In 1997, fresh out of university with a bachelor’s degree in business studies split between marketing and finance, Josephine Takundwa embarked on a professional journey that would soon take an entrepreneurial turn. After joining a UK-franchised solar equipment manufacturer, she quickly transitioned to a second company specializing in electrical engineering following the liquidation of her first employer. It was here, where her curiosity for technical solutions and entrepreneurial instincts began to merge.
“While my bachelor’s degree was in business studies, with a split between marketing and finance, I remember very well how I also had an interest in things technical always wanting to know how different things worked,” she recalls. Spotting an unaddressed gap in the market for surge protection solutions, she left her corporate position after three years to launch Earthlink Technologies, a company that has since become a cornerstone of Zimbabwe’s electrical engineering landscape.
Starting with surge protection, Earthlink has expanded its portfolio to include voltage stabilization, power backups, power line repairs, electrical installations, earthing systems, and data network installations. Reflecting on more than two decades in the field, Josephine attributes her success to relentless innovation and a team that shares her vision.
But her journey didn’t stop at engineering. Driven by a desire to make a more direct impact on marginalized communities, she ventured into agribusiness after 24 years in the engineering space. “After years of providing technical solutions to industry, I was struck to do something that gives me a direct feel of transformation in people’s lives,” she explains. This pivot led to the creation of Sesame for Life, an initiative aimed at empowering women farmers and youth through sustainable sesame farming.
“Diversifying into agribusiness also became easy because these are completely divergent industries and working in one provides a “refreshment” as you work between the two.” Josephine recalls.
Balancing Divergent Worlds
Managing two businesses in vastly different industries requires a delicate balance, it requires not just vision but strategy. “Dealing with completely separate sectors, it means that the stakeholders you are working are completely different. Besides the stakeholders each sector also has ongoing developments at a technical level and it is important to also keep up to date,” she notes. To navigate this complexity, she employs a strategic dashboard for each company, tracking key priorities and developments.
While her experience in electrical engineering runs deep, her foray into agribusiness has been a refreshing challenge. “. As I have been in the agribusiness space for fewer years compared to the electrical engineering space, learning and absorbing new information in the sesame sector is a good and refreshing challenge for me as I will be learning new things. It gives me new perspectives as I switch between the two disciplines.,” she says. Despite being newer to the sesame sector, she finds it invigorating to learn and adapt.
Her focus on team building has been integral to this dual success. “I am glad that in both companies I have the support of good staff and this lessens the demands on me as an individual. The staff have trainings in technical aspects of the business, and they are actually able to provide relevant input into the businesses,” she emphasizes. Training and empowering her staff not only lighten her workload but also ensure that both companies remain innovative and competitive.
Empowering Women and Transforming Lives
As a woman navigating male-dominated fields, she is acutely aware of the hurdles her gender faces. “Despite efforts to empower women in all sectors of industry and economy, the traction, and results are not yet commensurate with the efforts,” she laments. However, she remains optimistic, advocating for targeted mentorship and support to enable women to assert themselves in traditionally male spaces.
Josephine calls for the government and the private sector to demonstrate a genuine commitment to transitioning from policy formulation to practical implementation. It is essential for both sectors to practice what they advocate and move beyond merely fulfilling stakeholder expectations on gender mainstreaming and equality. In Zimbabwe, the government appears to be more progressive in this regard compared to the private sector. Clear gender policies have been established, implemented, and tracked by the government, as evidenced by the monitoring of the ratio of women to men on state-owned enterprise boards. In contrast, Josephine highlights that the private sector needs to exhibit greater transparency concerning gender equality and related issues.
Through Sesame for Life, she has seen firsthand the transformative power of empowering women. The initiative encourages women farmers to form business groups (Mukando), pooling resources to invest in their communities. These efforts have led to improved household incomes, better healthcare, education opportunities for children, and even livestock purchases.
Her work has extended to training women and youth in financial literacy and farming as a business, with a current focus on caregivers of HIV/AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe’s Makoni District in Manicaland Province. “We have seen women upgrading their households, sending children to school, attaining better healthcare, and even buying cattle from this,” she says.
To date, she has trained over 7,000 farmers, especially women and youth, in sustainable agriculture. She holds an MBA and various professional qualifications and has received multiple awards for her business contributions and women’s empowerment. Her notable achievement includes winning the Energy Entrepreneur of the Year at the African Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Awards in 2021. She is also an Economic Empowerment Fellow in the Young African Leaders program.
A Vision for the Future
Looking ahead, Josephine envisions a broader impact for both enterprises. Earthlink Technologies aims to evolve in tandem with advancements in artificial intelligence, reshaping itself for the future of electrical engineering. Meanwhile, Sesame for Life is set to expand its reach, incorporating research and development, and manufacturing sesame-based condiments for international markets.
At the heart of her vision is her enduring passion for entrepreneurship. “It is important, however, for me to bring to the fore that while entrepreneurship comes with many advantages to the individual, and preferable to employment- (at least for me!) it is not always a walk in the park.,” she admits. “It comes with its attendant challenges, and resilience and perseverance are important qualities that you must have or develop in order to succeed.”
Her message to aspiring entrepreneurs, especially women, is clear: “If you have your vision and sound business plan, topped by a passion for your innovation or idea, go for it. Women in particular must rise to the occasion and push to change the narrative for women as a minority in business and development.”
With two thriving companies and an unwavering commitment to innovation and empowerment, Josephine Takundwa exemplifies the transformative power of entrepreneurial leadership in Zimbabwe and beyond.