04/09/2026
🇿🇼 WHY I STARTED AN EDUCATION BUSINESS IN ZIMBABWE
To my fellow Diasporans this is one of my retirement strategies.
When I started thinking about retirement, I asked myself a simple question:
“What can I build today that will still be generating value 10, 20 or even 30 years from now?”
My answer was EDUCATION.
That is how Freshmo Academy was born.
We are building an education business serving children from ECD through to O Level, including ZIMSEC and Cambridge examination pathways.
And yes I see education as a business, a social investment and a legacy.
Why Education?
Because education is a need, not a luxury.
A good school can benefit generations of families.
It creates a sustainable income stream while simultaneously giving children better opportunities and, importantly for me, giving back to my ancestral home.
I want children growing up in rural Zimbabwe to have access to:
📚 Textbooks
💻 Technology
👩🏾🏫 Qualified teachers
⚽ Sports
🌐 Internet
🚿 Proper sanitation
☀️ Reliable solar electricity
💧 Borehole water
We even provide 100% bursaries to some students as part of our social responsibility.
START SMALL. GROW. SUSTAIN. FLOURISH.
You don't necessarily need millions of dollars to start a school.
You can begin by:
🏫 Renting a building.
Buying land and starting with cabin/wooden classrooms
🏗️ Using prefabricated classrooms
📦 Using converted container classrooms
➡️ Expanding as enrolment grows
The important thing is to start strategically and grow according to demand.
I deliberately chose a rural Growth Point setting because operating costs can be lower, while the demand for quality education is significant.
Our community has more than 200 households, including families connected to farming, to***co, paprika, cattle ranching and horticulture as well as parents who are soldiers, police officers, nurses and other professionals.
THE NUMBERS MATTER 📊
We started in May 2026.
By the end of the term, we had 70 pupils.
At an illustrative school fee of US$95 per pupil per term:
70 × $95 = $6,650 gross termly fees
Our target is 80 pupils when school opens on 8 September 2026.
And by January 2027, our projection is 120 pupils.
At 120 pupils:
120 × $95 = $11,400 gross fees per term.
Of course, gross school fees are not profit. You must budget for teachers, utilities, learning materials, maintenance, administration, taxes, transport and other operating costs.
But this is where the business model becomes interesting.
Once a school is established and enrolment is stable, there is the potential for recurring termly income, alongside additional revenue from:
👔 Uniforms
⚽ Sports uniforms
📚 Learning materials
🎓 Additional programmes
🚌 Other school services
Now imagine a larger private school with 500–1,000 pupils, charging considerably higher fees.
Do the maths.
The opportunity is there.
WHY I BELIEVE DIASPORANS SHOULD LOOK BEYOND BUILDING HOUSES
There is nothing wrong with building a beautiful home in Zimbabwe.
But I also ask:
What business will pay for the house?
What asset will generate income after retirement?
What can my children inherit that is bigger than a building?
For me, education is that answer.
I am not simply trying to make money.
I am building an income-generating legacy asset while creating opportunities for children who may otherwise have fewer choices.
Our school has borehole water, flushing toilets and solar power throughout the building.
This coming term, we are also planning to introduce Starlink internet connectivity.
This is my retirement project.
This is my way of giving back.
This is Freshmo Academy.
Start small. Grow. Sustain. Flourish.
Diasporans, don't only think about what you can buy when you return home.
Think about what you can build.
Because the greatest investment you can make in your ancestral home may not be another house.
It may be an institution that changes the lives of hundreds of children. 🇿🇼❤️
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