Today I'm in conversation with Zimbabwean-born and Italy-based serial startup founder and entrepreneur, Tadiwa Mwashita. Her latest venture is the Italian Social Impact Startup, Feedel Africa. They provide services to innovation hubs and non-profit organizations on the African continent, with a special focus on women led startups.
Some of the services Feedel Africa offers include fund raising, grant writing and AI education. Join us and hear all about Tadiwa's ability to combine profit with purpose, and how she is elevating African innovation to global heights in the fields of B2B SaaS, fintech, and AI.
Our conversations takes us on a journey from Tadiwa’s home country, Zimbabwe, where she stumbled on entrepreneurship as a high school student. We discover that she hasn't stopped experimenting with ideas ever since, and how being in Italy forced her to fully embrace her entrepreneurial roots.
It has been nothing less than a complex journey of navigating language barriers and prejudice that has led her to the level of nimbleness and adaptability you will hear about. She also discusses her latest and soon-to-be launched venture in the pet space, which she created using a methodology she has mastered: .the magic of turning local insights into innovative business solutions
Don't miss this inspiring conversation with one of the most creative and resilient entrepreneurs you will meet.
LINKS AND MENTIONS
Tadiwa's LinkedIn Profile
Feedel Africa - Social Impact Startup founded by Tadiwa
Feedel Ventures - The Investment company that funds and provides other resources to Tadiwa's venture
NEWSLETTER, stay in the loop and subscribe to our newsletter
SUPPORT this work so that we can keep it free. Become a MONTHLY SUPPORTER
LISTEN ON Apple and Spotify
FOLLOW US ON Instagram and Facebook
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Hello and welcome to Shades and Layers
00:00:05
.
00:00:05
I'm your host, Kutloano Skosana Ricci, and today my guest is
00:00:09
Tadiwa Mwashita, founder of the Italian social impact startup,
00:00:14
Feedel Africa.
00:00:15
They are in the business of providing services to innovation
00:00:18
hubs, female-led startups and non-profit organizations on the
00:00:22
African continent, and some of the services they offer include
00:00:25
fundraising, grant writing and AI education.
00:00:28
Our conversation takes us on a journey from Tadiwa's home
00:00:31
country, Zimbabwe, to Italy, where she is currently based.
00:00:35
It's an account of resilience and testimony to her own
00:00:38
strength as an entrepreneur, and that is adaptability.
00:00:41
Tadiwa stumbled onto entrepreneurship during high
00:00:44
school and hasn't stopped experimenting with ideas ever
00:00:47
since.
00:00:48
Even now, she's working on a new idea with two business
00:00:51
partners, but I think it's better if she tells her own
00:00:54
story.
00:00:55
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: Okay, so the easy part is my name I'm
00:00:58
Tadiwa Mwashita, and I am a serial startup founder and
00:01:04
entrepreneur, which is the difficult part, because
00:01:08
currently I'm wearing many entrepreneurial hats, the main
00:01:12
one being as a startup founder for a social impact startup
00:01:17
based in Italy that's called Feedel Africa Feedel Africa and
00:01:22
I'm just launching a new initiative, which is part of
00:01:26
Feedel Africa sort of, but focused only on female
00:01:39
entrepreneurs in Africa, and I also work as a.
00:01:40
I have a couple of projects that I'm working on in the pet
00:01:41
industry, for example.
00:01:42
Oh wow.
00:01:44
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Yes, let's start with Feedel.
00:01:46
Okay, it's a social impact startup.
00:01:49
What does that mean and how does that manifest in reality?
00:01:53
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: All right.
00:01:53
So as a social impact startup, it's almost like an NGO, but it
00:01:59
should be a for-profit company.
00:02:01
So in the Italian system, there's so many different types
00:02:05
of companies or organizations that you can open and a social
00:02:09
impact company is basically a private company, but that
00:02:14
focuses on the social aspect.
00:02:17
So in my case, I work with Africans, whether they're
00:02:21
African migrants here in Italy or Europe and Africans in Africa
00:02:26
.
00:02:26
So just on the social impact environment or sector.
00:02:30
So that's what I mean when I say social impact startups.
00:02:34
It's a trending terminology that is there right now.
00:02:38
So I'm not an NGO and don't work like an NGO.
00:02:43
So my job is not to try and provide funding, provide
00:02:48
assistance to, you know, less developed communities.
00:02:52
I am a for-profit company.
00:02:54
But how?
00:02:55
I make profit?
00:02:56
By providing services to, for example, ngos, institutions,
00:03:01
organizations, companies.
00:03:05
Okay, I see, but your clients then are mainly in the
00:03:08
non-profit sector um in the entrepreneurial space, actually
00:03:12
because I do work with ngos and with governmental institutions,
00:03:19
innovation hubs, incubators to help them, uh, co-design or
00:03:25
redesign their you know innovation hubs and the startups
00:03:31
that they're working with, incubators that they're working
00:03:34
with, so that they can be at you know, european or international
00:03:38
standards for what's happening in africa right now.
