Nomvula Mhambi: Forbes 30 under 30 from Zimbabwe

So what do you do when you are thrown lemons? You make lemonade! This is exactly what Nomvula Mhambi did when her mother couldn’t afford to take her to university because of the economic and political downturn in Zimbabwe.

She is a 2014 Mandela Washington Fellow and was recently named in the Forbes Africa 30 under 30 2018 list.

According to Forbes, "She registered a catering and events company at age 19. She was later invited to work on a concert that featured Akon and Sean Paul. A year later, she was called to assist with artiste logistics for a concert that hosted Ciara, Phat Joe, Lil’ Kim and DJ Scratch. At age 22, her company was contracted by DStv Zimbabwe to host their Big Brother events. She saw a gap in the advertising industry and founded Disruptive Innovation, a full-service media communications and advertising social enterprise.

For the first two years of the business, many doors were shut in her face. When she was close to giving up, she was selected for the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) where she won a $25,000 grant towards her restroom advertising pilot project.

Mhambi has partnered with local municipalities, renovating dilapidated public toilets, and charging people for use. This revenue is used to maintain the sites, assist schools in need of sanitation hardware and help clients get their product to their consumers.

Mhambi also runs a hair and nail lounge and is also into agriculture, growing button and oyster mushrooms, which she supplies to a majority of Zimbabwe’s supermarkets and restaurants producing over 1,000 punnets per week. She employs 25 full-time and 12 part-time staff."

So what's your excuse? You are never too young to go after your dreams. If you believe in yourself and do the hard work, those dreams will come true.