This list, which is by no means definitive and is in no particular order, is my way of celebrating the achievements of Zimbabweans. These are young people, living and working in Zimbabwe, and making a success of themselves.

Carl Joshua Ncube
Carl is a multi-talented animator, graphic designer, activist and storyteller. His skill lies in telling unusual stories in unusual ways. Carl wrote, directed and animated Zimbabwe’s first ever animated film series Nyami Nyami 1 and 2. He has directed Zimbabwe’s national awards shows including the National Arts and Merits Award and the Zimbabwe Music Awards. Lately, Carl has taken his story telling talent to the stage, in the comedy show ‘Carls Big announcement’.

Prudence Mabhena
She is a young singer, who along with the band Liyana has been featured in the Oscar winning documentary Music by Prudence. Despite having suffered abandonment and neglect in her childhood due to arthrogryphosis, Prudence Mabhena and her band have struggled, and triumphed. Prudence composes music in five languages, and even choreographs from her wheelchair. The film Music by Prudence has become the cornerstone of an advocacy campaign and has been embraced by the UN, Human Rights Watch and the disability community as an unprecedented portrayal advocating for the rights of persons with disabilities.

Fungai James Tichawangana
Founder and creator of Aripano Infinity Fungai James is a digital entrepreneur, journalist and photographer. His mission in founding Aripano Infinity is to tell African stories. In his own words: “I build skyscrapers on the Internet. I take words from my head and put them on paper. I capture life in pixelated moments”. Aripano Infinity’s projects include Online Artist Promotions, Law and Justice in Zimbabwe, Zimbablog and the Zimbojam. Zimbojam is the premier online resource for news and information about Zimbabwe’s burgeoning entertainment industry. Wherever it is, whatever is happening Fungai is usually there with his camera.

Rumbi Katedza
Rumbi has worked extensively in film for the past decade. Her feature films include Danai and the multi award-winning Asylum. She is a writer whose story ‘Snowflakes in Winter’ was part of Weaver Press’ Women writing Zimbabwe collection. She served as Festival Director for the Zimbabwe International Film Festival from 2004 until 2006. Rumbi currently produces documentary and feature films with her production company Mai Jai Films.

Max Soutter
Max is the Managing Director of the Business Set-up Group, an organisation dedicated to helping entrepreneurs start up and grow businesses the smart way. He specialises in assisting Zimbabwean start-ups to grow. Max has worked with more than 200 businesses in 35 different countries.  He is an author who has written several books some of which are available for free download from his site. He also runs several blogs and websites and is a very active Internet strategist.

Talent Jumo
Talent is a woman with a big dream to transform the world. She is one of the coordinators of the Young Women’s Leadership Initiative (YOWLI). Yowli was formed in 2007 when a group of young women decided to break the silence and talk overtly about issues if sex and sexuality. Talent is passionate about feminism, and as an activist is deeply committed to working with young women. Her work is informed by her experiences as a young black woman from Africa, who was born and bred in an independent Zimbabwe, but is herself not free.

This entry was posted on December 2nd, 2010 at 11:08 am by Upenyu Makoni-Muchemwa and is filed under Inspiration, Media, Reflections, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.