“Young African Women are taking over” an observation shared at the Stimulus Hub Christmas Networking Dinner and CEO Master Class by Mr Kumbirai Katsande, immediate past president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries [CZI] in his keynote address at the event.
Mr Katsande made this observation as he shared nuggets of wisdom with the present aspiring CEO entrepreneurs and honoured guests at the event. His address titled, Cultivating the behaviours of a CEO, brought inspiration to the audience as he talked about the need for an CEO to have grit; a determination that says, ‘no matter what goes wrong or works against me I will not quit’.
He talked about the need for a CEO to be a leader who guides his people not micro manages them – a leader needs to focus their energies on working on the business not in the business if it is to grow so he or she needs to trust those working for and with him to play their part and where it is necessary the CEO can step in to ensure all works well but not to ‘micro manage’ the process.
Humility is a quality a CEO cannot be without he shared particularly as it takes team work to build a successful business therefore being able to communicate effectively with your team and get ‘buy in’ is crucial to success.
Mr Katsande gave many examples of how he had put these ‘behaviours’ into practice in his extensive and successful career. He shared how innovation and new product development is not the role of the marketing and operations departments in isolation but the role of the CEO.
Mr Katsande praised young women in business today saying that they are making strides, and working hard to achieve their goals. He shared how impressed he has been with Stimulus Director, Rudo Nyangulu-Mungofa when she had contacted him and shared the vision of Stimulus and the CEO Master Class series when inviting him to be the keynote speaker at the event. During the introduction to Stimulus Mrs Nyangulu-Mungofa shared with the audience the importance of the Stimulus Hub and why every entrepreneur can find something of value to assist them in growing their businesses through Stimulus.
She also spoke of the importance of the Stimulus Women Network whilst her colleagues Ms Marlene Chitonga and Mr McCloud Mungofa introduced the Stimulus Green Business Network and the Stimulus Project Management Network respectively. The vision for 2015 with Stimulus is to grow the member benefits and establish the mentorship programs for men and women as well as further develop the training programs. Stimulus aims to be responsive to the needs of entrepreneurs and where possible seeks to meet these needs in relation to capacity building for the growth of their businesses.
“I am very excited about the energy level given the current environment we are in when I see these islands of hope and oasis of energy like Stimulus. I talked of 2015 being a tough economic environment to operate in but there are people out there who are tough like the group at Stimulus, who are going to say whatever the odds we are going to make it! It’s a question of a state of mind; you must picture success and then work hard until you attain it. It’s finding ways around the blockages and road blocks, it can be done, others have done it and I get the sense that Stimulus is made up of people who are determined to succeed whatever the odds, so I am really excited and very impressed” Mr Katsande said after the event.
Stimulus Director Rudo Nyangulu-Mungofa with prize winner Yolande Nyamugama
The event was sponsored by HIVOS and V. S Nyangulu and Associates, Legal Practitioners in Harare. Advocate V. S. Nyangulu was present at the event and was on hand to present entrepreneurial book awards to three entrepreneurs who were able to answer questions asked by Mr Katsande about his keynote address.
Of the three winners, two were women, Zandile Ndlovu and Yolande Nyamugama and the third being Musekiwa Samuriwo.
For more information about becoming a Stimulus Hub member email membership@stimulus.co.zw
