Entertainment / Shows
Zim's first entrepreneurial reality show set for small screen
05 May 2012 at 10:03hrs | Views
ZIMBABWE'S first ever entrepreneurial television reality show, My Own Boss Season 4-Buy Zimbabwe edition, is set to hit the small screen across Africa and parts of Europe in June 2012. It will be screened on ZBC-TV and on free-to-air satellite channel Africa Unite.
MOB Season 4 seeks to create pride, wealth and jobs in Zimbabwe by encouraging the production and consumption of quality local products and services.
While a lot is known about Buy Zimbabwe many have forgotten that this successful initiative was the brainchild of Zimbabwe's young entrepreneurs following their participation in the 2010 edition of My Own Boss.
MOB is an entrepreneurial TV reality show targeting youths between 18 and 35 years.
It identifies, nurtures, educates and exposes raw talent in youths and encourages them to start new businesses thereby creating employment and wealth.
A key advantage that MOB brings to Buy Zimbabwe is that it will help young aspiring entrepreneurs to practically implement the 2012 Buy Zimbabwe Conference resolutions.
The idea therefore is to ensure that the participants who will be recruited from all the 10 provinces of Zimbabwe will not only become brand ambassadors for Zimbabwean products and services but work practical and effective methods of ensuring that Zimbabwean quality products are preferred locally and internationally.
The show will cut across all sectors. From mining to retail, fast moving consumer goods to manufacturing.
Buy Zimbabwe partners are particularly encouraged to take advantage of the entrepreneurial minds of the contestants and opportunities that are availed to sponsor particularly in terms of real business tasks.
However, the only condition is that the company must be registered in Zimbabwe and producing quality Zimbabwean products.
This is all part of a move that will see Buy Zimbabwe respond to the call to move the initiative from the boardroom to the streets. The focus is really on the interaction between all stakeholders.
The selection criteria stipulate that one should be between 18 and 35 years, must be Zimbabwean, have a business understanding, have good team leadership and communication skills, aspire to be an entrepreneur and must have a bankable business idea.
Only 20 contestants are selected countrywide and get into My Own Boss House.
Each week contestants are given real business tasks and 48 hours to a week to complete the task.
A review of the task by prominent business executives will be done in the boardroom.
A losing team risks losing one or more contestants after each review. Judging criteria are based on task profitability, leadership skills, communication, innovation and exploration of new opportunities.
The top five contestants will present their projects to venture capitalists who will buy equity in the different companies and they will provide money for the start-up of the businesses.
The eventual winner of the show based on the success and viability of their project will walk away with a prize money of US$25 000 to be invested in their business up from US$20 000 which was won in 2010.
Previous winners of the show have set up successful businesses in Zambia and these include Zondo Chulu, who has set up a successful timber business, Lisha Chibale who runs one of Zambia's most successful poultry project s and Muzalema Mwanza, who runs a talc and lime processing business.
Successful entrepreneurs emerging from the show will be looking forward to joining a growing local business network and by virtue of the numbers exhibiting at the just-ended Zimbabwe International Trade Fair there is positive growth in the business environment.
Even the ambiance of Bulawayo clearly showed that the country's premier exhibition was in town unlike last year where nothing in Bulawayo's blue skies revealed that there was anything going on at the exhibition grounds.
However, it was a little disturbing that manufacturing giant Cairns was absent from the trade fair this year.
The empty exhibition pavilion was a little ghostly. Hopefully this will lead us to address the issues that are affecting the country's previous performers who are struggling to find their feet during the current economic turn around.
As a parting note I would like to applaud the ZITF management and staff for a well organised exhibition this year.
Till next week.. God bless.
---------------
Robert Garai Muganda is the Media and Communications Executive at Buy Zimbabwe.
MOB Season 4 seeks to create pride, wealth and jobs in Zimbabwe by encouraging the production and consumption of quality local products and services.
While a lot is known about Buy Zimbabwe many have forgotten that this successful initiative was the brainchild of Zimbabwe's young entrepreneurs following their participation in the 2010 edition of My Own Boss.
MOB is an entrepreneurial TV reality show targeting youths between 18 and 35 years.
It identifies, nurtures, educates and exposes raw talent in youths and encourages them to start new businesses thereby creating employment and wealth.
A key advantage that MOB brings to Buy Zimbabwe is that it will help young aspiring entrepreneurs to practically implement the 2012 Buy Zimbabwe Conference resolutions.
The idea therefore is to ensure that the participants who will be recruited from all the 10 provinces of Zimbabwe will not only become brand ambassadors for Zimbabwean products and services but work practical and effective methods of ensuring that Zimbabwean quality products are preferred locally and internationally.
The show will cut across all sectors. From mining to retail, fast moving consumer goods to manufacturing.
Buy Zimbabwe partners are particularly encouraged to take advantage of the entrepreneurial minds of the contestants and opportunities that are availed to sponsor particularly in terms of real business tasks.
However, the only condition is that the company must be registered in Zimbabwe and producing quality Zimbabwean products.
This is all part of a move that will see Buy Zimbabwe respond to the call to move the initiative from the boardroom to the streets. The focus is really on the interaction between all stakeholders.
The selection criteria stipulate that one should be between 18 and 35 years, must be Zimbabwean, have a business understanding, have good team leadership and communication skills, aspire to be an entrepreneur and must have a bankable business idea.
Only 20 contestants are selected countrywide and get into My Own Boss House.
Each week contestants are given real business tasks and 48 hours to a week to complete the task.
A review of the task by prominent business executives will be done in the boardroom.
A losing team risks losing one or more contestants after each review. Judging criteria are based on task profitability, leadership skills, communication, innovation and exploration of new opportunities.
The top five contestants will present their projects to venture capitalists who will buy equity in the different companies and they will provide money for the start-up of the businesses.
The eventual winner of the show based on the success and viability of their project will walk away with a prize money of US$25 000 to be invested in their business up from US$20 000 which was won in 2010.
Previous winners of the show have set up successful businesses in Zambia and these include Zondo Chulu, who has set up a successful timber business, Lisha Chibale who runs one of Zambia's most successful poultry project s and Muzalema Mwanza, who runs a talc and lime processing business.
Successful entrepreneurs emerging from the show will be looking forward to joining a growing local business network and by virtue of the numbers exhibiting at the just-ended Zimbabwe International Trade Fair there is positive growth in the business environment.
Even the ambiance of Bulawayo clearly showed that the country's premier exhibition was in town unlike last year where nothing in Bulawayo's blue skies revealed that there was anything going on at the exhibition grounds.
However, it was a little disturbing that manufacturing giant Cairns was absent from the trade fair this year.
The empty exhibition pavilion was a little ghostly. Hopefully this will lead us to address the issues that are affecting the country's previous performers who are struggling to find their feet during the current economic turn around.
As a parting note I would like to applaud the ZITF management and staff for a well organised exhibition this year.
Till next week.. God bless.
---------------
Robert Garai Muganda is the Media and Communications Executive at Buy Zimbabwe.
Source - Buy Zimbabwe
