AWARD-WINNING professional speaker Walter Chimene has been nominated for the post of chief adviser to the Africa Entrepreneurship Growth Initiative (AEGI).
CHIPA GONDITII
AEGI is a pan-African network of multi-stakeholder investors that have interests in sustainable development, entrepreneurial growth and grassroots empowerment.
Its mandate is to create advisory and collaborative innovation funding while working closely with heads of state, high net worth philanthropists, venture capitalists, investment researchers and celebrity brand ambassadors.
In an interview with The NewsHawks, Chimene said if he lands the post, Zimbabwean brands could benefit immensely from AEGI’s fund raising initiatives.
“If I get the post, I will be at the centre of AEGI’s fundraising initiatives. Right now they have got a US$1 billion fundraising programme so this will be beneficial to Zimbabweans because local products, projects and brands will now have access to funding,” he said.
“Although this current fundraising project is targeting US$1 billion, if you research you will see that these kinds of ecosystems have up to US$3 trillion flowing in their networks. Now part of our challenge as Zimbabwe is that our brand out there is not likable. In many of these conversations over the past years, Zimbabwe has not been involved, so when these monies flow around, Zimbabwe is out of the table so if I get the post the first thing I will do is to put Zimbabwe on the table,” he said.
He also said it was essential for Zimbabwe to engage in collaborative efforts with other organisations so as to broaden the country’s business opportunities.
“We need more collaborative efforts. Other countries in Africa do more collaborative work to achieve things at national level, but in Zimbabwe it is sad to say there is a spirit of selfishness. People will be doing their own things, yet there is no large scale to what they are doing.
“Whatever can influence and shape the continent is about scale, that is why even people in our network in Zimbabwe we push them to think about Sadc and Comesa so instead of looking at 14 million people we are now looking at 100 million people. So if you think scale, it means your ideas move faster because the target is much bigger,” he said.
Chimene is the pioneer of platforms that include Gorindemabwe Frontier, Eloquent Solutions, Wolf Wealth Africa Network and Innovation Roundtable Zimbabwe.
He also sits on boards that include Readership Zimbabwe, Entrepreneurship Fund ForumX and Brand Revolution Council.
The person who lands the coveted post will be announced on 25 May via Zoom.
