Most of you are ardent followers of social media in Zimbabwe – mainly Facebook and Instagram. Most of the content that draws you there is usually dramas and skits, right? Most of the notable personalities on social media fall in that domain. These personalities are part of a growing set of people called influencers. In light of how they tend to roll out most of their content and activities on social media, they are also called social media influencers. A social media influencer is someone with the power to influence people’s mindsets, conduct, and even decision making through social media.
Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is one of the catalysts for national economic development. One of the other everyone is trying to make ends meet. Both employed and unemployed, Zimbabweans are engaged in some form of income-generating ventures. People still have a lot to learn in becoming formidable entrepreneurs. The majority of what we have in Zimbabwe are business people and hustlers. Hustlers are the resounding majority if we are to be candid. I have an article where I differentiated these terms i.e. hustler, business person, and entrepreneur. We need more entrepreneurs because that is where the most value is.
Social media influencers can play a huge role in informing or bringing awareness to people in this domain. Influencers can be people collecting and curating content or they can be established entrepreneurs themselves.
Economics
Economic developments have a bearing on every Zimbabwean. Whether you like it or not it affects you. The monetary and fiscal dynamics of Zimbabwe are not typical. For laymen, they can be very hard to grasp due to the intricacies. I once mentioned a show aired on YouTube called Friday Drinks – I highly recommend it. The show is centred on topics related to the Zimbabwean economy. By exposing yourself to such content you end grasping some of the dynamics. We need more influencers like this in Zimbabwe. Influencers whose passion is to simplify the economic dynamics of Zimbabwe; this is what we need more of. I believe many people out there would benefit from this.
Technology
Tech has become an intricate part of our daily lives, directly or indirectly. As a nation, we still trail behind in a lot of things regarding emerging and the latest technologies. Infrastructural and standard of living limitations affect a great deal of technology uptake in Zimbabwe. This does not have to limit how much people know and appreciate technology. Influencers to be more involved in tech in Zimbabwe.
A quick example that comes to mind is an emerging technology like blockchain. There is a growing interest in blockchain and cryptocurrency in Zimbabwe. Yet there does not seem to be notable influencers focusing on that. Even from a general perspective, I have noticed that many Zimbabweans are not tech-savvy. This is so even for some of the most basic things. For example, you find people paying for tech-related stuff they should normally do on their own. Lack of awareness is the issue and influencers can go a long way in addressing that.
Health And Wellness
Then we have health and wellness – a multifaceted field that affects everyone in Zimbabwe. The wellness industry is also another area of growing interest even globally. I believe there are already several influencers directly or indirectly involved in these fields. I still feel there remains a huge gap that needs more influencers to fill. I have noticed that most Zimbabweans are not awakened of the importance of their diets and lifestyles. Most of what they face as health-related issues can be addressed or avoided by healthy diets and lifestyles. There is also the domain of home remedies for a wide range of health-related issues. These are areas that people need to be taught on and shift their mindsets.
Did you know that a huge chunk of diabetes cases in Zimbabwe can be traced to eating sadza? Did you know that most of what people suffer health-wise can be traced back to inadequate rest and sleep? These are some of the many things that influencers can do a great job of influencing people’s mindsets. Influencers can also influence people to take up workout regimes or routines for healthier lives. This is a broad field that needs more and more influencers in Zimbabwe.
Food
This is yet another broad and diverse field with so much to be done. The topics to cover under this field are countless. Influencers can look at areas of food pre-harvest and then post-harvest. Areas of specialization are many e.g. processing, cooking, baking, preservation, and so on. Influencers can have a field day by choosing to be active in this domain. Food makes up a huge part of anyone’s daily life so people would want such content. I would like to see influencers active in areas that encourage and teach people to process what they grow. I would like to see more influencers in the area of food preparation and the like. There are so many influencers can niche on in the domain of just food in general.
Then we also have the areas of Agriculture and Mining. Another area is Tourism and Hospitality. It would be great to see influencers emerging who solely focus on those areas. We need to see more travel bloggers or vloggers in Zimbabwe. There are so many mining activities in Zimbabwe yet we barely see any content on that in the public domain. This is a challenge for influencers to target those areas – it would be a win-win. These are some of the areas that influencers should target more in Zimbabwe.
