3 Things You Need To Know As You Prepare For The $100M Strive Masiyiwa Rural Entrepreneurship Fund.

3 Things You Need To Know As You Prepare For The $100M Strive Masiyiwa Rural Entrepreneurship Fund.

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Just about 2 weeks ago Dr Strive Masiyiwa consummated his Re-Imagine Rural Series on his facebook page with what I term the most bold patriotic statement of our time. Right in the comment section, as is the norm, he announced the 100m Fund set up for Rural Entrepreneurs ONLY.

I am in no official capacity to represent Dr Masiyiwa, nor his projects, but just an adept and staunch follower of his, who diligently jots down notes when he shares nuggets and his vision.

It's unfortunate that just after two weeks of the announcement being made, there are already myths surrounding it that need to be busted before the good news becomes food for scams and cheap politicking.
#1.The fund will be disbursed through Steward bank as loans NOT through individuals nor political parties. The post unequivocally states, "No political lobbying for support."
#2. The fund is from their(family I suppose) personal money.
#3. The fund will be disbursed as loans NOT "free" money (This is for entrepreneurs)
#4. The fund is for Rural Entrepreneurs NOT STRICTLY Agric entrepreneurs (there are thriving mining, logistics, manufacturing businesses in rural areas )
#5. Traditional business such as stores and grinding mills are EXCLUDED! Innovation and trans-generational thinking is encouraged.
#6. There is NO collateral required.

Let's delve straight to business. How can one start to prepare for this lifetime opportunity?

As aforementioned, the fund is to "fulfill my dream of #ReImagineRural" as Dr Masiyiwa puts it. So the first question should be What EXACTLY is this dream and how does the visionary think it should fulfilled? In as much as the vision will be laid out to those who will be accepted through a training program before they get the loan, one would need an urge to even get that opportunity in the first place and that is why I wrote this article. I also meditate on this series to sharpen my perspective as an Agricultural Engineer and a farmer.

What is the Re-ImagineRural Vision?

Dr Masiyiwa believes, "bringing innovative ideas to rural areas is one of the key frontiers of African entrepreneurship." He goes on to say, "We need to move on from the only source of employment being rural stores, butchers, and grinding mills...we need fresh ideas for tackling problems that have long been ignored by policymakers and entrepreneurs!"

Employment creation, innovation, underserved needs. These stand out for me.

Are you creating employment by introducing new, efficient approaches or technologies that addresses traditional and most pressing needs in rural areas? Are you solving drudgery(my goal is to eliminate the hoe and relegate it to the museum- who once said those words twice?), Is sanitation and lack of access to banking and markets an old problem, do farmers lose more than 40% of their tomatoes post harvest and can they earn more value if processed?

To ReImagine to have a relook at something and come up with different perspectives or approaches. Can you re-imagine Rural Banking, Communications, Education, Health, Land, Industries, Nutrition, Sanitation, Service Delivery, Support Services, Tourism, Trading, Transportation, Water?

How?

On the second article to the Re-ImagineRural series, Dr Masiyiwa elaborately narrates a story of how he attended the Gorilla-naming ceremony in Rwanda. The story captures, in detail, how Rural economies can be re-imagined. Through an inclusive business model which gave the community a stake in the tourism returns that resulted from the Gorillas in that area, the people of the jealously protected the endangered gorillas. It is my view that similar models that create value while impacting the society and the environment positively will be more encouraged.

It may be prudent to also to look at what the good doctor calls the People-Product-Process approach, which he covered in detail sometime back in 2017. In whatever business you have in mind, do you have the right talent, innovative idea/product and firm grasp of the process to raise money, build a business, manage cash flow, go to market, sell your product?

"Small big ideas" -Belinda and Julius!

One wonders NOW, how big should my project be and will "they" really look at my small efforts and reward them? There are a couple of wrong things about that question in my view. There are no small ideas! From my experiences on the Strive Masiyiwa page, there can only be emerging businesses that start small with great potential to impact people and nations. In his third installment of the Re-ImagineRural series, he gives an example of a "small big idea" he and his family were implementing at the time. The initiative, which he termed "an egg a day for under-fives" is basically that- giving under-fives an egg a day. It sounds small, huh? Till you look at the projected impact it has.

Belinda and Julius are not just random names I picked but just a few of the rural entrepreneurs who responded with proposals of their seemingly small yet big ideas and they got funding right away. What I found common in both ideas, is how the two articulated with simplicity their dreams, and how they were using traditionally known businesses to impact livelihoods in their communities. Also they had already started their ventures with little resources. They Re-Imagined poultry and the rest as they say is history(Not history as such but the beginning of their future).

Lets get our hands dirty and not wait or pin all out hopes on the loan. Instead lets begin to Re-ImagineRural Zimbabwe, Rural Africa and start NOW! If an investor should find no novelty, creativity or viability in your business, they should at least take another look at you and say, "but why does s/he believe in his vision so much that he uses his few resources on that vision."