Aspiring entrepreneurs get start-up guides

Business
A Bulawayo-based arts organisation, KA Magazine, has compiled a start-up guide magazine aimed at furnishing aspiring entrepreneurs with basic fundamentals needed to start a business.

A Bulawayo-based arts organisation, KA Magazine, has compiled a start-up guide magazine aimed at furnishing aspiring entrepreneurs with basic fundamentals needed to start a business.

BY MTHANDAZO NYONI

KA Magazine, founded by Littchel Mathuthu in 2012, is a digital platform that inspires, showcases and profiles a new breed of innovative and creative thought leaders inventing the future creative industries via website and digital magazine.

Mathuthu told Southern Eye yesterday that the aim of a start-up guide magazine was to equip aspiring entrepreneurs with the wealth of knowledge needed to start a business.

“The guide offers online tools to assist in the start-up process,” he said. “Our research saw that there were many brilliant ideas that many individuals had and they needed help with developing them.

Identifying a winning concept that is one of a kind using the Internet was what we saw would lead to more start-ups in Zimbabwe growing into viable entities,” he added.

Mathuthu said the start-up guide aimed at partnering up with entrepreneurial institutions that could assist grow the Zimbabwean start-ups.

“We aim to distribute a minimum of 10 000 free copies to educational institutions such as universities, higher learning institutions and public libraries across Zimbabwe,” he said.

The magazine was a collaborative effort of international business coaches such as John Stanko (founder of Purpose Quest), Kathy Caprino (founder of Ellia Communications) and Elinor Stutz (the chief executive officer of Smooth Sale).

Mathuthu said KA is an abbreviation of kwantuthu, a Ndebele word meaning “where there is smoke” which “is what we aim to deliver to our fans with captivating inspirational articles pushing them to think beyond traditional boundaries, lead proactively and most importantly, embrace creative industries”.

With unemployment estimated at over 90%, entrepreneurship has been regarded as an option to help alleviate chronic job shortages in the country.

Zimbabwe has the highest rate of unemployment in the Southern African region due to economic decline over the last decade, with corresponding negative effects on the well-being and skill development of youths. 

The country’s steep economic decline had caused the rate on youth unemployment to soar.