Sunday 20 May 2018

MAI GINIMBI : THE BUBI GIRL DONE GOOD

WHEN one thinks of self styled businessman Genius “Ginimbi” Kadungure, images of the latest top of the range cars, designer clothes and famous all-white parties are likely to come to mind.

This is the man who, along with the often legally scrutinised Wicknell Chivayo, have taken the Zimbabwean businessman into the social media age, flashing their shiny trinkets as they fish for likes and comments on various social networks.

Amid all that bravado and wealth, real or imagined, it is hard to think of rural Bubi when the name Ginimbi is mentioned. This is however, where many familiar with the businessman cum socialite believe that his source of his wealth comes from.

For years, there has been speculation that Ginimbi and Zodwa Mkandla, popularly known as Zozo in social circles, are man and wife, although both have never openly stated their marital status, deftly dancing around the issue of their perceived marital union.

Earlier this year, rumours of their reported marriage were again sparked by a court case in the capital, after Zozo had been defrauded of $60 000 by an employee at the mansion that was largely believed to belong to Ginimbi. In the court case, the State detailed that Zodwa lost the property at her Domboshava mansion to one of her security personnel, a man identified as Justice Jasi.

Despite Ginimbi and Zozo never having had a white wedding, ironically given Ginimbi’s love for all things white, the two are allegedly married under the Marriages Act and therefore co-own all properties. Besides her alleged links to Ginimbi, not much is known about this self confessed rural girl, regarded by some as the one with the business smarts in the relationship, who claims to hail from Bubi.

“Zodwa was born at a place called Bubi in Matabeleland North and went to school at a place called Mqwassini in the bundus before I moved to Harare for school,” she once revealed in an interview.

While Ginimbi has always been coy about his relationship status, Zozo has never shied from revealing how the power couple complemented each other.

“My fiancé and I complement each other in our relationship, and are both businesspeople. As a woman, I don’t believe in looking up to men, I believe we need to work hard and be independent so that men respect us, but at the same time women should also give men the respect that is due.”

As an unpolished diamond in Bubi, Zozo revealed that her parents had never foreseen a future for her as a high flying businesswoman, but had instead wanted her to carve out a modest path in life as a teacher.

“My parents wanted me to be a teacher, but later my father introduced me to Nelson Samkange who was in the tourism industry and he took me through the tourism ropes.

“I did a diploma in (IATA) International Air Transport Association. I also had a chance to work under a powerful lady called Nicky Phiri, a woman who made me believe nothing was impossible. She was a hard worker.”

The Founder and Managing Director of Traverze Travel, one of the leading leisure and corporate travel management companies in Zimbabwe with branches in Zambia, South Africa and UK, Zozo was last year named the International Businesswoman of the Year by Women4Africa awards.
That and other successes she attributed to her tenacity.

“Worry less about what people think. The people who judge you the most are people who don’t know anything about you and judge you from what they read and see on social media but don’t know where you are coming from. When you worry about what people think, you take less risks and even miss out on opportunities,” she said.

Like the man believed to be her spouse, Zozo has also not been shy to flash her wealth on social media once in a while.

Earlier this year, she sent tongues wagging when she unveiled her Ranger Rover 2018 as a birthday gift to herself, becoming the first owner of such a car in South Africa.


While speculation on the nature of her union with Ginimbi continues, there is no doubt that the girl from Bubi continues to soar. Sunday News

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