00:03:41
Most of the innovation hubs in like southern africa are
00:03:45
actually just co-working spaces.
00:03:46
They're not real innovation hubs.
00:03:49
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Right.
00:03:49
So how are you bringing in the innovation, so to speak, to
00:03:54
those spaces?
00:03:57
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: So I was actually hired as an
00:03:59
entrepreneur in residence.
00:04:01
So, Feedel Ventures, which is a venture builder startup studio
00:04:06
and an investment fund in Italy, decided to create something
00:04:12
similar, but only focused on Africa.
00:04:15
So, using the resources that we have in Feedel Ventures, which
00:04:20
is where I started off as a business developer, we basically
00:04:25
I just use the services.
00:04:26
You know, I look for volunteers within the company and we use
00:04:31
the skills, the companies in our portfolio, like an AI company
00:04:36
that does AI training, digital literacy training and then I
00:04:40
offer discounted prices to the organizations and, in some cases
00:04:45
, where perhaps they don't have money, we can actually, you know
00:04:50
, apply for certain grants that are there, whether they are EU
00:04:54
grants, usaid grants, local government grants to fund our
00:04:59
project ideas.
00:05:13
Okay, and which countries specifically do you work with?
00:05:17
Okay, and which countries specifically do you work with?
00:05:20
We are now going to be working in Zimbabwe, in the Zimbabwean
00:05:23
space.
00:05:24
So we have some partnerships with some universities, like
00:05:28
Lopana University, and still exploring possible projects
00:05:34
together with the Ministry of Higher Education and as well as
00:05:40
some private institutions, so we've got some projects in the
00:05:43
pipeline at the moment.
00:05:45
So, as a Zimbabwean, of course, the first place you're going to
00:05:50
look at is the country where you're from, where you come from
00:05:52
.
00:05:52
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Yeah, exactly.
00:05:53
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: Where you know.
00:05:54
You know you can knock on doors .
00:05:57
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: You can get around.
00:05:58
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
00:06:00
But at the same time, we've got some talks, because part of my
00:06:05
team is the co-founder of Feedel Ventures.
00:06:08
One of the co-founders is on my team of Feedel Africa and when
00:06:13
he's invited to present or to be a guest in some African
00:06:18
countries like Tunisia, he goes and he pitches Feedel Africa
00:06:22
there as well.
00:06:22
So we have some potential projects that we're trying to
00:06:26
work on in Tunisia as well, but in that case, what we're doing
00:06:31
is trying to connect countries like Tunisia to enter into the
00:06:36
Italian market.
00:06:36
So there is a big push in Italy right now to try and be
00:06:42
international, to try and link with and work with African
00:06:46
countries that have potential.
00:06:49
So, for example, b2b SaaS companies, startups or fintech,
00:06:55
or if there are any AI startups in Africa, you know there is
00:07:00
potential to get investment for them to do business in Italy,
00:07:04
for example, or to partner with Italian startups.
00:07:07
So we facilitate those kinds of synergies as well.
00:07:11
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Right, I mean, this is quite a change
00:07:14
in tone, particularly for Italy.
00:07:16
I mean, can you talk through, like you know when you first
00:07:19
started out there, to where you find yourself now, because
00:07:23
you've always worked in the startup space?
00:07:25
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: yep, I've always been in the startup
00:07:27
space, I guess since high school , um, and so when I came to
00:07:31
Italy, it was actually to try and run away from the
00:07:34
entrepreneurial scene and try to get a nine to five job in the
00:07:38
corporate world.
00:07:39
You know, uh, how, if I wasn't, it was very challenging, uh,
00:07:44
given my age, and you know the prejudices, discrimination,
00:07:49
stereotypes that everyone knows exist in Italy, so it was very
00:07:53
difficult for me to find employment.
00:07:55
Uh, so at one point in time I started my own, I created my own
00:07:59
startup, called, and it died.
00:08:03
It was a failed startup, unfortunately.
00:08:05
You know, trying to enter in a man's world as a woman is not so
00:08:10
easy sometimes.
00:08:12
So it failed In Italy yeah, in Italy, because in Zimbabwe it
00:08:18
would have worked.
00:08:19
But the problem was, you know, the Italian scene is a little
00:08:23
bit, you know, traditional when it comes to doing business.
00:08:27
So that failure was actually a learning experience.
00:08:31
And also, with my previous podcast, you know, the African
00:08:36
Dream, I was motivated and I learned a lot, and that allowed
00:08:41
me to apply for a business developer position at Feedel
00:08:45
Ventures, and it was because of my startup and entrepreneurial
00:08:50
experience that they hired me.
00:08:51
While working in that company I worked with at least I think at
00:08:57
one point in time I'd like seven startups that I was
00:09:00
helping doing their business development globally and locally
00:09:05
.
00:09:05
Helping doing their business development globally and locally
00:09:07
, for example, in different sectors real estate, sustainable
00:09:17
fashion, ai, I think, tenders, consultancy so a whole scope,
00:09:18
you know.
