BY TENDAI SAUTA RENOWNED musician Mwenje Mathole gave a captivating performance at the Apple Tree Digital company’s launch of Tomato, an acronym for Take One Million African Traders Online.
Tomato is a digital innovation which seeks to solve unemployment and income problems by creating entreprenurial opportunities through high-end marketing using web-based applications on the Tomato website.
Matole’s music was mouth-watering to the audience who were being served varieties of snacks. He performed songs Baba namai, Patakatanga and No woman no cry by Bob Marley and others from his recently launched Svingobhwe, which gave the audience a taste of the album due for release in December.
Matole’s performance came hard on the heels of the just-launched Music Strategy, which encourages integration of musical artistry into mainstream economies.
The Tomato innovation brings together motion pictures, music, graphics and various supporting technologies.
“The Svingobhwe experimental play was meant to provide fans something to listen to while they wait for greater things to come. The theme Svingobhwe will be uravelled by music in my next album due for release in my next album.
“As Africans we will only realise our destiny and rest when we return to our roots, ubuntuism where people think about said and a sense of belonging,” Matole added.
Appletree Digital Commerce managing director Nigel Daura said his company carried out comprehensive research that enlightened them on providing solutions to emerging and upcoming bussinesses. The solutions are centred on mobilising resources for funding small business enterprises and establishing resilient payment systems such as an e-commerce website and financial technologies which are today beyond the reach of many.
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“We came across some alarming statistics which inspired us to think differently about how we could provide practical solutions to help young Africans to realise their entrepreneurial potential. According to The African Development Bank’s The High 5 Jobs for Youth in Africa paper, Africa is home to 1,2 billion people and 36 out of the world’s 40 youngest countries, are in Africa. Of the 1,2 billion people living in Africa: 420 million are youth aged between 15 and 35. The continent’s youth population is projected to double and to be over 850 million by 2050 and 10-12 million youth enter the workforce each year,” said Daura.
Daura noted that the existing business models in Zimbabwe and Africa at large are not accurately positioned to sustain the projected growth in Africa’s youth population which needs employment, yet the internet offers a vast number of opportunities which could be gainfully exploited.
“There are only three million formal jobs created annually. We need to teach young Africans to think entrepreneurial and take firm and deliberate steps to support small businesses,” Daura added.
His company Appletree Digital Commerce has put in place a facility on the Tomato website which offers security through its intergration with banks and products warehousing.
“According to The International Finance Corporation (IFC) in partnership with the European Commission, the African e-commerce market could benefit by around US$14,5 billion if the number of women selling on online platforms achieve parity with men, according to a new report. The International Finance Corporation in partnership with the European Commission, says that additional training and financial support for female sellers would hugely expand the overall sector,” said Daura.
Appletree Digital Commerce has partnered technical experts who are market leaders in their areas of expertise from around the world to create a digital ecosystem with which they aim to take at least one million African traders online. As a first step, with the co-operation of Zimbabwean selfless individuals and businesses that support the vision, they have put together, “The Africa’s Best Jobs Crowd fund Prize Draw”.
“For every US$20 contributed to the crowdfund, the contributor would be rewarded with four MP3 hit songs by local artists Tafadzwa, Mathole and Masa Caroleen and an entry into the draw.”
Confidence coach Rudo Nyamoto, who directed the ceremonies jokingly said just trust the taste of Tomato vegetable fruit and do not take it into fruit salad.
“Appletree Digital Commerce provides end-to-end global commerce tools that merchants need to build businesses, accept payments and enable commerce for their users on websites, mobile apps, crowd funding apps, marketplaces, platforms and Fintechs,” she said.
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