. . . I only wear white
. . . I will make Enzo great
Charles Mushinga
Deputy Editor
Zimdancehall artiste Enzo Ishall has been trending ever since he decided to leave Chillspot and join Teemak Promotions.
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The switch attracted Prophet Passion Java’s interest as he was the man bankrolling the Kanjiva hit maker, paying his rentals over and above buying him a car. Java reacted by posting funny skits on social media throwing cheap jibes at Teemak, who never reacted. But underneath the humour was a heart scorned and feeling betrayed by Enzo.
However, the question needing answers has been, who is this new guy who has made Enzo ditch Mangoma Depot; ditch Levels, Ribe naFantan?
H-Metro spoke to the 23-year-old Teemak – real name Tawona Chipunza – and his reply to the question was he is not new at all.
“People think I’m a guy with money and I just showed up from nowhere to sign Enzo, that’s not true. I’m not new to the music industry, I have been doing events for the past seven years – since I was 16. I did events with Winky D, Killer T, Stunner, Jah Signal, Trevor Dongo and Enzo Ishall himself. All of these events were done in Cyprus and I was the financier of the events. Sometimes I wouldn’t be there but I was behind everything using one of my guys who is based in Cyprus named Stylez, my business partner. He is the one people knew because I wanted to be behind the scenes but it was me doing all these events,” said the young Millionaire who only wears white.
He said his relationship with Enzo in particular goes way back.
“I’m the first person to take Enzo out of the country. His first international Visa on his passport is because of me. I’m the one that took him to Cyprus in January 2019 and that’s when we decided we will work together but before anything was official, I had to be away and other people came in and whatever happened happened. I tried to push for it but it didn’t happen.
“When I came back this time for my other businesses, fortunately he was available enough and we came to this conclusion,” he said.
H-Metro posed a few more questions to Teemak and got the following responses
ON WHO ELSE IS SIGNED UNDER TEEMAK PROMOTIONS
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“This Teemak Promotion movement is not for one artiste. It is actually a worldwide grand scheme which has other artistes from Malaysia and different countries around the world that are all going to be under the same management.”
ON HOW HE WILL MANAGE ENZO
“It’s definitely not the typical management where I am his manager and I speak on his behalf like other artistes do. This is a different style of management where we have an expert managing each area of his career. There is a person who handles local bookings named Kuda, who will be like Enzo’s manager in Zim. Then for international bookings we have Stylez as the main guy. For his social media we have another guy who is already handling that. As you can see his social media has been changed and he now has a website. We even have his personal videographer and personal photographer – an expert for each area of his business.”
WHY ENZO?
“Because this has been the plan for a year now. There were other artistes that I engaged but they did not show the seriousness that I wanted. Also Enzo in my opinion is one of the biggest Zimbabwean acts. He can be the first Zimbabwean artiste with one million followers, with collaborations with international stars from USA or Jamaica. People just love Enzo, they are waiting for the next song and 90 percent of the comments are positive, which you rarely see. On top of that, he is my friend who I have been assisting for a year and who I have been doing personal favours throughout last year.”
WHY COMING OUT OF THE BACKGROUND NOW?
“When I was planning all these things when I was young, I planned to be in the background working on building my business and have the necessary financial capacity needed to do such work at such a great level. So I worked long enough for the past four years, enough to create the financial backing that allows me to do what I need to do. That’s why I’m doing it now. Money wise, I have reached where I wanted to be.”
MARRIAGE?
“I’m not married but I’m in a relationship.”
HANDLING FAME AND FORTUNE? AND PEOPLE AFTER THE MONEY?
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“One thing I understand is when you reach a certain level in life, certain things happen. Some of the things are already happening. I just have to filter and see how much I can give and how much I cannot. I think it’s inevitable. It is the price that comes with fame and fortune. I’m ok with it. I have different budgets for everything. Like my interaction with the public, I know how much I can dedicate to that. This is how much must go to Teemak Productions. This is how much goes to my future and my personal life since I’m only 23. I work within the framework of the plan.”
ON FAMILIARITY TO ZIMBABWE
“I have people helping me, close friends from way back who are popular in social and entertainment circles that help me get along. My total time in Zimbabwe over the last 10 years is less than 6 months so I’m not familiar with how things work here and these guys occasionally give me advice on how to operate especially with the locals. But ultimately, I’m getting the hang of everything. Nothing overwhelming.”
WEARING WHITE
“I only wear white. I just said to myself when I reach a certain stage financially, I will only wear white. I’m now a millionaire, so I’m there now.”
HOW HE MAKES MONEY
I was into sales for a UK investment company, the Malaysia branch before I decided to start Maximus Capital – a hedge fund based on forex trading. We get investors from all over the world and as the fund manager, I trade the fund and pay them their returns.
– HMETRO