Zimpraise badly miscalculated

EDITOR — I was following closely the recently held Zimpraise International Gospel and Music Festival from the preparation to the day Bishop TD Jakes landed in Zimbabwe.

I am among the bunch of disappointed people. What I saw was opposite of what I expected.

The festival idea and bringing in high profile people like Bishop Jakes and Bishop John Francis was commendable.

However, Joseph Madziyire and his team miscalculated.

The timing was wrong. How could they organise such an event on the very same dates with the Harare International Carnival? Whoever came up with these dates did a shoddy job. They could have done their survey and probably pushed the event forward.

However, the carnival was just one of the factors which affected the much hyped festival. Here are some of the things I observed.

It seems Zimpraise did their planning without involving some churches. The pricing was unrealistic.

The US$10 gate charge is a lot of money considering that there were free events elsewhere in town.

Such an event needs aggressive marketing.

Unfortunately, these guys did not realise that.

They thought Bishop Jakes would pull crowds.

The venue was also not central. Worship Guru, Harare