00:09:19
And so I learned a lot about the different startups that
00:09:21
exist in Europe and the potential that Africa also has.
00:09:25
So, you know, while I was in Feedel Africa, you know, even
00:09:29
day one I told them look, I want to work Feedel Venture.
00:09:32
Sorry, I was like I want to work in Africa, I want to help
00:09:36
the African community.
00:09:37
Because Zimbabwe, you know I don't know how much you know
00:09:40
about the colonialism days of Ian Smith where at one point in
00:09:51
time we had I'm forgetting the term for it but basically
00:09:53
Zimbabwe was cut off from, or Rhodesia was cut off from the
00:09:56
rest of the world.
00:09:57
Then we started producing ourselves our own goods and we
00:10:01
became these strong entrepreneurs and became the
00:10:04
breadbasket of Africa, etc.
00:10:05
Etc.
00:10:06
So we've always had that, you know, entrepreneurial mindset in
00:10:12
Zimbabwe.
00:10:13
However, you know, we didn't have the opportunities or the
00:10:17
platforms to learn what others are doing.
00:10:21
So that is what motivated me to work for Feedel Africa and with
00:10:27
Feedel Africa to be like okay, look, we have the intelligence.
00:10:31
Egypt is doing it, Nigeria is doing it, Kenya is doing it.
00:10:35
What's stopping SADC, for example, from doing the?
00:10:39
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: same thing.
00:10:40
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: Let me just give them that access, that
00:10:43
platform, whether it's through training or just matchmaking
00:10:47
with other businesses.
00:10:49
All right, let's see what we can do.
00:10:51
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Yeah, okay, sounds great.
00:10:53
This is Shades and Layers, and my guest is Tadiwa Mwashita,
00:10:59
founder of Feedel Africa, a social impact startup based in
00:11:04
Milan, Italy.
00:11:05
One of the things I was curious about was how she navigates
00:11:09
language and gender challenges in a non-English speaking
00:11:12
country and, having lived in Denmark myself, I know that
00:11:15
language competence can shape your entire professional
00:11:17
experience in the early years of living in a foreign country.
00:11:20
So let's hear more from Tadiwa.
00:11:22
You know, what's interesting to me is that you mentioned this
00:11:24
whole.
00:11:25
You mentioned that it's very traditional, the work culture.
00:11:29
The one thing that you don't mention is language, because, I
00:11:33
mean, you come from an English speaking country, so that was
00:11:36
that's something that made me curious, also because,
00:11:40
notoriously, I mean, I've lived in Denmark where language
00:11:43
barrier was a huge thing that stood in the way of progress.
00:11:46
Basically, and I think, in comparison, denmark is probably
00:11:50
more internationalized, well kind of, than Italy in terms of,
00:11:54
you know, having access to the outside, and also there is a
00:11:58
little bit of English within the country.
00:12:00
But you know Italy, I know, when I first started coming
00:12:02
there, no one, not a single person, even bothered to speak
00:12:06
in English.
00:12:06
So how has that been for you?
00:12:08
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: OK, that's very interesting,
00:12:10
something that I love talking about, because so yes, in Italy,
00:12:16
I think, like only like 35 percent or so of the population
00:12:21
of 60 million people speak English.
00:12:24
Ok, and it's not people speak English.
00:12:25
Okay, and it's not really great English as well.
00:12:28
Fortunately, I live in Milan, which is the capital city of
00:12:33
business, okay, so let's be careful here.
00:12:41
No, no, no, that's why I said of business, you know, so if you
00:12:45
want to do business you have to be in Milan also, which is why
00:12:48
I'm stuck in Milan.
00:12:50
So you know, everyone is kind of forced to speak in English and,
00:12:55
to be quite honest, between graduation and working for
00:12:59
Feedel, I was an English teacher for, you know, multinational
00:13:03
companies, so they wouldn't hire me to be an employee but they
00:13:07
would hire me to teach them business English and that kind
00:13:16
of helped me understand my place in society in the context of
00:13:20
Italy and how I could the job at Feedel Ventures because of my
00:13:24
English language skills and my knowledge of, you know, the
00:13:28
different industries, industrial sectors, because before Italy I
00:13:32
worked for a logistics company, I worked for an NGO and then
00:13:37
teaching in multinational companies in Italy, so I kind of
00:13:41
knew my way around the different sectors already.
00:13:44
And so I mean, right now my English level is, I would say,
00:13:48
lower, intermediate, partly intentional, because, you know,
00:13:52
sometimes or many times I've been in situations where I try
00:13:56
to speak Italian with a non-English accent and I get the
00:14:02
asylum seeker treatment you know, which is not so great.
00:14:07
And then when I speak in English , when I speak Italian with an
00:14:10
English accent, I get better treatment.
00:14:12
So I intentionally do it that way.
00:14:16
I've never lied to anyone and I'm very open and honest about
00:14:19
it that you know, in Italy, what works for me personally is to
00:14:23
speak English more than Italian.
00:14:25
So that is it.
