By Byron Mutingwende
Prominent politician, philanthropist and businessman Mr. Joseph Makamba Busha has said leadership embraces provision of solutions to society’s myriad of challenges.
Mr. Busha made the remarks while addressing University of Zimbabwe students drawn from the membership of the Leadership Development Network (LDN) at the tertiary institution’s Students’ Representative Council on Thursday 27 September 2019.
“A good leadership should provide solutions to the challenges that society is grappling with. Leadership should find sustainable solutions to society’s challenges. They should generate ideas that proffer solutions and live by good example to others,” Mr. Busha said.
The astute businessman and entrepreneur said leaders generate ideas for the advancement of mankind and are problem solvers.
“The challenges that students face daily should give them the opportunity to come out with ideas that shape their future and ensure sustainable communities. Most successful people in the world are not degree holders but have a wealth of ideas and a vision for positively impacting the society,” Mr. Busha said.
Mr. Busha encouraged the university students to embrace change and alluded to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which has revolutionalised the way of doing business. He said established companies like Thomas Cook were going under because people are now booking for flights and accommodation online and no longer completely relying on travel agencies.
He said that despite being abundantly blessed with natural resources like minerals and abundant sunshine, because of lack of a leadership that embraces change like technological advancement, Africa was not the first to invent renewable energy hence lagged behind in terms of sustainable development.
The leading entrepreneur encouraged students to become better leaders by providing solutions for the greater good of society.
Tatenda Mayaya, the LDN President called on fellow students to work on their personal development and embrace entrepreneurship and leadership skills so that they would not wait to be employed after finishing their studies but be positive changemakers.
His counterpart, Fanwell Kaseke, the UZ President of the Students Representative Council bemoaned the fact that due to lack of entrepreneurship, the university outsourced most of its products and services.
“This development shows that young entrepreneurs should be change-makers. The university struggles with its online network connectivity yet the institution trains ICT technicians and electronic engineers. Students should take advantage of being innovative so that they may use their skills and competence as social media influencers.
“If students come up with useful applications online, or become social media influencers, corporates can make them brand ambassadors for their products and services. Thus it is critical for students to make use of the social capital that they have when they are still students on campus,” Kaseke said.