it’s about time we create a global
village network they say it takes a
village to raise a child I am that child
I’m a product of a network and network
of women who came together to raise me
up this is one of the reasons why I
dressed so colorful
I represent the many women that
contributed in making me the woman I am
today now I understand why Nasim Mandela
said people are not people without other
people I was born in Zimbabwe and I was
raised by a single mother a strong woman
who was surrounded by a strong Network
as an only child my mom could only
shield me from a few things one of the
things that I experienced from a very
young age was the domestic violence I
didn’t understand it but I knew it was
wrong I grew up with fear instability
and when things got bad at home my
mother used to take me from one house to
another I didn’t know why she did that
but for her she was protecting me I was
always worried what was going on when I
wasn’t there however as I went from one
house to another being taken care like I
was one of their own I realized the
value of a strong supportive Network
with this I so desired from a young age
to create such a community of women so
this young girl at the age of 16 had the
opportunity to go to London I grew up in
a cottage never ever dreamt of going to
London but my mother had that
and that dream involved me through the
support of her network that dream became
a reality
London beautiful city so many lights
totally different culture to what I had
grown up knowing it was challenging for
me but one of the things that I held
onto so tightly was the high quality
education that I was receiving I went
through my education so determined to
succeed simply because I wanted to make
my mother proud but more importantly
because I wanted to create that platform
and community for women I graduated in
2005 with the Business Studies degree
but much to my surprise I was pregnant
there was no part of the plan so I
realized how much my mom had been
disappointed in me to make matters worse
the friends that I had were not going
through the whole motherhood things so
the community that I had built for
myself was falling apart
inability to build a new community and
knowing the value of being surrounded by
positive women I challenged myself to
start a business at the age of 22 the
mission for this online magazine was to
light women simply because I know the
power of women working together one of
the things that I took for granted and
had not realized was that I had a mental
block and less mental block had
something to do with money in Zimbabwe
it is so taboo to ask for money when
you’re a young child you just cannot get
money from anybody so I realized as I
was going through this business idea I
could do everything else but I couldn’t
sell I could not ask for money well
what’s the business with no money
this challenge went on and on and on
until I dug deep and realized my
childhood was becoming a barrier to who
I wanted to become in 2011 my suburban
husband got a job to come to Zurich I
didn’t know where Switzerland was I had
no clue when we were going but I was up
for the challenge so we came to Zurich
with the family and at this stage I
decided let me start again
let me saw the magazine bad idea I was
lonely I knew no one and the sell of the
magazine left me extremely depressed so
I know what it’s like to be a woman in a
foreign country lonely feeling worthless
and most of all feeling like a failure
however being the strong African woman
our souls to be I challenged myself to
get out there I started going through
different networking events certainly
because again I need a network I need
women around me I wanted to build new
relationships I went to networking
events one after another this woke up my
dream again build that community I went
on to think about it this is when the
idea of the Women’s Expo came to me an
exhibition that brings women from all
parts of Switzerland under one roof not
only that an exhibition that has female
business owners and the exhibitors I
know what it’s like to struggle to find
customers I know what it’s like to grow
a business this was the perfect idea
there currently two hundred and forty
six thousand female business owners in
Switzerland that number was enough for
me to start
in 2013 at this stage I knew just six
female business owners my goal was to
have 40 exhibitors much to my surprise
the first exhibition had 87 exhibitors
that to me was such a big achievement
and we had 500 visitors in 2016 with 187
exhibitors in two thousand seven hundred
visitors as I’ve gone from strength to
strength I’ve realized for me as a woman
coming to Switzerland with no language
and no knowledge of what Switzerland is
about the success of this platform has
been because I have built a network I’ve
allowed myself to share my story where I
am going where I am coming from and most
importantly why I believe women should
work together every day I continuously
talk women should support each other
women should work together simply
because I am a product of her network so
if you would like to build your own
network I would say there are times
where you have to give more than you’d
want to get but most importantly if you
want to go fast I suggest you go alone
but if you want to go far then I would say go with others thank you