FOR an entrepreneur, finding an investor is only one part of raising capital. There is also the question of what happens between deciding to seek investment and actually receiving the money.
To address this, the Zimbabwe Entrepreneurship Exchange (ZEEX) created the Deal Room, under its Private Markets platform. The Deal Room takes businesses and investors through a structured five-stage journey — from onboarding and verification to the execution of a transaction.
Onboarding and verification
The journey begins with Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering checks, investor qualification, and company verification. This is the point at which a business enters the formal ZEEX process, with its credentials established before an investment opportunity progresses further. Verification also helps build confidence in who is participating in the marketplace.
Deal creation
Once onboarding is complete, businesses build their deal profiles — the information investors will use to assess the opportunity. ZEEX requires businesses to include financial information, pitch decks, and the terms of the proposed investment. At this stage, the entrepreneur moves from simply seeking funding to presenting a structured investment proposition: not just how much capital is required, but what the opportunity is, how the business operates, and what investors can expect.
Investor access
Investors sign non-disclosure agreements before gaining secure entry to the deal room, creating a controlled environment for reviewing opportunities. For SMEs, this is where the work done during deal creation reaches its intended audience — rather than approaching investors individually, businesses present their opportunity within a structured marketplace.
- New bourse to give Zimbabwe SMEs a lifeline
- Stock exchanges group bullish as new bourse readies for debut
- ZSE gets approval for SME-focused exchange
- Need funding? Let the market invest in your vision through ZEEX
Keep Reading
Engagement and due diligence
Getting an investor’s attention isn’t the end of the process. The Deal Room provides real-time messaging, document review, and question-and-answer engagement with issuers, allowing investors to interrogate the details of the business. Entrepreneurs must be ready to explain their numbers, business model, growth strategy, and proposed use of capital. Being presented to investors doesn't guarantee funding — the onus is on the business to pass due diligence.
Transaction execution
If an investor decides to proceed, capital is committed, agreements are signed, and the funding is completed. The five-step process, therefore, takes an entrepreneur through a clearly defined journey: Onboard. Create the deal. Give investors access. Engage and undergo due diligence. Complete the transaction.
More than a deal room
The Deal Room is one part of a wider ecosystem serving three groups. Investors can get qualified, access the Deal Room, and deploy capital into vetted high-growth opportunities. Businesses can access a network of qualified investors. And professional advisers can become sponsors — partnering with ZEEX to help businesses prepare and package their opportunities for market, supporting the growth of Zimbabwe's entrepreneurial ecosystem. This makes ZEEX more than a meeting point between someone with money and someone who needs it: it's a chain connecting business preparation, investment opportunities, investor access, and transaction execution.
The Deal Room is not a digital noticeboard
For SMEs, the significance of the Deal Room lies in its structure. An entrepreneur doesn't simply upload a business idea and wait for funding. Instead, the business is verified, develops a detailed investment proposition, presents it to qualified investors, and then goes through due diligence — while investors receive a structured opportunity they can review, question, and assess before deciding. That structure is what makes the Deal Room a capital-raising marketplace, rather than an online directory of businesses.
For entrepreneurs considering ZEEX, the question isn't simply whether they have a business that needs funding — it's whether they're ready to build a deal investors can understand, scrutinise, and potentially back. The Deal Room provides the stage: the entrepreneur brings the opportunity, the sponsor helps prepare it, the investor decides whether to back it, and the transaction completes the journey from business proposition to capital.
