school ( established in 1947 ).
GM : Would you say that you have always known yourself , what you want , your dreams , your gift and have you stepped into your purpose if you look at your life in retrospect ?
I ’' ll begin my answer with a story ; on my 18th birthday my Dad made me a card and wrote “ The world is your oyster - you can do anything and be anyone you want to be ”. I internalized this and it became the basis on which I pursued everything .
I don ’ t know if anyone fully knows themselves . I can safely say I have changed and gone through several iterations of myself so many times already . What I can say is that I am incredibly ambitious . My partner likes to say I “ eat impossible oats for breakfast ”! I love to learn , I love to teach & I love to help the people I work with to reach their fullest potential . So , if I look at my life in retrospect , in that context , I would say yes , I have stepped into my purpose .
GM : We know that you are an amazing entrepreneur and you take risks in business . Talk to us about the Aurra Nicole group , little Entrepreneurs and Afridigital . What birthed these ?
Aurra Nicole Group is a pan-African investment firm and it was the first business I started after my divorce . It was where I put all my pain , energy and focus into . If anything , I could say that ANG birthed the entrepreneur that I am today . Initially I started off with 27 businesses that I invested in , but time and life lessons proved that this was way more than I could handle ! Right now , we have 3 businesses in our investment portfolio in which we retain equity shareholding .
Little Entrepreneurs is a business and innovation program for kids founded in 2017 . We started off by running business camps during the school holidays which were successful largely because of the team I worked with , in particular Ms . Tawanda Mudzonga who was the glue that kept the ship intact . Together , we built a formidable program that saw 124 kids learn how to start and run a simple business . This year Little Entrepreneurs evolved into a school program and is now a part of St . Anne ’ s primary school curriculum . To date , through the camps , individual mentoring and the school program , I have personally trained over 200 kids in entrepreneurship .
AfriDigital is my inner geek flourishing ! Our mandate is to promote the development and dialogue around the 4th Industrial Revolution and its impact on African economies and communities . We work in the information space and have a strong leaning towards research and data management , as well as education in the form of sector-specific public lectures .
GM : What pressures do you face now as opposed to the last 5 years as your career takes over in a man ’ s world as the digital and business scene has been termed ?
The biggest pressure has been to remain a consistent and PRESENT mother . When you have got so much going on , you have to work even harder to be a good parent , especially considering I have a daughter growing up in a largely single-parent house . Secondly , the pressure to perform has been intense . I have had to work incredibly hard to get other institutions to get on board with a business that has very few other counterparts in the country . Extensive 4IR work is still relatively new in Zimbabwe . Also , being a woman in the tech space comes with its own challenges and complications , add that to being younger than 45 , everyone sort of looks at you like you ’ re lost when sitting in meetings with some of the most influential leaders in the country . It certainly hasn ’ t been easy .
GM : We know you have been travelling a bit facilitating workshops , hosting a few shows . Has the stage lost Its luster for you or are you still Involved In performances as a practicing Spoken