Founders Live Harare: Vol 12
The 12th edition of Founders Live Harare was a special edition as we were celebrating two incredible years of working with the most amazing entrepreneurs in Zimbabwe. The event was a battle between some of the fiercest start-ups in the start-up ecosystem. It was such a difficult task to choose just five to pitch with all the young people doing a fantastic job of running their businesses and sustaining a lot of lives.
As usual, we had our amazing hosts Tadzoka Pswarayi and Auxicillia Rabwi. These two always manage to carry the event with so much energy, bringing the audience to life with their bubbly nature. To deal with the heat, they were enjoying some ice cold Masamba Kombucha. To start the event we were entertained by some girls from Tariro Trust, a foundation that supports disadvantaged girls by sending them to school. They showcased an amazing piece of traditional dance which was beautifully choreographed. After that, there were introductions to Founders Live, Impact Hub Harare, and associated partners. Shortly after that, we had a chance to catch up with the last Founders Live Harare winner Vimbai Mulandu, from YuPlan. She updated us on how the journey has been for her since she won Founders Live Harare.
Without wasting time we dove into the main part of the event, the pitches. First to take the stage was Tofara Chokera, the founder of a digital marketing and innovation consulting Trust called Tofara Online. The Trust’s main objective is to empower women and young people in business to embrace technology and digital marketing for business growth beyond borders. They achieve these objectives by hosting workshops and seminars. In addition, they have an e-learning platform called E-Digital Skills Academy that spearheads the growth of the trust to reach more people.
Just after the question and answer session with Tofara the second start-up, represented by Nastai Musarurwa, took the stage. Her company is called Rated-18 shoes which focuses on empowering child marriage survivors through employment and education by providing them with the resources they need to pursue their dreams with each pair of shoes sold. Their message is that marriage should be for those 18 and above to make sure that those below this age get a chance to complete their education.
The final pitch of the day was from Tofara Chiwa representing Passion Poultry, a company that designs, manufactures, and distributes poultry equipment with the purpose of improving the quality of food supply, encouraging entrepreneurship, and increasing the survival of small-scale poultry farmers. The technology behind this breeding equipment allows the farmer to connect it to his/her phone and internet, therefore, making it easy to track water levels, temperature, humidity and lighting. This is not only convenient for the farmer but also gives the farmer time to focus on other tasks.
Once all the pitches were done, the audience voted for their favourite start-up of the day. During the voting process, we were treated to another delicious, traditional performance by the Tariro Trust girls. It was wonderful to see young talent embracing our culture and heritage in such a stunning rhythm.
Before announcing the Founders Live Harare Volume 12 winners, the hosts thanked our partners including Utande, Area 46 Productions, Masamba Kombucha and Amazon Web Services. Yaita scooped the first prize receiving $10,000 in Amazon Web Services and membership at Impact Hub Harare.
After such an amazing event, we lamented saying goodbye. We can’t wait to host the last Founders Live Harare of the year on December 11th.
Follow Impact Hub Harare on their social media pages (@ImpactHubHarare) for the latest updates. Until then, wear your mask, social distance, stay safe and keep making a positive impact.