Munashe ChimedzaBy Peter Chidarikire
TAGGED purveyors of evil are social media platforms especially the anti- covid vaccine campaigns. Issues to do with data privacy are trending in the Global North where activists are always on the case of Metaverse formerly Facebook arguing it is selling users’ personal information to the highest bidder.
While it has been labelled as a destroyer of families as infidels thrive on this platform, the platform has united families, created families and helped others find love.
I digress from the core of my issue although I wasn’t far off-track because it is all about WhatsApp.
People use WhatsApp with different intentions. As social media it is an extension of the mainstream media with an amplified ability to make or break. For one Munashe Chimedza, WhatsApp is a platform that has made his life easier in his mother’s fruit and veggies business. WhatsApp pays his bills.
Digital marketing and social media marketing is the trendy mode of putting one’s enterprise to the people.
Given a majority of Zimbabweans have an affinity to WhatsApp bundles, businesses have found the Mark Zuckerberg owned platform easy to reach as many people.
While traditional fruit and veggie stalls aka musika in Shona, are still as relevant, it wouldn’t hurt to be innovative.
Of the wittiest moves this 22 year old has made, taking the product to the customers is one of them. We are all used to visiting the market place to buy the veggies and fruits. Getting these products to a customer’s door step, particularly in the frugal ghetto, is unheard of. Disruptive.
Disruption is a word often used in the context of unruly behaviour interrupting the regular flow of something. Yet for the Gen Z millennials that are techno-savvy, disruption is meant to make one’s life easier with the aid of technology.
He uses a wheelbarrow to make deliveries to his customers .His business has now grown to become a big empire as many households in the dusty streets of Mabvuku now know him as the best in the delivery of quality vegetables .
Munashe manages to take care of his family from the profits he makes everyday.
“My brother l have been in this business for the past 10 years since my mother had a place to rent at the small Red Bull market but due to COVID-19 the business collapsed,” he laments.
His mother showed him the ropes.
“My mother was the owner of the market so it was like a family business and l got used to this trend of selling fruits and vegetables at a tender age,” he says.
He always makes his deliveries on Saturdays and Tuesdays. Munashe boasts an average of eighty customers on his WhatsApp group.
“On a good day I make an average of at least 20- 25 USD profit per day. I sell a wide range of fruits and vegetables from apples, bananas, oranges, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, butternuts, sweet potatoes and okra to mention but just a few and all is delivered as per order,” Munashe said.
Asked on why WhatsApp he responded with a smile
“King you know this thing called technology is good. It has made my life easier since l will be relying on messages for orders sent to my WhatsApp inbox and its easier for me to know the exact things my customers needs at a particular time.”
Funds permitting, Munashe wants a bigger business like his own fruit and vegetables shop. His inspiration comes from Doctor Philip Chiyangwa who used to be in the business of selling vegetables.
Munashe says one of his challenges is when he is delivering large quantities. “Pushing a wheelbarrow with many heavy items is such a hard task,” he says.
His other wish is one day to own a scooter as well as a small truck which will make it easier for him to make his deliveries to his loyal customers.
“I urge all youth both girls and boys to desist from the abuse of drugs and substances,They should start small income projects so that they will not be just idle waiting for money to come like manna from heaven ,” he said.
