In 2011, we had finished building a 2 bedroom house self-funded at our stand in Zimre Park just outside Harare. The tenant moved in on 1 January 2011. That year I also opened a tuck shop at home as I have extensive experience in running general dealer shops. Zimbabwe was still using US$. I had an idea to raise broiler chicken at home. I grew up raising chicken. I planned for the project at home in Pretoria and presented my costing to my wife, she also has an accounting degree. So I have to convince myself first and then also get her input. I wanted the chicken to be ready by Christmas. I took a bus to Harare towards end of October, I visited hardwire shops and bought 600 chicks, feeding and drinking trays to be delivered around 8 November. I bought wooden planks and a few metal roof sheets and constructed a small fowl run. My plan was to extend the fowl run as the chicken grew and this is exactly what we did. Months later someone rented that fowl run.
I had won my first overseas incentive top performers award at work, MaNyoni and I were going to fly to Phuket, Thailand on 31 October 2011 and come back around 8 November 2011. Mereka Maruwira was going to collect the chicks and raise them. I would come to Harare every two weeks to monitor, expand the fowl run and buy feed. December 2011 was hectic as I went to Zimbabwe every weekend.The easiest way to travel was flying but then getting a flight on Friday around 7pm and coming back on Sunday evening to South Africa is normally the most expensive time to fly and will cost around R5 000.00, it was better to use the the road and invest the savings in my project. Driving 2100 kms over the weekend was also tiring and expensive. Taking the bus was out of question because I only had the weekend and buses leave Pretoria when I am still at work. I would go to Johannesburg after work on Fridays, board a minibus to Beitbridge border post around midnight for around R250.00. The whole return trip only cost me R1 000.00.
I would cross both borders on foot, get lifts to Harare either from buses that would have finished border clearance formalities or from people who would have come to buy Japanese used cars in Musina. I would get to Harare on Saturday morning, buy stock for my tuck shop, chicken feed and solve the problem at the chicken project. On Sunday morning I would leave home around 6am to get lifts to Beitbridge and would arrive in Pretoria before 8pm. During Christmas holidays I hiked to Harare arrived early on 25 December and went straight to Mbare chicken market and negotiated a good price with the guys, they hired a truck and they bought half of the stock in cash. The following week on New Year, I eventually drove to Harare and negotiated to sell the remaining chicken. I lost money because my guys didn’t properly dress the chicken 😢
Starting a hustle or a project is time consuming and it needs dedication. It is not impossible. Over the years I have learnt that people only cares for your project the same way you care for it. It’s not just about sending money but you need to invest your time in the project as well. Plan your project don’t hesitate, implement it and start solving problems as you go ahead. There is no point in over planning. In this case I knew the first 3 weeks I didn’t need a lot of feed. When I got paid the next month I bought more feed and expanded the fowl run.
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