A Zimbabwean entrepreneur is looking for land and expertise to set up an organic market garden in Invercargill which would be used as a pilot scheme for similar gardens in Zimbabwe.
Business woman, author and motivational speaker Getrude Matshe made an emotional plea to help the Zimbabwean people at the start of her keynote speech which closed last week's South Island Dairy Event (SIDE) at Stadium Southland.
In an interview with the Southland Express, Mrs Matshe who is based in Wellington said the project was in the conceptual stages of a two to three year plan which would involve finding what could be grown and what export opportunities and potential markets were out there.
Once operational the model would be applied in community based projects in Zimbabwe so communities there could earn an income and provide for themselves, Mrs Matshe said.
The project needed suitable land, investors, or people willing to provide "seed capital" or the expertise for a "knowledge mentorship", she said.
In January this year, Mrs Matshe returned to Zimbabwe and watched as farmers struggled to plough in mud and water-logged corn fields after torrential rain hit the country following a four year drought.
Corn was the staple crop of Zimbabwe, yet only provided a meagre income for farmers and little nutritional value for its people, she said.
Mrs Matshe said her aunty grew 60 hectares of corn, which required hours of back-breaking work, and which brought in an income of $US125 a year.
Because people in Zimbabwe could not afford to buy fertiliser, crops tended to be grown organically, she said.
Mrs Matshe said she had received a good response at the SIDE conference last week.
"Three people approached me and said 'call us'."
In her keynote speech, Mrs Matshe told the story of her journey from Zimbabwe and her life in New Zealand.
"Africa is a harsh continent but it prepares you to live anywhere," she said.
Mrs Matshe first came to New Zealand from Zimbabwe in 2001 with her three young children and next to nothing. She started a new life in Wellington while her husband waited in Australia for his New Zealand registration as a gynaecologist.
In seven years she has started three companies in New Zealand. Simzisani Creations started in 2002 as an outlet to sell cushions with hand painted African designs, but after Peter Jackson needed African extras for the movie King Kong it became a recruitment agency supplying ethnic actors, models and musicians to the Australasian film and advertising industry. Medical Recruiters of New Zealand started in 2004 and recruits medical professionals from around the world for jobs in Australasia, the UK, Ireland, Canada and the Middle East. GM Global Investments, a global property investment company, also started in 2004.
Mrs Matshe speaks around the world for free and uses her talks as an opportunity to sell her self published book Born On the Continent: Ubuntu. The proceeds of which went to the Africa Alive Foundation, an education fund for Zimbabwe's 15 million HIV orphans.
For contact details visit Getrude Matshe's website www.bornonthecontinent.com.
