Zimbabwe. “I enjoyed the fact that the course looks at all aspects of life and provides a balanced approach that stimulates growth from all angles.“

My name is Tendai, I was born to a family of eight being the fourth born, my family has always had values that have helped me to as I grew. I grew up n a farm were it was kind of a family community, everyone knew everyone. I attended primary school at St James Craig School and my secondary at St Peter Clever Secondary, and Tafara Two High in Tafara. After finishing my ‘O’ Levels, I failed to get the resources to pursue my education and I tried to make a living for myself. Around 1997, I made a decision to go and serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

That turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made. I was called to serve in the Zimbabwe Harare Mission and my assignments took me to Gweru, Bulawayo, Mutare, Harare, and Lusaka, in Zambia.

I grew to love the people not only for who they are but for what I now know they can be. I faced a lot of challenges in my life, I lost my elder brother to HIV AIDS in 2003, I have had to carry that pain since, and in 2018 I lost my dear father to abdominal Cancer. That inspired me to do some research on the disease and I am currently taking a course on Public Health with BYU-IDAHO. This was mainly motivated by the need to find some sort of cure for the diseases. When my father was very sick, we did everything I thought was necessary to get him better with the limited resources we had but to no avail. I got to know about the MBS program from my brother, who had made some considerable progress already. I didn’t know what is was all about, but since I am a BYU student I decided to take the challenge. One of my motivations was the Gas business I recently started and I sure needed some inspiration. The moment I started I realized that that’s exactly what my business needed some kind of professional assistance. I also noted that my life was not evenly balanced, and when I started my Home Plan, things started falling into place. I enjoyed the fact that the course looks at all aspects of life and provides a balanced approach that stimulates growth from all angles. The first thing I did was run around to see how the successful businesses in my vicinity were operating, I never knew I was going to get the kind of help I got. I immediately started inquiring about the process to formalize my business, and again I noticed that it wasn’t as difficult as I had feared. As I progressed and followed all the guidelines and instructions, I realized that I really needed the training. I had always though of borrowing some money but after learning about the dangers of just getting a loan and the importance of Cash Projection, I realized I might not need the loan after all. The 6 Ps helped me Plan, decide a Product, look at the Process, how to determine the Price, the importance of the Promotion, and the value of Paperwork. The interaction with the Instructors and other students was very helpful and I am now very confident of coming up with a sustainable project.