Self-proclaimed creative Dorcas Tariro Madyambudzi is the founder of Eklektos Accessories, a business that manufactures handmade accessories.
Thirty-year-old Madyambudzi is an alumna of Young African Leaders, an initiative of The MasterCard Foundation and USAID.
Madyambudzi started her journey by just selling accessories in 2006. She taught herself how to do different kinds of beading and eventually started working on personal designs using different kinds of raw materials. In 2009, she started making the accessories and selling them. Her inspiration came from seeing the works of other young innovators.
Madyambudzi strongly believes that there is untapped potential in Africa. Drawing on her experience as an entrepreneur and operations systems analyst, part of the work that she does is to empower young people across SADC to start their own projects.
She is also a part of The Financial Conduit, a group of graduates across Southern Africa who hold workshops to empower young people to start their own businesses.
A banker by profession, the jewellery hobbyist-turned-entrepreneur has her sights on attaining a certification in jewellery-making, which will enable her to work with precious metals and stones.
Her vision is to also train other young people in jewellery making, show the possibilities in accessory-making, and empower them to launch their own brands and create avenues of employment.
Troubled by her native Zimbabwe’s lack of access to running water, she set out to provide communities with solar powered irrigation systems.
Madyambudzi’s vision is to turn the initiative into a multi-faceted renewable energy company providing various products and services. She envisions becoming a global leader in the provision of clean energy like natural gas, hydropower, solar and wind power.
Her aim is to contribute to the complete abolition of the use of firewood and paraffin for cooking in homes. She explains that this will also reduce household expenditure in rural and urban areas, especially regarding the use of paraffin.
An avid traveller, Madyambudzi has joined a travel advisory website and regularly updates the site with positive reviews of places she has visited. She says that this is her way to ensure people from other countries get to read positive stories about African countries and gain better perspective of what Africa really has to offer.
Madyambudzi attributes her progress to the support of her family, whom she says were her first customers and critics.
She maintains that cultivating character traits such as resilience, integrity and self-discipline have been critical to achieving her goals. She says her faith in God has been her greatest source of strength.
