Zimbabwe’s business tycoon gives a business lecture as politicians deliver engaging leadership sermons.

Delegates at the Summer Leadership Summit organized by the youthful leadership expert Doctor Patson Dzamara held in Harare recently were treated to a buffet of business and leadership nuggets from both business and political executives who graced the occasion.

The event which was held at the Jameson Hotel, saw a number of leading Zimbabwean leaders such as Honourable Minister Walter Mzembi, Honourable Nelson Chamisa, Doctor Phillip Chiyangwa, Doctor Chomi Makina, Florence Chaurura and Eve Gadzikwa give their invaluable insights on leadership.

Doctor Phillip Chiyangwa, the outspoken businessman hilariously delivered a detailed and interactive business lecture based on the acronym SREDIMA and encouraged people to uphold three important leadership values namely culture, the law and politics.

On SREDIMA, Chiyangwa expounded that as a business leader, you must be Specific with what you want to do and then make and keep Records of your activities while not forgetting to Examine or make a comparative analysis of your socio-economic and political environment.

He went on to highlight the importance of Developing the product as well as the necessary distribution lines and links that will enable the product to efficiently reach the clients.

After all that has been done, Chiyangwa said you must then Install, set-up or get going while not forgetting to Maintain the winning approach. He however said that if all is not working out, you must not hesitate to Abandon or walk out of the initiative out rightly.

The flamboyant business man engaged delegates to explain their own strategies on their potential business ventures in the event that he was to give them money for funding.

Chiyangwa took the same platform to tease some professionals and politicians regarding their practical limitations when it comes to real business on the ground.

“I start where professionals stop and I have more money than others because I am smart, just like Strive Masiyiwa” Chiyangwa added.

He said that business leaders must be fearless and must strategically position themselves in order to take advantage of opportunities when they arise and also wished for politics to be in the hands of business people like him and Strive Masiyiwa in order to turn around the economy of Zimbabwe.

However, Hospitality and Tourism Minister, Honourable Walter Mzembi and his fellow politician Honouable Nelson Chamisa took a religious Christo-centric approach in their presentations in a way that transformed their delivery into leadership sermons.

Minister Mzembi advocated for servant leadership as told by Jesus Christ and called for the adoption of a leadership template that can be used to filter people into leadership positions and to assess their effectiveness and on-the-job productivity.

While quoting the scriptures from the Bible, Minister Mzembi also said that leaders must be dreamers and should be surrounded by dream interpreters since if you cannot interpret the king's dream, you are not good for his throne as shown in the book of Genesis 41.

Giving Biblical examples relative to his Tourism Ministry and quoting from Isaiah 60vs.11, he said that the country and even the whole continent's leaders must maintain the 'Open Skies and Open Doors' policy in order to promote tourism and investment.

Touching on the leadership template, Honourable Mzembi said the country once adopted such a template since the days of the independence struggle and added that such a template is the one that must guide leaders in their journey towards self-actualization.

The Zimbabwe leadership template, which was even translated into liberation war song was adapted from the wisdom of Mao, the Chinese Communist leader whose values were centred on respect of property rights, abstaining from prostitution and even taking good care of prisoners.

Based on such a template, Minister Muzembi said that the government was accountable for the prison mishap that happened in Harare recently since prisoners provide free labour on prison farms and thus helping to mitigate against hunger in such facilities and even to produce extra food for other citizens to buy.

Honourable Nelson Chamisa, the former Minister of Information and Communication Technology said that leadership is about effect, impact and significance.

He said that leaders must be guided by the spirit of sharing, humility and love as well as to avoid being overcome by fleshly temptations as reflected in the book of Matthew chapter 4.

Chamisa who said his role model is Jesus Christ urged leaders to always remember that people give you honour and respect because of the mandate they give upon you and that does not mean that they are now less important than you.

“Always remember that being called honourable does not mean that you are unconquerable”. He narrated

“A fundamental problem that we have in our nation is lack of good leadership and this lack of good leadership is symptomatic of the lack of love for the people” Chamisa said.

He also urged leaders to be openly expressive of their minds like what is done by Phillip Chiyangwa and Joseph Chinotimba, because when genuine citizens keeps quite, the fake ones flourish.

The youthful politician refuted the notion that leadership is synonymous with age, saying that there are many old people who are immature and many young people who are mature.

Doctor Patson Dzamara, who organized the event, promised more leadership seminars in the future saying that an Emerging Leaders Conference is slated for next month while the first ever Leadership Congress in Zimbabwe is also on the cards around September this year.