Recently I covered an interesting topic on burgers. I discussed the interesting trend of celebrities starting burger brands. I focused on MrBeast and Don Jazzy who own burger brands. The article is already online so kindly check it out if you have not yet. Okay, so later it got me thinking that we can expand the discussion further. I realized that we could cover businesses that celebrities can and should start. A celebrity has a substantial following so leveraging that to make money is smart. Here are some businesses that Zimbabwean celebrities can and should start.

NB: I shall deliberately discuss business ideas that are not just confined to big celebrities. These shall be business ideas that can also be done by someone as small as a micro-influencer. They could even be a budding socialite; the list is meant to cover the whole spectrum.

Branded Merchandise (Merch)

Sometimes you hear it being shortened as just merch. I know some only associate merch with certain items only. For example, caps, t-shirts, and the like. Merchandise is simply commodities offered for sale. We could define it as household, personal use, or commercial goods, wares, or commodities, sold wholesale or retail. Bear in mind that celebrities can choose to sell unbranded merchandise in general. However, that is not strategic.

The idea of branding the merchandise is to leverage the brand. A celebrity is a brand so anything attached to their brand most likely sells. Market perception is higher on branded goods after all. Then you couple that with the popularity aspect; sales can only go higher. You would have to be strategic about the specific merch that you choose to brand. Some of the common merchandise are t-shirts, caps, coffee mugs, juice bottles, hoodies, and bags, amongst others.

Clothing Line And Or Cosmetics Line

A clothing line is a collection of clothing items designed for specific niches. The same goes for cosmetic items as well. Chose to combine these two here because one can either choose or settle for both. Plus the operational approaches are more or less the same. Fortunately, there is an article we once published on how to start a clothing line in Zimbabwe. You can check it out to learn more. The same principles also apply to a cosmetics line. On the cosmetic line front, you may need to know what white labelling is.

White labelling is rebranding a generically manufactured product with your own trade dress. Trade dress refers to characteristics of the visual appearance of a product or its packaging that may be registered or protected from use by competitors in the manner of a trademark. There’s a 2019 article on how to start a white-label perfume business. I urge you to check it out and also to appreciate what white labelling is. You might want to know that clothing or cosmetics lines are often what most global celebrities go for.

Fast Food Brands

Anything that constitutes fast food, a celebrity can start a business for and thrive. Fast food is any type of meal that is often standardized, pre-prepared and served quickly. Examples are burgers, French fries, hot dogs, pizza, fried chicken, and sandwiches, amongst others. Zimbabwean celebrities are somehow sleeping on this; not sure why. I am always seeing complaints regarding poor service and poor food quality at most fast food joints.

Those are pain points to capitalize on by offering something better. The beauty of fast food is that you may not even start with actual restaurants. You can start off using the ghost kitchen model. (An article on this is coming soon). I highlighted it briefly when I recently did an article on the interesting trend of celebrities starting burger brands (business worth exploring). In it, I cited two examples of celebrities who now have burger brands – YouTube star, MrBeast and Nigerian music producer, Don Jazzy.

Beverages

This is yet another good place for celebrities to consider starting businesses in. One can choose to settle for non-alcoholic, alcoholic, or both. Some common examples are water, wine, energy drinks, juices, and smoothies, amongst others. Bottled water has high-profit margins; no wonder many start that business. You can check out the article I did in 2021 on starting a bottled business in Zimbabwe.

Then there are energy drinks; they are also a popular focus. Globally there is a general rise in the demand for energy drinks. Even in Zimbabwe, you can clearly see that trend in motion. Last year I did another article on juices and smoothies business ideas in Zimbabwe. These are some of the business areas Zimbabwean celebrities can explore. Consumers are actually waiting to see such products entering the market with local celebrities behind the brands.

Investment Portfolio

Another business to explore is making several investments i.e. having an investment portfolio. An investment portfolio is a collection of financial assets one owns that can comprise commodities, stocks, bonds, and much more. There are several ways to do this; one is through venture capital. Venture capital is startup growth equity capital or loan capital provided by a private investor.

The investor (venture capitalist) provides funding to a startup company in exchange for equity in the startup. Another way is to become an angel investor. It is common in developed nations to find celebrities having diversified investments. We need to see more of that here in Zimbabwe. After all, there are many promising Zimbabwean startup ideas struggling to get financing. Zimbabwean celebrities can chip in by starting and broadening their investment portfolios.

There is also money to be made via starting a mentorship business, depending on the celebrity’s subject matter expertise. Another area of prospects is wellness products. If a celebrity can white label wellness products e.g. herbals, that would sell big time. Then there are products such as gym wear; that would sell well as well. These 7 business ideas provide Zimbabwean celebrities, socialites, and just about anyone with several choices.