World News

Mureza Auto Company enters vehicle market

One of Mureza’s vehicles

Tanaka Mahanya, Features Writer

Tatenda Mungofa, a Zimbabwean based in South Africa has established a company, Mureza Auto, to help transform Africa from an agriculturally based economy to an industrial power house.

The organisation, which is black-owned, black-funded and black-run, is meant to inspire and show the world that what most people think is unimaginable can be pulled off.

“The resistance from fellow Africans is most shocking; they are used to foreign brands so much that they resist their own! And to get buy-in from component suppliers is a mission impossible because they look down on you as an African,” said Mungofa

The first prototype was what is known as Prim8.

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The product received a positive response from the SADC market, with networks growing such that people will be accessing the product soon.

“We are proud to be the first car manufacturer in Africa that is accepting black-owned SMEs as Tier 1 component suppliers,” he said. “This is important as it ensures a sustainable development for the industry in Africa.”

What most Africans and the world think cannot be done by blacks has been successfully challenged by Mungofa.

The company’s aim is to have dual operations in South Africa and Zimbabwe through the resuscitation of existing, but underutilised car assembly plants.

Mureza Auto Company aims at creating more jobs for Zimbabweans, especially supporting women to take greater positions.

Women make up to 60 percent of employees in the organisation.

Mungofa encouraged Zimbabweans not to under-value themselves, and take action in improving the standard of their lives through production and exploitation of available resources.

Having researched on how countries like China, the United States, Germany and Japan operate in business, Mungofa was keen to start a company of his own, and employing scores of others in the process.

“Do not look at the economic conditions of the nation you are in, but look at what value you can add to that nation,” he said.

HERALD

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