circles in Mutoko and Gwanda.

• Youth in Mining pilot approved: Small-scale gold miner groups eligible for structured equipment leasing.

📌 Women & Youth Tip: Join or start a cooperative with a formal name and structure to fast-track ZWMB loan eligibility and access support schemes.

📅 6. Key Events Next Week (8–12 July 2025)

✅ 7. Weekly Checklist – What You Should Do Now

☑ Join/form a cooperative or SACCO for cheaper financing 
☑ Digitize your payments to build financial traceability via 
☑ Pre-order input supplies or lock in diesel prices
☑ Explore solar solutions or mini-grids if you're a processor
☑ Apply for ZWMB Women or Youth Productive Finance Schemes
☑ Use mobile money dashboards to manage cashflow and savings

💬 From the Desk of Structured Finance 

“Entrepreneurs are not just adapting to markets—they are the market. Each decision you make shapes Zimbabwe’s future economy. Stay informed, stay structured, stay cooperative.”

🌟 MSME Excellence Case Study: From Backyard Hustle to Contract-Winning Enterprise

Case: Tafadzwa Makumbe – Founder, Makumbe Tech Services (MTS), Harare

Three years ago, Tafadzwa Makumbe operated a modest electrical repairs business from his backyard, surviving on ad-hoc jobs and word-of-mouth referrals. Like many MSMEs, Makumbe Tech Services was unregistered, had no formal bookkeeping, and operated entirely in cash. That changed when Tafadzwa joined a ZWMB SME Clinic and was introduced to the importance of formalizing his enterprise.

He took deliberate steps: registered his company with the Zimbabwe Companies Registry, opened a business bank account, got a tax clearance certificate, and began using mobile money and simple accounting software to track income and expenses. With support from ZWMB’s Structured Finance team, he accessed a small loan to purchase tools and secure a Public Works Authority certificate. Within 18 months, Makumbe Tech won a subcontract under a Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education tender to install school lighting systems. Today, MTS employs six full-time technicians and has serviced contracts in three provinces.

Takeaway: Formal compliance isn’t a burden—it’s a bridge. It opens MSMEs to public sector opportunities, corporate subcontracting, and structured finance. Tafadzwa’s story reminds us: when you treat your hustle like a real business, the world begins to treat it the same way.

🧾 From the CEO’s Desk: Building Wealth Through Local Trade and Circular Thinking

In times of economic turbulence, our greatest strength as Zimbabwean entrepreneurs lies not in what we import, but in what we already have—and how well we circulate it. Every dollar spent on imported goods is a dollar exported along with the jobs, skills, and value it could have created locally. The principle is simple: when we buy local, we don’t just support a business—we activate a chain reaction that feeds producers, processors, transporters, retailers, and communities. This is the essence of a circular economy: wealth generated here, stays here, and moves through multiple hands before leaving. It multiplies.

For SMEs and cooperatives, especially in agriculture, mining, and processing, the opportunity lies in closing loops—turning maize into mealie-meal, hides into leather shoes, and offcuts into compost. Every link added to your value chain is another job created and another stream of income. Circular thinking is not just sustainable—it’s profitable. At ZWMB, we are committed to financing enterprises that reinforce this ecosystem. Together, let’s stop chasing value outward and start building prosperity inward—locally, collectively, and cooperatively.

🐄 CEO's Big Idea Challenge – Sponsored by Invent One

In Zimbabwe, owning a cow has always been a symbol of wealth, wisdom, and honour. That’s why, every week, Invent One is giving away one live cow to the entrepreneur with the smartest idea in our Big Idea Challenge!

This week’s question:
With fuel and electricity costs going up, how can your business reduce production or operating expenses without sacrificing quality?

Think about local sourcing, shared resources, solar energy, or any smart solution that works in your trade.

💬 Share your answer in the comments or email entrepreneurs@zwmb.co.zw by Wednesday, 10 July 2025. The winner walks away with a cow—because in our economy, that’s true success!