Roselyn Musarurwa-Charehwa’s entrepreneurial journey is an inspiring story of how a woman turned her retrenchment into an opportunity, paving her way to success and fulfilling her dream of not only owning her own company but growing it beyond her expectations.
Roselyn is the brains behind Surdax Investments, a family-run business she established in 2009, which currently employs over 200 people. Surdax provides cleaning, landscaping, and garden maintenance services. Additionally, the company manufactures personal hygiene products and popular household detergents.
The company’s well-known brands in the Zimbabwean market include Mr. Shine hard surface cleaner, Sparkle dishwashing liquid, Healthy Hands hand sanitiser, Ultra Soft fabric softener, and a new range of Surd-Pure products. These include hand and surface disinfectants, pine gel, toilet cleaner, scouring powder, shower gel, bath gel, floor polish, liquid floor sealer, window cleaner, and thick bleach.
They also offer other products such as Sani wipes, face masks, gloves, face shields, automatic hand sanitiser dispensers, thermometers, and foot pedal dispensers for sanitisers.
As the managing director of the company, Roselyn has proven herself to be a competent entrepreneur. Under her leadership, Surdax Investments has grown so rapidly that it is now expanding beyond the borders of Zimbabwe.
After capturing a sizeable share of the Zimbabwean market, Surdax opened new offices in Zambia under the name Surdax Africa. This development shows the company’s continental growth trajectory and sets it apart from many local competitors.
Although she is now on the path to success, life was very different for Roselyn in 2004, when she faced the harsh reality of losing her well-paying job with the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
After receiving her retrenchment package, she took a bold step and, with no prior experience in entrepreneurship, ventured into various business opportunities, including selling imported clothes and collaborating with other women to provide catering services.
Her breakthrough came with Surdax Investments. As Zimbabwe and the rest of the world were rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Roselyn had her hands full establishing her company as a force to be reckoned with.
It was a business opportunity she seized with both hands, positioning her company – which supplied hygiene and cleaning products – on a growth trajectory and placing it in the spotlight for its role in combating the global pandemic.
Roselyn, who won the 2016 International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge (IWEC) award, shared with Huffington Post how she refused to view her retrenchment as a setback in her life.
“I’ve always had the ability to identify opportunities in any situation and to turn negative situations into positives. I also have a talent for responding rationally to complex situations. So, I knew there was something different about me, but I didn’t categorize it as being entrepreneurial. The ability to use these qualities to generate income only became clear when I was backed into a corner: without a job and no one to turn to. So, I dived in without giving it much thought and found myself swimming with the sharks! The inflation rate in Zimbabwe was the highest in history, and what I thought would be easy turned out to be a nightmare – survival of the fittest.”
Born and raised in a family of six, Roselyn began showing traits of resilience at an early age.
“I learned to stand up for myself from a young age. The bullying I received from my brothers helped me develop resilience. My mother believed I was behaving in an unladylike way, and the more I stood up for myself, the more she reprimanded me. We clashed over this numerous times. But my dad admired my ability to stand up for myself. He was an unorthodox African dad.”
Describing the challenges she faced in setting up her own company, Roselyn reflects on her learning experiences.
“It took a lot of brainstorming and many false starts, but the cleaning services company I started eventually grew into garden maintenance. Then I started wondering what to do with all the waste generated by cleaning gardens and buildings. The company is still a work in progress, but we are educating communities about environmentally friendly ways to discard waste, creating a safer living environment, and empowering women and youth with jobs.”
Having to constantly prove that a woman can run a company just as well – if not better – than a man has become something Roselyn is accustomed to.
“I have faced male chauvinism and dealt with both women and men who believed a man should be at the helm of an organization. Facing these obstacles head-on has helped me grow as a leader. I’ve also empowered myself by furthering my education to be well-equipped to hold my own with fellow leaders in this field.”
However, she encountered her biggest challenge on the academic front, as she balanced her studies while also growing her business.
“My biggest challenge was undertaking my MBA studies. This came at a time when the business was growing and needed my attention, and so did my daughters, who were starting school. So, I had to develop good time management strategies. I learned this through trial and error. Initially, I put too much responsibility on my colleagues, and because they were overwhelmed, productivity suffered. This experience made me more aware of business operations. I also struggled to find competent, responsible staff. Now, we engage college graduates with no work experience and offer on-the-job training.”
Roselyn’s journey over the years has demonstrated her resilience, perseverance, and determination. She has seized many opportunities along the way and, despite conducting business in an economically challenging environment, has shown both the ability and entrepreneurial acumen to lead Surdax Investments to greater heights.
