Vimbai is the CEO and Creative Director at Batoka Hospitality Group. She wishes to use hospitality and tourism to create sustainable livelihoods and local economic growth, alleviate poverty and get people to a place where they can live at a decent human level. For her, this isn’t a profit-making venture but a social one.

As a 27-year-old, she’s preparing to open the doors of Batoka Zambezi Sands River Lodge, a luxury game lodge in Zimbabwe.

With Vimbai at the helm, Bakota Hospitality Group is also the first black female-owned Safari Lodge group in Africa.

About this Episode

In this episode, Vimbai talks about her journey to building the Batoka Hospitality Group and how she wanted to help the community build its funds and help people develop their economy. Moreover, she also addresses the difficulties of being a female entrepreneur within the tourism and safari industry, and shares advice about how people can make their journey smoother. 

Tune in to an inspirational podcast!

Quotes

3:30 – The level of poverty and number of people in poverty that we have seen, for me as well as anyone, is heartbreaking

3:48 – Tourism is the primary source of income for the region, clearly from what we were seeing as we were driving through was that the locals themselves were not benefiting from that

4:03 – The purpose is how we can make sure that we collaborate, partner, actually partner with the local community to ensure that they will be benefiting from this industry that generates the most income for the city

5:10 – We are very hospitable people. We love to serve. Africans regardless of which part of the continent you come from, you’ll find that Africans love to serve, and they love to make people comfortable in their homes

6:28 – Taking up space and being confident in owning the safari lodge, being confident in being part of the industry and also just trying to pay the way to me

8:38 – it’s all about being confident in yourself, and the skills and capabilities that you have, trying to be comfortable in taking up your space and owning your space in the industry

9:12 – Believe that you deserve to be there and are supposed to be there. It’s all about how you train yourself mentally

10:19 – Empower people to build ecosystems that provide for economic growth

15:43 – Focus on the cultures of various tribes that are in that area  

18:45 – The foundation that inspired taking the risk of Betoga, especially just going into an industry that I really don’t know and doing it particularly because of the mission, which is to transform African lives

19:09 – I just want to make sure that we provide the same opportunities and access for our brothers and sisters on the continent

Useful Links

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vimbai-m-47165916b/

The Matrix Green Pill Podcast: https://thematrixgreenpill.com/ 

The Matrix Green Pill Podcast: https://thematrixgreenpill.com/
Please review us: https://g.page/r/CS8IW35GvlraEAI/review