News / National
Raj Modi lobbies govt to work from Bulawayo instead of Harare
17 Sep 2018 at 10:54hrs | Views
Zimbabwe's new deputy minister of Industry and Commerce, Raj Modi has requested government to allow him to work from Bulawayo instead of Harare.
Bulawayo businessperson and Sai Enterprises proprietor, Raj Modi is the first Zanu-PF member in 18 years to win a parliamentary seat in Bulawayo in an election involving the MDC.
In one of his tweet Modi tweeted that "#Fact: There's no #Bulawayo without #industry and there's no #industry without #Bulawayo!".
However, his sentiments have been received with mixed feelings judging by the comments from his followers. Amongst the commenters who responded to the tweet, Ndabezitha Khumalo applauded the move by Modi highlighting that Modi has a vision for Bulawayo even though he is ZANU PF.
Also other followers concurred with Khumalo who expressed their trust on Modi said,
Raj will do great things for Byo if allowed to i promise you. Already he is walking the talk of making Byo great again nt running away to crowded Hre and dumping Byo. Bulawayo is the nation's industrial hub. Raj Modi's request is in order given that he's, after all, the Deputy Minister of Industry.
However, Tapiwa Mash who thrashed Modi on his tweet said,
"All his talk is about bulawayo, all his tweets are about bulawayo, nothing national, he is more of regional minister, he should be a bulawayo resident minister not a national industry minister."
Raj Modi is the owner of Pintail Trading, a company that trades as Wholesale Centre Liquor Hub and a distributor of Pepsi products and local beverages.
Modi is of Indian origin and came to Zimbabwe in September 1981 when he was just 22 years old.
"When I came to Zimbabwe I only had $50, two pairs of clothes and a return ticket because, remember, I had no intention to stay. The ticket was funded by an Indian spiritual group in Bulawayo; the arrangement was that I was going to refund them so they got me a job. The tickets were $300 and at that time it was a lot of money so I paid every month $20 to service the loan. That's how I came to Zimbabwe because I didn't have money to come to Zimbabwe, I couldn't afford it."
Modi's first job in Zimbabwe was to sweep and mop floors.
"I worked for eight months at a clothing shop as a general worker, I swept and mopped the floors, cleaned the toilets and windows. I used to walk to and from work to save money for food. I then went and worked for Mr Naran at his supermarket, for about eight years. While I was there, after six years I opened my own business, Bellevue Superette. My wife ran that shop for two years but I had to quit my job and run the shop after my mother-in-law had cancer so my wife had to stay home and take care of our mother. When I started working the business, it slowly began growing to what it is today.
"What most people don't know is that without my mother-in-law and wife the Modi family could be unknown in Zimbabwe. My wife, my mother-in-law and I combined our funds to open our first shop. My wife was at CABS (Building Society) and all her salary was used to grow the business while the salary I got from Mr Naran sustained us. As suburbs such as Nketa and Emganwini were being constructed, our business grew because of increased customers."
Bulawayo businessperson and Sai Enterprises proprietor, Raj Modi is the first Zanu-PF member in 18 years to win a parliamentary seat in Bulawayo in an election involving the MDC.
The city has been an MDC stronghold and the opposition party has been claiming all the 12 seats since 2000. Modi is the Zanu-PF House of Assembly candidate for Bulawayo South Constituency, he remains a well-known businessman and employer, lovingly referred to by his supporters as 'Mdawini'.Zimbabwe's new deputy minister of Industry, Raj Modi has requested govt to allow him to work from Bulawayo instead of Harare#Zimbabwe pic.twitter.com/cgK2MKUagt
— Povo Zim (@povozim) September 16, 2018
In one of his tweet Modi tweeted that "#Fact: There's no #Bulawayo without #industry and there's no #industry without #Bulawayo!".
However, his sentiments have been received with mixed feelings judging by the comments from his followers. Amongst the commenters who responded to the tweet, Ndabezitha Khumalo applauded the move by Modi highlighting that Modi has a vision for Bulawayo even though he is ZANU PF.
Also other followers concurred with Khumalo who expressed their trust on Modi said,
Raj will do great things for Byo if allowed to i promise you. Already he is walking the talk of making Byo great again nt running away to crowded Hre and dumping Byo. Bulawayo is the nation's industrial hub. Raj Modi's request is in order given that he's, after all, the Deputy Minister of Industry.
However, Tapiwa Mash who thrashed Modi on his tweet said,
"All his talk is about bulawayo, all his tweets are about bulawayo, nothing national, he is more of regional minister, he should be a bulawayo resident minister not a national industry minister."
Raj Modi is the owner of Pintail Trading, a company that trades as Wholesale Centre Liquor Hub and a distributor of Pepsi products and local beverages.
Modi is of Indian origin and came to Zimbabwe in September 1981 when he was just 22 years old.
"When I came to Zimbabwe I only had $50, two pairs of clothes and a return ticket because, remember, I had no intention to stay. The ticket was funded by an Indian spiritual group in Bulawayo; the arrangement was that I was going to refund them so they got me a job. The tickets were $300 and at that time it was a lot of money so I paid every month $20 to service the loan. That's how I came to Zimbabwe because I didn't have money to come to Zimbabwe, I couldn't afford it."
Modi's first job in Zimbabwe was to sweep and mop floors.
"I worked for eight months at a clothing shop as a general worker, I swept and mopped the floors, cleaned the toilets and windows. I used to walk to and from work to save money for food. I then went and worked for Mr Naran at his supermarket, for about eight years. While I was there, after six years I opened my own business, Bellevue Superette. My wife ran that shop for two years but I had to quit my job and run the shop after my mother-in-law had cancer so my wife had to stay home and take care of our mother. When I started working the business, it slowly began growing to what it is today.
"What most people don't know is that without my mother-in-law and wife the Modi family could be unknown in Zimbabwe. My wife, my mother-in-law and I combined our funds to open our first shop. My wife was at CABS (Building Society) and all her salary was used to grow the business while the salary I got from Mr Naran sustained us. As suburbs such as Nketa and Emganwini were being constructed, our business grew because of increased customers."
Source - Byo24News