00:14:27
I mean it does have its negatives, in the sense that
00:14:31
there are some job positions I would love to have or apply for,
00:14:34
but I don't speak fluent Italian because that's what they
00:14:38
want.
00:14:38
If they do want you as an international person, they want
00:14:42
you to speak fluent Italian, which I don't speak, and
00:14:46
naturally I'm bad at learning languages.
00:14:48
So I don't know how many decades it will take for me to
00:14:51
speak fluent Italian anyway, right, right, okay, all right.
00:15:00
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: So that's uh, that's Feedel.
00:15:02
What's your ambition for this company?
00:15:17
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: For Feedel Africa.
00:15:17
I really do believe that it's been a difficult year in this
00:15:20
position to try and build it, rebranding, coming up with a new
00:15:24
vision and services product offering and then trying to
00:15:29
approach different organizations .
00:15:31
Institutions sell the products and services.
00:15:35
As you know, tadiwa from Zimbabwe living in Italy, trying
00:15:39
to sell to you know, these governmental institutions or
00:15:44
40-something, 50-something year old men, and they're like who
00:15:47
are you, where are you coming from?
00:15:51
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Yeah, yeah.
00:15:53
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: And also coming up with my team that I
00:15:55
said look, you know, I do have a team that I work with that I
00:15:59
have access to in Italy, but if I'm going to sell to Africa, it
00:16:03
needs to be a good combination of Africans and Italians.
00:16:07
So I've got my African advisors that I call on and speak to and
00:16:12
then the team I work with are mostly Italian because I'm
00:16:16
taking from Feedel Ventures as volunteers and a couple from
00:16:20
Ethiopia and Nigeria from Feedel Ventures as volunteers and a
00:16:27
couple from Ethiopia and Nigeria .
00:16:27
So it's been a struggle, but I would say in the past I mean
00:16:30
since July, end of June, beginning of July people have
00:16:34
started taking me seriously, started, you know, listening,
00:16:39
being willing to work on projects together.
00:16:41
So that's why I said you know I've to work on projects
00:16:42
together.
00:16:42
So that's why I said you know I've got some projects in the
00:16:45
pipeline that you know I'm hoping to have launched in 2025
00:16:50
some really great projects in the incubation, women
00:16:55
entrepreneurship, african events , mainly focused on women right
00:17:00
now, but and also in the ai space, trying to really bring
00:17:06
forward the opportunity for africans to learn how to use,
00:17:10
you know, something as simple as uh chat gpt for prompt
00:17:14
engineering.
00:17:14
You know it's.
00:17:15
It's a game changer.
00:17:17
Countries like india already doing it, and they're on
00:17:20
platforms like fiverr, charging $20 to do something for you, and
00:17:25
then they just use chat GPT.
00:17:27
I'm like come on Zimbabweans, you can make some passive income
00:17:30
doing exactly the same thing if you learn chat GPT.
00:17:33
So trying to bring that education to especially southern
00:17:38
Africa is something that I'm personally advocating for, as
00:17:43
well as mentoring some startups and helping them along the way
00:17:47
to win grants, to win competitions.
00:17:50
So yeah, that's some fantastic stuff.
00:17:54
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: And then, how are you funded?
00:17:56
Is it all internal?
00:17:57
Or do you also employ the same model of going to funders to, to
00:18:02
finance these, the provision of all these services?
00:18:06
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: So, yes, as a startup, I apply for
00:18:09
funding in Italy, also apply for startup or accelerator
00:18:13
opportunities in other European countries or in Africa or in
00:18:25
Africa.
00:18:25
However, investors don't actually like investing in
00:18:26
social impact startups because as a social impact startup, your
00:18:27
goal is not to become a millionaire, your goal is to
00:18:30
help the community, but to bring in enough income to stay afloat
00:18:36
.
00:18:36
So I do have some investors that I'm in close contact with
00:18:42
looking to invest in African startups, but they can't invest
00:18:46
in me because they're like look, we want to make money, we want
00:18:50
to invest in something that we can sell a startup that we can
00:18:53
sell at the end of the day, and a social impact startup isn't
00:18:57
that.
00:18:59
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Why did you choose a social impact
00:19:01
format, like what's your attraction to this space?
00:19:06
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: Well at the moment, realistically
00:19:10
complete.
00:19:10
You know, honesty, transparency .
00:19:12
I was fired as a business developer by Feedel Ventures and
00:19:16
hired as an entrepreneur in residence because I had to work
00:19:23
in Italian, and again, you know, as an international employee
00:19:28
working with Italian companies.
00:19:29
They feel much better working with an Italian who speaks
00:19:34
fluent Italian and can switch, you know, between English and
00:19:37
Italian.
00:19:38
But on the business side I do really well on entrepreneurship.
00:19:43
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: So that's how this was a way to
00:19:45
keep you about Exactly.
00:19:47
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: Yeah, some organizations see it as
00:19:50
corporate social responsibility by working with Feedel Africa as
00:19:54
well, so they pay for us to help them in whatever activities
00:19:59
that they have.
