Meet Chanazi Washaya who rose from selling vegetables at her mother's stall to founding SweetQuip and championing women's entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe.
We live in a world where entrepreneurship often seems reserved for a few with connections, huge capital, and impressive credentials but a beautiful story emerged from the bustling vegetable markets of Harare. A vegetable vendor’s daughter Chanazi Washaya’s entrepreneurship journey did not emerge from boardrooms or elite business school but from humble stalls where her mother sold vegetables to feed a family of seven. Today, as the founder of SweetQuip and a champion of women's entrepreneurship, Chanazi's story is as a testimony that humble beginnings are not deterrents to extraordinary success for those with desire, drive and determination.
The Seeds of Enterprise from Mom
Growing up in a family of seven, Chanazi discovered her entrepreneurial calling early. Her mother had an extraordinary gift of recognizing and nurturing potential in her children. As a vendor, she became Chanazi’s first and most influential business mentor. She had observed Chanazi’s natural flair for marketing and business, and so deliberately chose her from among all her siblings to support her vegetable market from primary school age. "My mother taught me to neatly display our vegetables, to polish tomatoes and make them attractive to customers. She is the one who taught me to count money from when I was just eight years old," Chanazi recalled. "I really found it fascinating that in the morning we would leave with a basket full of vegetables and at the end of the day we would return with money and would sit down to count it."
With their father working as a general hand, the family's income was not sufficient to support the huge family so the additional income from the market was a necessity. Chanazi recalls how her mother would wake her as early as 3AM in the morning to accompany her to source vegetables from farmers in Mbare and how she would join her mother at the market in the afternoon after school. These experiences, demanding as they were for a young child, forged the resilience that later defined her as an entrepreneur.
Early Ventures and Setbacks
After completion of her ordinary level studies, Chanazi, driven by an innate desire for profit and independence, ventured into importing and selling baby clothes from Botswana. Operating without any formal business education and learning entirely through trial and error, she received a harsh lesson about entrepreneurship's realities when her goods were confiscated at the border. Considering her minimal capital, this was not just a business setback but a disaster. She was so disheartened that from that time she swore never to do business with Botswana again. Although it was a hard knock, it did not crush her entrepreneurial spirit entirely and she went on to start another venture.
The Wholesale Journey
When her mother passed away, Chanazi faced a responsibility of providing for her two younger sisters. This heavy weight of duty on a young person could have overwhelmed her but it became fuel and a catalyst for growth. Chanazi started buying boxes of soap and cooking oil in Messina, South Africa and reselling them and in no time she was supplying to larger retailers. The journey was challenging, Chanazi recalled the time she had to sleep on cardboard boxes in public areas as a cross-border trader. She gave an account of navigating unfamiliar territories, and dealing with the uncertainty of each trip as a young woman. To add to these challenges, the larger businesses she was supplying to would delay payments which hindered her progress. For a young entrepreneur without formal support or deep understanding of business practices, these experiences were disheartening. However each challenge built unshakeable resilience within her and she held firm to her mother’s teaching on never giving up.
Sweet Quip Bootstrap Brilliance
Today, Chanazi proudly owns SweetQuip, a company that supplies durable and efficient commercial food equipment to bakeries, restaurants, supermarkets, butcheries, and hotels across Zimbabwe. The company was formed with no formal investors, no bank loans but just personal savings and strategic thinking. Using free online resources like Canva for creating advertising material and leveraging her self-taught digital marketing skills, Chanazi built a professional online presence that made clients perceive the company as a large, established business. For a while, Chanazi would post adverts on the company’s social media platforms and would not receive any orders. The breakthrough finally came when a major supermarket chain reached out through Facebook. Their first order validated not just the business model, but the power of persistence and professional presentation, regardless of size.
Although SweetQuip supplies food equipment to large and established businesses it is intentional about serving smaller start-ups. "I observed how small businesses struggle to acquire affordable, efficient equipment," Chanazi explained. "I realized that this was an opportunity to solve a real problem while building a sustainable business that serves everyone."
The Art of Strategic Growth
In its infancy, SweetQuip used a bootstrapping strategy, operating from home and keeping expenses minimal. Chanazi demonstrated a crucial entrepreneurial principle of smart resource management by operating on an order-and-deposit basis and reinvesting profits to expand the business. In this manner, the company grew organically from a home-based operation to securing office space and employing staff.
Chanazi articulated that there is a distinct difference between mere "hustling" and true "business." She underscored that her early ventures, although driven by passion and determination, lacked the strategic planning and systems that define sustainable business. "A proper business has organized logistics, finance, and administration to minimize loss," she explained. "It is not just about buying and selling but about creating systems that work even in the absence of the owner."
The Knowledge That Changed Everything
"Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki proved to be a pivotal influence that transformed Chanazi's understanding of money, assets, and wealth creation. The book did not just provide her financial education but it offered her a new lens to view entrepreneurship and break generational cycles of poverty. "It taught me the difference between working for money and making money work for me," Chanazi shared. "That shift in thinking changed everything and I now make money work for me."
She acknowledges gaining inspiration from following established business women like Dr. Divine Ndlukula and Dr. Edna Mukurazhizha studying their strategies and learning from their experiences. Above all else, Chanazi believes God is her ultimate source of success and prayer has kept her grounded. Each morning she prays for her business and blesses her customers even before they engage her business.
Embracing the Roller Coaster of Entrepreneurship
Chanazi's honest assessment of entrepreneurship resonates with anyone who has built a business. "It is a roller coaster with unpredictable sales cycles and constant demands," she stated. Success requires composure, continuous effort, and the ability to view challenges as growth opportunities. This mindset transformation from seeing problems as obstacles to viewing them as opportunities represents the spirit of a true entrepreneur.
The Women's Entrepreneurship Lounge
From her experience in the early days in business where she lacked support, connections, and financial backing Chanazi develop a platform called the Women's Entrepreneurship Lounge. It serves to support, connect and mentor women in business at every stage; from aspiring entrepreneurs to established business owners seeking to scale. "When you empower women in business, you empower families, communities, and nations," Chanazi emphasized. "The support I wished I had during my darkest moments is what we are providing to others today so they avoid pitfalls that I went through."
Lessons for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
Chanazi's journey offers several powerful lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs:
Start Where You Are: You do not need perfect conditions or unlimited capital. Chanazi started with vegetables in a market and built from there.
Embrace Setbacks as Education: Every loss, every confiscated shipment, every delayed payment was tuition in the school of entrepreneurship.
Build Systems not Just Sales: The difference between hustling and business lies in creating sustainable systems and strategies.
Give Back: True success includes lifting others as you climb and creating a legacy beyond personal achievement.
The Continuing Journey
Today, as Sweet Quip continues expanding its reach and the Women's Entrepreneurship Lounge continues to empower more women across Zimbabwe, Chanazi's story is proof that extraordinary success can emerge from humble beginnings. The vegetable seller's child who once counted coins at a market stall is now counted among successful food industry business leaders. She is determined to break limiting biases and ceilings imposed on women helping them to fulfill their greatest potential. In Chanazi’s story lies a fundamental truth - every expert was once a beginner, every success story started with a single step, and every entrepreneur's journey begins with the courage to start where one is with what they have.
