Former journalist Matifadza Nyazema says she was inspired to build the Mbano Manor Hotel in Victoria Falls by her visit to the resort city when she was still a child.
Nyazema (MN), who previously worked for ZBC, spoke about her journey on the platform In Conversation with Trevor hosted by Alpha Media Holdings chairman Trevor Ncube (TN).
Below are excerpts from the interview.
TN: Greetings Zimbabwe, Africa and the world. Welcome to In Conversation with Trevor brought to you by HStv.
Today, I'm in conversation with Dr Matifadza Nyazema, owner of Mbano Manor Hotel in Victoria Falls. Dr Matifadza, Welcome to In Conversation with Trevor.
MN: Thank you so much.
TN: Congratulations, your dream Mbano Manor is located in a tourism destination in Zimbabwe, Victoria Falls. How does it feel?
MN: It feels fantastic. I must tell you it was a brutal journey. I have explained that to you over the past few years and to actually see the reality coming through, and to actually walk and see guests coming through, making bookings, stressing to say is there somebody going to call me at midnight to say something is not working, but actually to see everything is working and it's actually growing as a business is really a fantastic feeling.
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TN: I just got the sense that life has been conspiring to get you here.
You start off at ZBC, you do some PR with the Zimbabwe Tourist Development Corporation, you do hotel management, you then do a PhD.
Is that the sense that you get that this has been deliberate or life has happened to get you ready for this moment?
MN: Life has happened, but what I find is that almost most of the aspects of my life were leading to this point. So even when people ask me: 'How did you dream this up,?" I didn't realise 20 years ago I was dreaming of that or 15 years ago or five years ago.
I found literally almost all of my career has led to what Mbano Manor is today.
It's not just something that I dreamed about five or four years ago. It’s been an interesting journey.
I mean, like you said, I was actually thinking last night preparing for this interview about my journey. It didn't even start with ZBC.
My journey started literally from childhood.
My father was a teacher, my mom a nurse and so after we moved to Harare, and from that early childhood, I realised looking back that I had a competitive advantage in terms for example access to a library all by myself through my father's school.
I used to love reading and looking back, even what I do today, some of it is that aspect; one of the underlying themes in my life has been English and reading and that's why I think I became a journalist.
I then went to St Dominic's and then St Ignatius College, obviously very good schools as well, where I got a good grounding in terms of doing the right things, and being a good Catholic girl.
I come from a very strong Catholic family.
And then eventually going to University, I had dreams of becoming a lawyer.
I didn't quite make it and so I did a Bachelor of Administration in Political Science.
And then from there, I think I always say we were the generation where we were very lucky because we literally had jobs falling at our feet.
I mean the way I went into journalism was because I was walking one day in the corridor when I saw a memo at the department of political science that said those who want to go to Ministry of Information, please put your names down and I just said to my friend let's just put our names down. We knew there’s foreign affairs there.
That’s how my career was chosen.
I put my name down and a few weeks later, I got a call to say come for an interview and just by chance there were scholarships available and I ended up with a scholarship going to Nairobi to study journalism.
TN: Wow.
MN: There was a little bit of luck involved in that our generation was blessed.
I did my journalism and I used to fly back home because my scholarship was actually quite generous. I actually could afford to fly back.
During my first holiday, I was with The Herald, the second holiday I worked with ZBC and between the two I was offered a job and then I chose ZBC.
That’s how I got my first job at ZBC.
TN: I just want to zero in on, I mean the blessing that your father was clearly in that library. What else did your father impart to you and your mom obviously, what did they impart on you?
MN: I think my parents were, you know, your typical African family where they were the nucleus of a very big extended family and to some extent probably one or two of the most successful in their respective families.
I've got 56 cousins. I actually wrote a little story about growing up with 56 cousins and all of those cousins or their parents at one time or other came to live in our house.
What I remember is that everyone was welcome and I'm just talking about the immediate family. Imagine beyond that we had an extended family.
I could have 500 people around and I think the one thing my parents gave to us was that everyone was welcome. I don't remember anyone ever being sent away.
My father was actually very strict because he was the patriarch of a very big extended family.
TN: How did that impact you in terms of your world view?
MN: I think, sometimes, I am fairly strict with my children. I would like to say probably but more the way I brought up my children because I remember saying to my kids I will bring you up the way I was brought up.
I remember when there was an era of this sleepover, I said no I never saw that in my own home and I'm not doing it there so there was also a very strong ethos of education.
In my family, it was all about education and Christianity. Remember, I said we come from a Catholic family.
We were strong as well and we went to church every Sunday.
TN: When did the idea of owning a hotel, of building a hotel from scratch come from? When did that idea begin to come through?
MN: Maybe it’s not so much the idea of the hotel, but the idea of Victoria Falls really because when I was about seven or eight-years-old, my father took us to Victoria Falls.
We went by train. I was very young, but I remember it quite well.
It was me and my older sister. We went by train and slept at Zazi Primary and then took another train to Victoria Falls and slept at Chinotimba Primary School and I've actually got pictures of that.
In fact if you go on my website, you'll see that and I think that that was a lasting memory for us; going out there and seeing the world.
Growing up, I knew Victoria Falls, so I think there was almost a connection with Victoria Falls and perhaps if I can also maybe share another anecdote.
I remember when I was now working, I think in South Africa, I was doing a presentation and for some reason I ended up at one of the corners of the valley at Victoria Falls all by myself and I looked around and there was nobody else and instead of being scared funny enough I was actually very calm and I remember I actually said, the day I die I want my ashes over the Victoria Falls and this is before the hotel thing.
But to go back to your question I think I always saw myself as a corporate person and I was lucky that I worked for big corporate organiSations like British Airways, Zimbabwe Sun Crystal Hospitality and so forth.
I knew how to build a hotel. So by the time I think around 2008 thereabouts I remember saying I'd love to own something in Victoria Falls. “In Conversation With Trevor” is a weekly show brought to you by HStv and broadcast on YouTube.com//InConversationWithTrevor.