00:20:00
And working as a social impact startup gives me the opportunity
00:20:05
to then also work on personal projects.
00:20:09
You know, personal projects that can bring in my millions
00:20:13
one day, I hope.
00:20:16
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Great, let's talk about those projects.
00:20:17
You said you're doing something in the pet space.
00:20:19
Tell me a bit more about that venture.
00:20:22
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: Okay, so this is kind of like still in
00:20:24
the pipeline.
00:20:25
I've always had a passion for pets and have been exploring
00:20:31
this for quite a few months now, which is kind of like how I
00:20:35
went to Zurich in the past month and a half.
00:20:37
It was also partly research, testing the markets, seeing what
00:20:42
opportunities are there, and Zurich is the most innovative
00:20:46
country in the world right now.
00:20:48
So, learning from the biggest innovative mind innovation minds
00:20:53
is you know what?
00:20:54
That was my opportunity.
00:20:56
So it's a product and a service two-pred approach.
00:21:00
You know, I'm offering products and I'm offering services in
00:21:04
the pet space.
00:21:05
I don't want to give away too much because I haven't launched
00:21:08
it yet.
00:21:09
Okay, I literally finished the prototype today.
00:21:12
Tell me I, literally.
00:21:19
Yeah, I I launched the, the.
00:21:21
Uh, the prototype not launched, but I created the prototype
00:21:25
today.
00:21:25
I have two partners already, one from Kenya, one from Italy.
00:21:31
All women team, and it's Italy is a pit.
00:21:37
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Oh yeah .
00:21:37
Another place with more dogs than humans.
00:21:42
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: Yeah yes , yes, there are 14 million
00:21:46
registered pets in Italy registered so I won't even talk
00:21:50
about the population.
00:21:51
Yeah yes, there are more pets than born babies, apparently, so
00:21:58
it's a.
00:21:59
It's a very big space that's there and a market with a lot of
00:22:03
opportunities, so I'm very excited um positive feedback.
00:22:09
I came up with my idea, pitched it to a couple of people and
00:22:13
they were like, yeah, I want to be with you in this project as
00:22:17
one of your partners, and we've just been working through it for
00:22:20
like a month and a half, so time is money and sure, yeah, um
00:22:26
.
00:22:26
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: So what's what's?
00:22:27
What's your methodology as a?
00:22:29
As an entrepreneur like you know, where do you find your
00:22:32
ideas first of all and how do you put them together?
00:22:36
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: number one is okay.
00:22:38
So I started off in the entrepreneurial space when I was
00:22:41
in Zimbabwe and, for example, junior achievement in high
00:22:46
school, we had our little business.
00:22:48
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Yeah, I remember that from my own high
00:22:50
school.
00:22:50
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: Yeah yeah, I was the ceo, apparently
00:22:54
I was.
00:22:54
I looked good as a boss and then at solusi university I was
00:23:00
in a transportation kind of project that I went into.
00:23:05
I've never most of the projects I've been in have never been
00:23:08
for profit but to serve a need.
00:23:11
So with the transportation thing as well, there was a need
00:23:15
wanted to go home, and I was able to solve the problem of
00:23:20
logistics of people going home and it ended up being profit
00:23:24
making.
00:23:24
And then from there I dabbled in cake baking, like every other
00:23:30
woman these days in Southern Africa, but I was really bad at
00:23:34
decorating.
00:23:35
To be quite honest, I was horrible at decorating.
00:23:39
I'm not artistic.
00:23:40
So instead I did my research and I found a product that could
00:23:46
be sold, you know, like edible prints, yeah.
00:23:49
So I bought the machine, borrowed money from my mom,
00:23:53
bought the machine from some company I didn't know in South
00:23:56
Africa, and then I started learning how to print, you know
00:24:01
edible prints, like Cinderella or people's you know, faces.
00:24:06
And at the time, yeah, it was a new thing in Zimbabwe and I
00:24:11
started it.
00:24:12
My brother took over because I was I always want.
00:24:16
I never wanted to be an entrepreneur.
00:24:18
So I got the opportunity to go to Angola to appoint NGO.
00:24:21
My brother continues the business successfully.
00:24:23
So I got the opportunity to go to Angola to appoint NGO.
00:24:23
My brother continues the business successfully and I'm
00:24:25
still jealous.
00:24:29
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Well, you started it.
00:24:31
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: I did, I did so.
00:24:32
You know, I've always believed that business ideas are not
00:24:36
especially.
00:24:37
People don't wake up and know exactly what kind of business
00:24:43
that they want.
00:24:43
Sometimes you start off with one thing, which in my case, was
00:24:47
baking cakes teaching people how to bake cakes and then I saw
00:24:51
a weakness in myself and my product and another idea came
00:24:57
from that.
00:24:57
So same thing with the pit industry.
00:25:00
I didn't see it as I want to be in the pit space.
00:25:04
I was actually looking just for a way to escape Milan in summer
00:25:09
and the heat and fish, air and travel.
