Zimbabwe has always had its fair share of problems over the past decades. Most of the problems are deeply ingrained due to political issues. All the same, this does not have to stop the growth of entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe. Actually, the business activity must boom because business is all about providing monetizable solutions to common problems. In this article, I just want to look at some of the major problems being faced and business opportunities associated with them. If something is annoying you chances are that you can make money from addressing that annoyance since most people will be seeking solutions to the same.
Water Shortages
This has become a huge menace in just about every location in Zimbabwe. It is either water is scarce, unavailable, or is available (barely) but with impurities. I recall one time I once stayed in Harare for a few months and it was the norm to buy purified water for drinking and the like. This is a clear indication of how dirty the water can be – at times the water is even visibly dirty. These challenges present opportunities for making money through providing solutions. Here are some of them:
Bulk Water Deliveries
I detailed this business in one of my articles not too long ago. You can make money by providing water to those who need it. Clients can be whole communities, those in construction, individuals, institutions, and so on. This type of business can vary from very small scale to large scale. Imagine you have a borehole and you can provide water to individuals at say, a fee per every 10 or 20 litres – that is an example of a small scale. The large scale would entail having water bowsers and even water purification mechanisms. There is money to be made in this space because water shortages are serious almost everywhere you go in Zimbabwe.
Purified Water Business
There are two broad options to consider here. Either you can go into the purification of water or you can source and sell purified water. Both segments have good business prospects because people are now so particular about the water they drink. It is very characteristic to see street vendors selling purified water – something that was never so years back. You will also notice that the number of purified water brands has surged over time. This all points to the opportunities that are still plenty in the domain of purified water.
Rain Water Harvesting
I thought I must mention this because it seems most people never really think about it. Well, people tend to only think of it when it rains and they use gutters to collect water for home use. Has anyone ever thought that they can go commercial with this? It has been raining heavily in Zimbabwe to an extent that places get flooded yet people are not leveraging on this. Think of the possibilities for domestic water usage, industrial water usage, and irrigation in agriculture, just to mention a few. After all, the water used in the aforementioned businesses starts as rainwater and gets into water bodies. Why not shorten the process by collecting rainwater directly? Here I am provoking you to think because there are so many business ideas that can emanate from all this. You could fabricate rainwater harvesting equipment for sale. You could do monetized tutorials or workshop on rainwater harvesting. You could literally collect rainwater and sell it to whoever needs it; plenty of possibilities!
Power Challenges
Load shedding used to be a huge problem in Zimbabwe; it still is in some places. Gradually things got somewhat back to normal with most places not really experiencing load shedding at all. However, the major challenge now is the issue of faults which ZETDC even reported as overwhelming them big time. This has led to scenarios where some places can go for weeks without power due to faults. This opens business opportunities for those who are enterprising enough.
Charging Services
This may sound simple but one can make money from this. Probably you might have solar power or you might be using fuel-powered generators. People generally use a mobile smartphone which needs to be regularly charged. You can make good money from providing this simple service.
Alternative Energy Services
This is a broad spectrum because it involves a lot. For instance, you can get into the business of selling LP gas – a product most people now use for cooking. You can also venture into selling LP gas-powered gadgets. Solar is also another big one which means selling solar products can be a good fit for the business.
These are some of the business opportunities you can muse on given that they seek to address current problems in Zimbabwe. I deliberately left out the whole lockdown restrictions issue because I did articles on that recently. When approaching these business ideas do not pressure yourself into thinking of sophisticated businesses. It is just coming up with a simple yet sought after solution to a widespread problem that can morph into a huge business.
