Develop 2,000 future business leaders in Zimbabwe

Introduction

Emergination Africa takes pleasure in updating you of the activities that took place in the 2nd quarter of 2023. We mainly focussed on the Global Venture Accelerator program. Our Global Venture Accelerator is a program that helps young people develop the skills, tools, and connections they need to succeed in the global market. These are developed through training, mentoring, and provision of opportunities to create and launch their own products. It is a platform where learners accelerate their innovative ideas into operating ventures with the assistance of virtual advisement from global and local advisors. The teams go through four phases of the program namely Prepare, Pitch, Realize and Learn. This past quarter the teams were in their realize phase and have been undertaking advisement sessions held weekly over various online platforms to ensure continued engagement and knowledge, and skills transfer between advisors and venture teams. Through the program, venture teams are also channelled to key industries to gain experience and knowledge that is critical to the growth of their ventures. During the last 3 months, learner teams have gained invaluable knowledge and skills that shape both their ventures and their individual growth through the events that we organised for them. Below are some of the events that were attended by our venture teams.

Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF)

All venture teams from 2021 and 2022 had an opportunity to attend the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) from the 24th to the 28th of April 2023. The ZITF is the leading international exhibition organizer in Zimbabwe. Their exhibitions and events are the first place where industry trends, ideas and innovative products are unveiled. 13 teams participated in this event, showing their products and prototypes. Many teams made meaningful connections at the ZITF with other teams partnering with big companies to offer their products and services to. Below are some of the partnerships that were secured at the ZITF: Agrabbit Private Limited a 2022 VIA alumni team which is producing fertilizer from rabbit urine and droppings secured a trial partnership with SEEDCO, (Seed Co Zimbabwe is a leading producer and marketer of certified crop seeds in Zimbabwe. They supply hybrid maize seed to commercial farmers as well as wheat, soya bean, barley, sorghum and groundnut seed). Caenda Cycles, also a 2022 VIA alumni team partnered with the City of Harare for the creation of cycle tracks for pilot testing of their Cycles. Pured a 2021 VIA alumni team managed to secure a partnership with branding and marketing company for the branding of their packaging material.

Kurima Demo Day

The teams also managed to attend the Kurima Machinery Demo Day on the 16th of June 2023.The event was organised for the teams to pitch and enhance synergies between ventures in the agricultural sector and technologies available. Kurima is a company that provides African smallholder farmers with affordable machinery to improve productivity. The teams who are into agriculture and food processing benefited as they got their opportunity to see machines that can work in their ventures.

Via Circles

The teams participating have also managed to impact other learners in their schools through organized VIA circles. 850+ learners were directly impacted through these VIA circles. All 2022 venture teams have managed to conduct 22 comprehensive field visits within their industries for testing and standardisation. 120 progressive hours invested by advisors in learners. Crucial soft skills were learnt (time management, stress management, relationship building, leadership, managerial development, sales training, negotiation techniques and customer service) through the networking events that were organised for them.

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