ZimThrive, a diaspora initiative is planning an official launch on Friday morning of April the 22nd from 8am to 1pm at the Rainbow Towers in Harare. On the 27th of April, a Diaspora Investment Conference will be held alongside the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Trade to which ZimThrive has been invited to attend and partner.
Co-founders Mildred Munjanganja, who is based in the US, and Mike Tashaya, who is based in the UK, established the platform to bring Zimbabweans who live in various countries around the world together, with the aim of reinforcing unity, building new and old friendships, fostering diasporan business interest and creating a stronger and self-sufficient nation.
‘Our original intent was to launch this global socioeconomic initiative in Zimbabwe in April of 2020’ said Mike Tashaya, Co-founder of Zimthrive ‘the advent of the Covid pandemic disrupted these plans but we have been able to pivot focusing on continuous dialogue and opportunities for the Zimbabwean community abroad to interact with their country in a productive and mutually beneficial way, so that we can reengage with our roots, enjoy and rebuild our beautiful country.”
The Homecoming Initiative which will now host a virtual event in April 2023 and a local event in Zimbabwe in 2024 has received positive support coming from the Diaspora Desk within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and other stakeholders is meant to entice thousands of Zimbabweans across the globe to visit home in the month of April where ZimThrive will bring together both local and diasporan Zimbabweans to host events in tourism, entertainment, fashion, food, business and various other sectors to take place across the country. Mildred Munjanganja, Founder of ZimThrive said “Like most people in the diaspora, our tourist destinations of choice were everywhere else in the world, South Africa, Paris, Asia but rarely Zimbabwe, whose sunsets evoke feelings nostalgia, whose sense of wonder is unparalleled – I believe our economy could stand to benefit from our intentional attention,” Mildred said.
She added that she wanted to divert foreign currency expenditure to the Zimbabwean economy. “We want to go home to be entertained by our artists, eat our local food and buy art & crafts made by our own people – we want to bring everyone home from the diaspora at the same time to strengthen our identity and to collaborate with Zimbabwean locals to bring back the unity and prosperity of our nation.”
The international ZimThrive resource team has continued to focus on other critical initiatives and during the pandemic git involved in covid support initiatives which included fundraising for some of Zimbabwe’s main hospitals and subsidizing nurse’s salaries to cope with the overwhelming cases that were rising at the time.
Despite the disruptions by Covid, the apolitical initiative, has been able to consolidate its global structures across Europe, Asia, the USA, Australia and Africa focusing heavily on building participation in every country where Zimbabweans reside. Solid global media platforms were also established which ensure the fast and accurate dissemination of information. “Because of this global reach” said Farai Madziwanyika, Co-Ordinator for Africa, “ ZimThrive has become amongst other things, a platform for the marketing of various goods and services to the diaspora with several blue-chip companies signing on for global marketing services with the group”
On Friday April 22nd ZimThrive will be officially launching to the public as it hoped to do in April 2020. Mike and Mildred and several other members of the initiative will be in the country for the invite only launch event where various stakeholders will be presented with ZimThrive’s mission and purpose. On the 27th of April, a Diaspora Investment Conference will be held alongside the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Trade to which ZimThrive has been invited to attend and partner for the second year in a row and participate.
The launch event to be held at the Rainbow Towers is by invite only and the ZITF event is open to business people locally and from the diaspora. Both events will be held on a hybrid in person and streamed globally. To register for either or both events, interested parties are requested to register on the event registration portal for each event on www.zimthrive.com/events. Alternatively, they can email Mr. Farai Madziwanyika, the Co-Ordinator for Africa on faraim@zimthrive.com .
Together, we can make Zimbabwe great again.
Together, we can make Zimbabwe great again.
