By Forward Nyanyiwa in Dublin, Ireland “Minana” in Shona language literally means miracles or wonders. It is the latter, which aptly fits the description of a giant European healthcare entity that has been injecting life into the Irish health delivery system — Minana International.
Conceived from Zimbabwean roots, the healthcare beast now boost of many employees giving healthcare services to the Irish Health Services Executive (HSE) and other private hospitals and nursing homes dotted within Ireland and United Kingdom.
However, although its founder is a devout Christian, there were no miracles in the humble beginnings that saw frontman, the astute Gerard Chimbganda penned down a beautiful Cinderella story after diverting from an electrical goods agency to one of the most sought-after recruiting and health care agency in the healthcare trenches.
Born Gerard Tatsarwa Chimbganda in Gweru on January 18 at the height of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle in 1975, the young Gerard was soon on the move as his late father who was employed by the National Railways of Zimbabwe was transferred to Bulawayo.
In the City of Kings, the young Chimbganda was first enrolled at Masuku and later Greenfield primary schools for his primary education before he relocated to the eastern part of Zimbabwe to Mutare where he attended St Augustine High School (KwaTsambe) for his secondary education from 1988 to 1993.
His excellent pass grades landed him a place at the revered University of Zimbabwe where he studied a degree in Economics. Upon completion of his programme, he was employed by Delta Group of Companies (now Delta Beverages) as a branch manager helping the company to pioneer one of its vibrant branches in Chinhoyi.
“After university, l joined Delta Company when it still had the retail arm and l was appointed a manager for Pelhams becoming the pioneer boss for their Chinhoyi branch which became a success to be voted branch of the year (1998) in my first year as a manager,” said Chimbganda.
Chimbganda then got married to his sweetheart Sibonile in December 2000 and subsequently the couple started their own business.
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“When I got married, together with my wife we started our own business,” he said.
“I became the only agent to bring Hisense products into Zimbabwe from television sets, refrigerators and many of their electronic products.
“It is the same business I was doing even when I moved to Ireland.
“I became the sole trader of Hisense in the Irish and European market for a good 11 years from 2006 to 2015.
“I had many customers and the networking I was doing from Zimbabwe and South Africa saw the company grows in leaps and bounds.”
Then out of the blue, Chimbganda spectacularly diversified. From the electrical background, he ventured into the unchartered waters of healthcare systems.
“I started with a company called 21st Nursing Services which was supplying some medical staff to the HSE and by then we had no international recruiting license.”
And just as Zimbabwe was transforming itself into a Second Republic, Chimbganda struck gold in 2017 when he partnered his friend doctor to set up Minana International Trading as Good People.
“In 2017, I partnered with Dr Judith Kundodyiwa, who is in the United Kingdom together with my wife who is our finance director to give birth to Minana International-Good People and we got an international recruiting licence,” he said.
“We started to recruit people around the globe and obviously from Zimbabwe and placing them into HSE hospitals and private nursing homes.”
Chimbganda said his company entered to what do a known as Service-Level Agreement in which they have become a trusted partner who can now recruit and sponsor healthcare assistants from Africa and other parts of the world.
In partnership with another agency in the UK, New Hope, Minana International has over a thousand clients in Europe whom they give healthcare staff and this has seen the company become one of the major players in the provision of health staff in Ireland and England.
It is not rosy in the industry, new players have come in and competition is now rife but Minana International has proved to be the real deal by staying afloat and making an indelible mark in the process.
“We will remain relevant in the game because our work ethics speaks for themselves. We train our staff to meet the demands of our clients and our rates are competitive so much that it is value for money for both our clients and staff.
“As our trading name says it all, we are good people and will strive to meet the clients’ demands and continuously training our staff in this ever diversifying healthcare environment,” he said.
Chimbganda has now set his sights to help more Zimbabweans. He believes since the Diaspora play a key role in forex remittances to the country, his company will train as much marketable people to come to Europe hence helping in the provision of forex back home.
“My company has partnered the District Outreach for Care and Support (Docas), an institution in Odzi where we are training people who want to come to Europe. We believe we can help the government by equipping people with the necessary skills needed here in Europe.
“Diasporans play a key role in forex remittances to our national coffers and if we bring more people here the better for us as a nation. Obvious we cannot bring everyone but those who will make it even with other agents will be ready for the European market,” he succinctly said.
Chimbganda believes the sky is not the limit and he is destined for the moon. The hardworking businessman was recently conferred with the All-Star Irish African Business Person of the Year 2022 by the highly reputable All Ireland Business Foundation.
A devout Christian who subscribes to Christian values, the father of three children who is still on the classroom desk is a holder of Masters of Science in Strategic Innovation Management in Dublin.
During his past time, Chimbganda is always doing God’s work. He is the current President of Apostolic Faith Mission-Ireland and he is a firm believer that God will take you places.
He gives credit too to his mother as well as his mother-in-law who sadly passed on in May: “I thank God for my Mother Jenipher Chimbganda who moved here first and for the prayers of both her and my late mother in law Miriam Nyadzayo who passed away in May this year our prayer warriors.”
The man is on a mission, he definitely will reach for the stars!
