Francis Chinjekure
Francis Chinjekure (born 1990), the founder of the Young Entrepreneur'S Society of Zimbabwe, has served as the Director of the Society since its inception in May 2012. Francis Chinjekure grew up in Manicaland, some 200 km east of Harare.
Early Life and Education
Francis Chinjekure was born to peasant parents in a rural hospital. His father was a builder by profession and his mother a gardener. He grew up in a family of seven children. Life was hard during his teenage years, since the entire country, let alone its rural parts, was going through economic turmoil. His experience of a hard life and poverty made him a more determined person, and he spent much of his time establishing the network of friends and acquiring the educational qualifications necessary for his success.
Chinjekure attended primary school at Marume Primary School, where he became the headboy (leading male student) of the school in 2003. He won several educational awards during his early secondary education, including a full educational kit for becoming the best male student in the year 2004. He finished his A Levels in 2009 at Buhera High School. In 2010, he began his studies at the Harare Institute of Technology, where he graduated in October. He earned B Tech Honours in Financial Engineering at Harare Institute of Technology.
Entrepreneurship and Career
Chinjekure is the Director of the MMTAAZ (Mobile Money Transfer Agents Association of Zimbabwe), an association for mobile money transfer agents for all MNO's operating in Zimbabwe. He once worked as a financial analyst at GMRI and later on moved to REIM, where he worked for the rest of 2013 as a property analyst. He has gained vast experience in structured finance, his experiences spanning the entire financial sector and including the property sector. At the moment, Chinjekure is a researcher and an analyst at the Real Estate Institute of Zimbabwe.
While at University, Chinjekure was named among the most enterprising students. He displayed his entrepreneurial skills by first fronting the formation of the Young Entrepreneurs Society of Zimbabwe, which provided incubation assistance to aspiring entrepreneurs. He also started a project to help restore the pride of Zimbabwe as a nation under the banner "Made In Zimbabwe".
Furthermore, Chinjekure launched a college bank that operated in partnership with his school's department. For the college bank, he worked with his business counterpart Thomas Muserepwa at RedSpot Communications. The bank used Ecocash as a trading platform, offering Ecocash at the school and using their Hostel room as their office. Realising the need to see their business grow, Chinjekure and Muserepwa later organised other Ecocash Agents into a robust association. It is known today as the Mobile Money Transfer Agents Association of Zimbabwe. This association endeavours to provide Agents support for education and growth of their businesses.