00:25:12
And I was doing research and I discovered the pit world and the
00:25:18
opportunities that the pit industry has.
00:25:20
And that's when I was like, oh interesting, let me, you know,
00:25:25
dive deep into this, let me play around with this.
00:25:27
In my past I did dabble in rabbit breeding, so I kind of
00:25:35
have some experience with taking care of pets, animals, yeah.
00:25:39
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Yeah exactly.
00:25:41
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: And so, again, you know, it's never
00:25:44
something that you think about for many months, but something
00:25:48
that one day comes to you and you say look, let me really
00:25:51
research into this.
00:25:52
What are the strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, SWOT
00:25:57
analysis.
00:25:59
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: What's your strength as an entrepreneur
00:26:00
?
00:26:00
Would you say as a reluctant entrepreneur?
00:26:01
Would you say as a reluctant entrepreneur.
00:26:03
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: I should say my strength is I adapt.
00:26:09
I'm quite flexible.
00:26:10
I think that's something that I also learned during my time as
00:26:15
business developer in Feedel Ventures, which really helped me
00:26:19
a lot, which was you can start off today.
00:26:22
As you know, Feedel Africa right, Feedel Africa services
00:26:27
all Africans, but it was through Feedel Africa that we were like
00:26:31
look, we're forgetting the female space.
00:26:34
Female entrepreneurship space is quite big.
00:26:36
Let's focus on helping female entrepreneurs.
00:26:39
There are so many of them.
00:26:41
Most of the informal businesses in Africa actually buy females.
00:26:46
They just don't have the support support for financing,
00:26:50
support for learning or platforms.
00:26:52
They just need to learn about e-commerce, platforms, etc.
00:26:55
So you adapt and you develop into something bigger.
00:26:59
You learn from mistakes.
00:27:01
Don't quit, take a step back.
00:27:03
You know, take a month, take five years.
00:27:06
De Dele was three, four years ago and I just sat and I said,
00:27:11
look, I want to get into business, but I need to have the
00:27:14
right product that I want to sell, that I believe in, that
00:27:18
can work, and I'm not an IT expert, so I can't, you know,
00:27:23
create some AI tool, some AI company, but I'm a product
00:27:28
person.
00:27:29
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: So that's what I look for.
00:27:30
Okay, that's very nice.
00:27:32
That's a really, really great.
00:27:34
Hey, this is Chasen Lez Up.
00:27:38
Next we'll get to hear more about how Tadiwa built up and
00:27:41
continues to strengthen her entrepreneurial mindset, what
00:27:44
success means to her, what it means to thrive abroad, as well
00:27:47
as Shades and Layers, rapid Fire .
00:27:49
So someone wants to follow in your footsteps, you know, and
00:27:57
yeah, just be adaptable, thrive in a foreign country, you know
00:28:02
where would you know?
00:28:02
Where would you?
00:28:03
How would you advise them to go about it?
00:28:06
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: would I call myself thriving in Italy?
00:28:08
Hmm, I, I think now I'm in a good place today.
00:28:14
A year ago, no.
00:28:16
So I would say the advice I would give to someone is really
00:28:19
think carefully about the country that you're in and what
00:28:24
opportunities are possible and are there and can work for you,
00:28:29
and do not copy.
00:28:31
The problem that I found with a lot of people, and you know,
00:28:36
trying to motivate people to be innovative is I'll give you a
00:28:41
perfect example of another project that I've kind of
00:28:45
partnered in my brother came to me and he wanted to get into the
00:28:49
cheese making industry and he said, well, I want to make gouda
00:28:53
and cheddar in Zimbabwe.
00:28:55
And I said, well, you can't do that because you know, if you go
00:28:58
to every supermarket, you can already found goda and cheddar.
00:29:02
Try to make something unique, something different.
00:29:05
That is your brand.
00:29:07
So that is the mindset that I try to encourage people to do.
00:29:11
So my brother now is well, actually it was the wife that
00:29:15
came to my brother and then he came to me.
00:29:18
So, yes, she entered the competition because I encouraged
00:29:28
her and I said, well, it's your idea, it's not my idea, it's
00:29:31
not my brother's idea, it's your idea, let's do this, you know,
00:29:34
let me support you, let me help you with this.
00:29:36
And she actually made it to the top 15 finals of Zimbabwe.
00:29:43
Uh, for the total energies startup challenge, startupers
00:29:47
challenge.
00:29:48
You know, the thing is she was afraid to talk to me about it
00:29:52
because she didn't think that it was possible.
00:29:55
She had to go through my brother, who then talked to me
00:29:59
and I said well, your idea is great.
00:30:01
Why are you limiting yourself?
00:30:03
Why are you afraid to put yourself out there?
00:30:06
You know, afraid to take that leap.
00:30:08
Do your research.
00:30:09
If the interest on the market is there, why not Try it out?
00:30:14
You have nothing to lose.
00:30:15
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Yeah, yeah.
00:30:16
So your advice be innovative think carefully about the
00:30:20
country where you find yourself.
00:30:22
Can you expand on that part, like you know?
