LOCAL women’s empowerment group, the Red Lipstick Revolution, has set up an inaugural two-day conference in Dubai that has been self-funded to the tune of US$100 000 to help diaspora women to seek business opportunities in that
market.

BY TATIRA ZWINOIRA

Speaking to NewsDay Business yesterday, Red Lipstick Revolution founder Abigail Magwenzi said they were hoping to create business opportunities for women in agribusiness, solar and trade.

“We have over 20 000 members that are involved in this movement, mostly from Zimbabwe. We now have chapters … We have 100 delegates that will be meeting in Dubai. That is our target figure … This is all self-funded with about
US$100 000, whereby the delegates are funding themselves. This is from the 8Bs mindset reprogramming workshop that we teach. It makes people see opportunities where others don’t see opportunities and already the 8Bs has made a difference in their lives,” she said.

The 8Bs is an ideology that seeks to change mindset, such that one is: busy, business-minded, bankable, able to brand, feels beautiful, blessed, balanced and the best.

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“This is why people are finding themselves willing to invest. While people are talking about the ‘January disease’ these ones (delegates) are going. There is a selection that has taken place for these delegates and these are the ones we are going to use to build on,” Magwenzi said.

She said Dubai had many opportunities that could be exploited due to its emphasis on promoting tourism which is why it was chosen.

The 100 delegates are Zimbabwean diasporas from mainly the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, with those from other European countries also expected.

From Zimbabwe, 50 women will be also making the journey for the two-day conference called “Zim Women Do Dubai” slated for February 20 and 21.

“Women are strategically positioned to identify business opportunities and trends in those countries and products to be produced or manufactured in Zimbabwe meeting the clearly spelt out criteria,” Magwenzi said.

Buy Zimbabwe is also partnering the Red Lipstick Revolution with the hope of learning from the Dubai market.

“As Buy Zimbabwe, we are trying to build strong brands that can represent Zimbabwe in the global arena, in the regional arena. So, it would be interesting to have a Buy Zimbabwe supermarket in Dubai selling wholly produced Zimbabwean products,” Buy Zimbabwe general manager Vandudzai Zirebwa said while speaking at the Press conference.

“So why we do partner organisations such as the Red Lipstick Revolution is to have exposure to everything. How are they doing it? How are they packaging the products that are being bought in the external market? So, the reason for going to Dubai is to learn how people are doing it.”