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Co-founder and managing director of Eat n Lick fast food outlets, Mrs Tsitsi Musabayana, has been named the Chartered Governance Professional of the Year for 2023.
She was named winner of the award and presented with the Chartered Governance of the Year Trophy at a formal dinner that marked the ending of the Chartered Governance and Accountancy Institute in Zimbabwe annual conference in Victoria Falls on Friday last week.
The runner-up for the award was Rusape Town Council finance director Fanisen Shuwa, who was recently appointed Chegutu Municipality director of financial services.
Reading the CGP of the Year Award Citation, CGI Zimbabwe chief executive and secretary Lovemore Gomera said Mrs Musabayana had emerged as one of the most successful governance professionals and entrepreneurs.
“A dynamic managing director with over a decade of leadership experience across diverse sectors in agriculture, bakery, fast food and security, she has spearheaded the development and execution of a comprehensive backward integration strategy, significantly expanding business capital and driving substantial revenue growth within two years.
“She has initiated cross-functional collaboration to improve supply chain efficiency, resulting in substantial monthly procurement cost saving,” Dr Gomera said.
Speaking after being presented with her trophy, Mrs. Musabayana explained that after starting a bakery in Chinhoyi in 2007, she and her husband, Isiah, had decided seven years later, in 2014, to add a family restaurant, providing fast foods such as chicken and chips and burgers. From that small beginning the business had expanded to include 20 Eat n Lick takeaway restaurants in 11 towns or cities throughout the country and three franchised Barcebs Portuguese restaurants specialising in flamed grilled chicken.
The backward integration mentioned in the award citation referred to the establishment of a chicken farm, which supplied the takeaways and restaurants with the chickens they needed.
It was then decided to save on the cost of outsourcing more than 150 security guards to protect business premises throughout the country by establishing a security company, Eyes Higher Security.
Reading the citation for the runner-up, Dr. Gomera said Mr Shuwa’s CGI qualification had not only made him a good accountant and corporate governance champion as finance director at Rusape Town Council but also opened various doors to financial independence and unlimited entrepreneurship capacity.
“His company, Sunset Breeze Resort (Pvt) Ltd and Sunset Breeze Tree Nurseries has grown to a level where he has entered into a partnership to support environmental initiatives.
“The resort has become a constant venue for outdoor activities like weddings, corporate activities, braai fest. It is also working on a state-of-the-art conference centre with a capacity of 500 delegates,” he said.
The partnership made possible the donation of 400 whistling pine trees for the beautification of Rusape, in addition to supplying trees to schools, individuals, and the corporate world.
“The joint initiative is now one of the biggest in Manicaland, holding stock of more than 20 000 trees, shrubs, and flowers, specialising mainly in ornamental trees.
“The nursery is in sync with central government environmental policy with regards to climate change and plans to seek a licence for the export market,” he said.