00:30:25
Think carefully about the country where you find yourself.
00:30:27
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: Okay, so I'll give again the example of
00:30:30
my sister-in-law.
00:30:31
The reason why she loved the cheese industry was because I
00:30:35
went home with some Italian cheese about a couple of years
00:30:38
ago and you know I gave samples of the snacks.
00:30:42
You know everyone was used to cheddar and goda and feta.
00:30:45
Everyone was used to cheddar and goda and feta.
00:30:46
And suddenly I brought cheeses like grana padano and pecorino
00:30:52
and I talked about mozzarella all the time.
00:30:55
So she tasted it and she was like, oh, you know, this taste
00:30:59
is actually pretty great.
00:31:01
I would love something like that for Zimbabwe.
00:31:10
But in her mind she was thinking how open are people when it
00:31:12
comes to this?
00:31:12
I do want cheese, I do think there's a possibility to make it
00:31:14
.
00:31:14
Also the price points that I told her of Italy.
00:31:16
But then she wasn't.
00:31:18
She was afraid, fear of the unknown, wanting to only stick
00:31:23
to the traditional ways of making peanut butter, you know,
00:31:27
with the grinding, the stone grinding thing.
00:31:30
And once the machine came out, people were still like no, no,
00:31:33
no, I want to do it the old fashioned way, you know, because
00:31:36
I know it works.
00:31:37
So just taking that leap, you know you yourself like it.
00:31:41
Why do you think someone else won't like it?
00:31:44
And sometimes innovation doesn't have to be you are the only
00:31:48
person in the whole wide world who has created it.
00:31:51
Sometimes innovation is, for example, we have PayPal
00:31:56
internationally and in Italy, some startups, some founders,
00:32:01
came up with an Italian version called Satispay, which, in my
00:32:05
opinion, is exactly like PayPal, but they're the only ones to
00:32:08
bring it to the Italian market.
00:32:10
Same thing with Prosecco the rules.
00:32:12
Prosecco is Italian, from a specific region of Italy, veneto
00:32:17
, but international rules say that if no one has brought
00:32:22
Prosecco to your country, or Italian Prosecco to your country
00:32:26
, and you decide to start selling your wine as Prosecco as
00:32:30
number one, it's internationally accepted.
00:32:33
That's why now we have Prosecco from Australia, prosecco from
00:32:37
Albania, because they were like hey, I like that idea, I'm gonna
00:32:41
make my own they didn't follow the champagne law ah no, because
00:32:47
Italy also wasn't smart enough to kind of like put laws into
00:32:51
place.
00:32:52
That's the thing If you act slow , you give the opportunity for
00:32:56
someone else to just introduce your idea in their country.
00:33:00
So that is sometimes innovation you are just the first person
00:33:05
to bring something, so in my sister.
00:33:07
In this case she's not, you know.
00:33:09
She's bringing the innovative aspect of african cheese yeah,
00:33:15
doing cheese differently?
00:33:16
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: sure, yeah, exactly, but it's cheese,
00:33:18
it's cheese, absolutely.
00:33:20
So let's get into the rapid fire, and first question is if
00:33:23
you had to write your memoir today, what would you call it
00:33:26
and why?
00:33:28
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: The grass isn't always greener on
00:33:30
the other side.
00:33:31
Okay, I think it's self-explanatory, Because
00:33:37
sometimes, you know, we always assume and I think a lot of
00:33:41
people have been talking about it that what you see on social
00:33:44
media isn't always the grass is greener on that side.
00:33:48
And for me to be in this place that I am in today, in 2024,
00:33:55
since 2016,.
00:33:56
I can think of the many nights and the many months where I was
00:33:59
like will I have a salary, Will I have an income next month?
00:34:02
Because I came to Italy thinking that it was better and
00:34:07
offered way more opportunities than Zimbabwe.
00:34:10
Of course, yes, it ultimately did.
00:34:13
But now I've got the second part , which is okay.
00:34:15
Now I'm in Italy.
00:34:16
I have to stay in Italy till I'm 65 to get my pension.
00:34:20
If I leave Italy before retirement, I'm going to lose my
00:34:23
pension fund and then I'll go back to Zimbabwe and I'm stuck
00:34:29
to lose my pension fund and then I'll go back to Zimbabwe and
00:34:30
I'm stuck.
00:34:30
So is it greener to be in Italy or is it greener to be in
00:34:32
Zimbabwe, where your family is, where, if things go wrong, they
00:34:34
can take care of you?
00:34:35
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Yeah, that's the immigrant dilemma.
00:34:38
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: Yes, as a startup, you know there are
00:34:41
some funds that are there which I can't access or I have
00:34:46
difficulties in accessing, simply because I don't have a
00:34:50
family backer in Italy.
00:34:51
So sometimes there are some funds in Italy for startups to
00:34:56
get 80% funding, but you need to show some collateral Okay got
00:35:02
it, got it.
00:35:03
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: And who would your choice be for lead
00:35:05
actress if you had to make that book into a movie?
