Mr Munyaradzi  Dongo

Certified Entrepreneurship Trainer, Success Coach, Founder & CEO of BNC INTERNATIONAL

My parents separated when I was still young, I don’t really remember staying with both of them. So I grew up mostly around my Mum and grandmother. I was a real mama’s boy, it was not really rosy but I give much credit to her love and hustle it made me morph into something more than I even pictured. As a young boy,  I wanted to do everything on my own I hated being steered around and more often than not I could be hit with “my dad did this and my dad bought this” from the boys my age and it weighed me down more than anything little did I know the universe will be compelling you into something big, I think I was a 12 year old with 18-year-old opinions.

Growing up, I was what they would refer to as a “globe-trotter”, I was always traveling from one place to another staying in different places never In one place for a long time, I was in search of something because even a proper family structure could motivate me to heights because my pop left when I was younger I had to look up to the people around me, the perks of growing up in the ghetto. I was born in Chitungwiza famously known as “Chi-Town” a high-density dormitory town in Zimbabwe but because I was a journeyer never really left much sleep there.

I started my entrepreneurship journey when I was in Primary School. Naturally I was so enterprising I remember when Mum packed  lunch for me I would sell my lunch and pocket the money.  I was around 6-7 years at the time. Because we were nomadic I changed schools a lot and at every school, I would do this same routine of pocketing money with my lunch. I started supporting myself financially before I was even 10. I remember one day I asked my Mum if we could go to town and she asked me “Munya go to town with what money?”  I showed her the money I had saved. She was really surprised at what she saw. I grew up very entrepreneurial

We then moved to Waterfalls. Mum was very supportive business journey. I used to give her money to go buy Freezits or Ice lollies. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I was out of school at 12pm. Mondays after school was reserved for Power Rangers but immediately after the animations my place was the white horse bus station to sell Freezits.  It was a challenge initially but got better and Fridays were very good days because I knew I would sell out everything. As a small businessman, I had another skill. I was very good with computers so when people buy new phones, I would help with the phone’s functions and charge them for that. I was so smart I don’t even know how I used to pull that off.

When I got to High School I was moved to Beatrice, a farming community and it was even better. I could afford to buy my own stationery and uniform. My mother had now left the country and was now working in South Africa. Because I was now staying in a farming community. I saw another opportunity and grabbed it with all seriousness. I was an Agricultural Science student so everything I was being taught in class, I applied it and started making money. I became a small time farmer growing vegetables and selling them to my teachers at school. I had much respect for young women in business when I was in school. I became friends with some of these ladies because I could see how determined they were. I joined forces with some of them and became business partners with them. The guys would always call me an anti-social person. I was never shy when it comes to business I would carry a plastic bag of sweets to school to sell.

Because of my presentation and human relation skills, I had a lot of customers and I got to understand that business is human and relationships power growth. I managed to pass all my subjects after O’levels with outstanding results. At this time I was a very wide reader and almost always reading the best books for entrepreneurs like Rich Dad, Poor Dad by R T Kiyosaki and reading into the journey of the great people in business the great Jack Ma and Steve Jobs and closer to home Strive Masiyiwa.

In 2015, I decided to go to South Africa, Pretoria to be precise, to go further my studies. I wanted to study Computer Science because I was so good with computers. Unfortunately for me, I arrived late just after most institutions had closed enrolments and registrations. I was just now stuck at home doing nothing. I had no choice but to become friends with the internet. One day, whilst browsing through the internet, I came across a certain institution called Academy of York. Luckily for me, they were still enrolling and their learning programs were all distance learning so I applied and they responded  positively. I paid all the necessary fees and after a few days a consultant called me and told me that I needed a few documents so they can process my registration. I began the process of sorting out those documents and knew it was going to take time. I started ignoring the calls from Academy of York for about a week or so then one day, they called and I picked and the lady said to me “Munya we’ve been trying to get hold of you. I have some good news for you. Forget the documents; you have been awarded a bursary”. The first person I called was Mum to let her know. I said to her “Mum God has paid the fees for me I am now going to study” and within some few days, my study materials were delivered.

I did some businesses while I was studying, worked with some ladies that I knew from church and we started an interior decorations company. We organized events in some places around Pretoria. However the business did not do as well as we had envisioned due to few complications and this was now in September, 2015.

In January 2016, I moved to Cape Town to go stay with my cousin. My studies were not affected because it was a correspondence learning program. I had to work in order to survive so I found a job at a Chinese shop. My duties there was mainly manual work. This was so hard because manual work is not for the lazy people and I am so lazy when it comes to manual. I only worked there for 2 weeks and decided to quit. Then, someone introduced me to this other brother at the church; they owned a company that was selling car trackers and they offered me a job. It was a field job and commission based. I was so lazy and only managed to sign one client. This was so challenging after some time; I would only pitch up once or twice a week until I stopped going at all. I couldn’t tell the people who I was staying with and that I had quit 2 jobs in less than a month. I had to plan on how to find a new job and find real one quick. I had a choice of coming back to Pretoria to my mother since things were not working out in Cape Town considering the fact that I was only 18 but I didn’t.

Someone pitched the idea of Green world Business to me. I went to their offices and decided to check them out. I liked the idea that I was going to be my own boss. That is what I was told at their office so, I  decided to sign up with them. Now it was a problem back home because I could not tell my cousin that I got a job  at Green world,I was only going to be paid the following month. So I told him I got a job but I will be undergoing training to push the days to payday. What I liked about Green world was that it challenged and pushed me to be even more diligent. The offices would open at 8 am but I was there by 6:30 am talking to people who were passing by and engaging them. By the time the offices opened, about 10 am people were outside waiting to sign up and all those people were recruited by me. My first salary at Green world was R1,200. Green world gave me a platform to search and find myself. I enjoyed public speaking and Green world gave me that platform. There was no presentation program at the time I joined the company. I, therefore, initiated presentation programs and now, there is a presentation every week at the offices in Cape Town.

I was now 19 years old and working hard. Little did I know the manager had noticed me. One day, he called me and told me they needed someone to attend an event in Johannesburg. I was chosen to represent the Cape Town branch. They had organized a flight ticket and booked me into a five-star hotel. This is an experience I will never forget in my life boarding a plane for the first time.

In 2017 I became the training manager travelling to so many provinces around South Africa training people. Green world was now the thing for me. Then, during that same year I decided to open my own Green world shop in Somerset West hiring and training people. I was now the boss of my own shop. Things were going well for me until getting to the end of 2017. I made a very huge bad investment and I lost a huge amount of money in split of a second. I thought it was over for me. I went through depression and almost gave up but I did not. This is when I learnt that what does not kill you makes you stronger.

When I lost so much money, I did not sleep but became stronger. I opened a WhatsApp group and added a few people who were supportive of me. I named the group Business Networking and Coaching (BNC). I got calls from people in Port Elizabeth (PE) who wanted me to come and speak at their events because they liked what they were seeing. I went to PE and made R15, 000. This was just from one event; giving them advice on their businesses. It became a success and within a short space of time, I had managed to register the company. I founded this company to focus on helping all small and medium scale business enterprises to break the ground. BNC has from then become a successful company.

I have learnt to be humble and never give up. My motto in life is Be inspired To inspire. I believe in inspiring a lot of young people like myself so that they can be successful and be better business people.