Working towards sustainable energy
ANDREW Chikomba is among top young entrepreneurs who are involved in green energy through the provision of eco-friendly energy sources.
He is the founder and owner of a Bulawayo distribution company, Gemwitts Enterprises, formed about eight years ago.
From an idea that registered in Chikomba’s mind the time he lost his job in 2011, his company Gemwitts Enterprises has grown to become one of the leading suppliers of solar packages in Bulawayo.
The company provides a wide range of products from LED solutions for mining to household lighting as well as scalable off-the-grid power solutions for industrial and domestic applications.
On the information and communication technology side, Gemwitts also supplies some of the latest computer accessories.
Operating with limited resources, Andrew started providing information technology support, designing websites and providing supporting programming packages. During that time, he had registered Gemwitts Enterprises.
It was while Andrew was fully engrossed in running his small, but highly competitive firm that Gemwitts clinched a deal with Sunde-Electronics, a Chinese manufacturer.
“The company evolved from pure consultancy to include hardware distribution, of thin clients as well. It was at this point while distributing thin clients that we saw a gap in the market emanating from the ‘global’ energy crisis that we ventured into LED Lighting Technology, which are solutions that create the most amount of light, using the least amount of energy and with a very long lifespan,” he recalled. He gets some of his supplies from Hungary. Gemwitts has since become a household name in Matabeleland, providing good solar products and accessories. What, however, have endeared Gemwitts to the market is its empowerment policies to the youth, where it is disbursing starter-packs to young men and women to kick-start their businesses.
“We first train the youths in the use of solar and other alternative forms of green energy, while honing their entrepreneurial skills, before giving them the consignments,” he said.
The enterprise has enlisted many youths in Matabeleland province, with plans to increase the numbers to accommodate the growing demand.
Chikomba is also chairman of Dr CADx, a medical innovation which provides a computer-aided diagnostic system that helps doctors diagnose medical images more accurately and at a low cost, will help reduce the human errors that have dire consequences for patients and drive up medical costs.
He says his own life is testimony of what one can achieve once they set their mind to it. In 2015, Chikomba was awarded the First Runner-up Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, which is a subsidiary of the Megafest Business Awards. He is also a 2015 fellow under the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.