00:35:08
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: And who would your choice be for lead
00:35:09
actress if you had to make that book into a movie?
00:35:12
So I've recently oh, okay, no, oh, that's a difficult one
00:35:15
Because I love Danai Gurira.
00:35:17
Oh, yay, I love her.
00:35:19
I think she's a very strong woman, also because she's
00:35:23
Zimbabwean.
00:35:23
But at the same time, I've been watching've been following
00:35:30
lupita nyong'o, the movies that she's been making, like a quiet
00:35:33
place three, and now she's got a podcast.
00:35:36
She does a lot of traveling in africa and she's very relatable
00:35:40
to me as a person, as a black woman, you know it's lana is
00:35:44
more quiet, but she's zimbabwean .
00:35:46
But she plays very strong characters in wakanda, the
00:35:50
avengers and, you know, the walking dead.
00:35:53
So, oh, I would have to see who would be willing to be she's
00:36:00
also quite the activist.
00:36:01
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Uh, danai she's, she's quite the
00:36:03
activist also.
00:36:04
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: So yeah, but she does it kind of like in
00:36:06
the background she's very low-key but you know she does
00:36:10
some really impactful work she does, she does.
00:36:13
No, I don't discount that at all.
00:36:14
I just like I'm saying with lupita.
00:36:16
She's really pushing forward right now, like I think so yeah,
00:36:20
yeah, yeah, yeah listen, listen , listen.
00:36:22
This is africa.
00:36:23
This is the african experience.
00:36:24
Blah, blah, blah.
00:36:25
People, I've got the platform I want you to.
00:36:27
I'm going to make you pay attention.
00:36:29
She has American citizenship now she could disappear and be
00:36:34
more American, but she hasn't forgotten her African roots and,
00:36:38
like I said, I just started really supporting her.
00:36:42
In the past.
00:36:42
That was 99%, michonne.
00:36:45
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Yeah, Cool, cool, cool cool.
00:36:53
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: So how do you define success?
00:36:54
Success is oh, that's a difficult one.
00:37:02
Oh my gosh.
00:37:03
For me today, what I see as me being successful is being 100%
00:37:05
happy.
00:37:05
So the day I'm 100% happy, I will be successful.
00:37:10
I mean, yeah, I will be successful, because how do you
00:37:13
achieve happiness?
00:37:14
That is the ultimate question.
00:37:16
You know I wake up.
00:37:17
I am, I would say, 70% happy.
00:37:20
Now, really difficult to be happy in rainy, cloudy weather
00:37:26
in Milan, cold weather it really affects your mood.
00:37:29
It's really difficult when you're a startup because before
00:37:35
you become rich and successful, especially with a social impact
00:37:39
startup, every day there's a constant fight fighting for
00:37:43
clients, fighting to be accepted and recognized and getting
00:37:48
bashed by people because they don't understand you or they
00:37:52
look at you and say, oh, this African woman, what can she
00:37:54
teach me?
00:37:55
It's really difficult to be happy and also in my recent trip
00:38:01
to Zurich, I did see that classism plays an important part
00:38:07
in happiness.
00:38:09
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: You can buy happiness to an extent and
00:38:12
to buy happiness, you must be financially successful so you
00:38:19
want all the right things in place exactly.
00:38:22
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: so everything you know, socially,
00:38:25
romantically, financially, emotionally to be happy in all
00:38:30
those aspects, I will.
00:38:32
Once I achieve that, I will be successful Okay.
00:38:36
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: All right.
00:38:36
And if somebody wants to work with you, enlist your services
00:38:42
or just you know, give you money , where can they find you?
00:38:46
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: They can find me on LinkedIn Taniwa
00:38:49
T-A-D-I-W-A.
00:38:50
Linet L-I-N-E-T Mwashita on LinkedIn.
00:38:55
I will always respond to LinkedIn messages and I think
00:38:59
that's the easiest way to see me and my profile in what we do as
00:39:05
Feedel Africa.
00:39:06
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: That's great.
00:39:07
Thank you so much.
00:39:08
I really appreciate you giving me your time.
00:39:12
Tadiwa Linnet Mwashita: Thank you so much for having me.
00:39:14
I'm really excited and I'm actively looking for female
00:39:20
entrepreneurs with ideas and projects that want to get some
00:39:25
advice, mentorship, you know, looking for finance as I
00:39:29
mentioned before, we do actually work or have some investment
00:39:34
partners that are willing to invest in African entrepreneurs,
00:39:39
and that is all from me this time around.
00:39:43
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Thanks to Tadiwa for her generous
00:39:45
account of her journey so far.
00:39:46
I can't wait to hear what she'll do next, and thanks to
00:39:50
you also for listening.
00:39:51
Please visit the show notes to learn more about her work and,
00:39:55
while you are there, please rate and review the podcast so that
00:39:58
others can find us.
00:39:59
Five stars would be amazing.
00:40:02
Thank you, I'm Kutlu Anuskosana Ritchie, and until next time,
00:40:07
please do take good care.