By Sibusisiwe Vundla
While most young people his age were thrown into oblivion by the harsh effects of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, Donald Sibanda (26) innovated and set up a business that marked the beginning of his success story.
Donald recalls the difficulties he faced as he negotiated his way around police roadblocks that were mounted to enforce lockdown regulations.
But he was determined to ensure his small business, Deep Clean Mobile Car Detailing, grew bit by bit.
With the onset of Covid-19, Donald saw an opportunity of growing his clients by doing deep car, office and carpet cleaning.
His Deep Clean Mobile Car Detailing is now popular among companies and individuals within the city.
Because of his popularity and resilience, last in November 2021, he was nominated and eventually won Bulawayo Entrepreneur of the year organized by Megafest.
“I was really humbled to get a call from Megafest that I had been nominated within the entrepreneur category. When I eventually won, it gave me more courage and zeal to take my business to new heights,” said Donald.
Donald grew up in a family of four boys and that alone, was a stepping stone for him as there was no room for babysitting each other because one had to work hard in everything.
His parents were self-employed hence seeing them climb up the ladder motivated them as children to aim for greatness.
The idea of deep clean detailing struck him when he was in South Africa for the holidays.
He was impressed by a detailer cleaning a client’s car and the moment generated great interest in him. He didn’t hesitate to inquire more about how to start his own detail cleaning company.
He got all the information he needed without having to pay a cent.
From then he started saving money to buy all the equipment needed for his company. Then in 2021 during lockdown, he decided to start with what he had.
This article was produced under CITE’s We The Future project. The We The Future project seeks to increase the participation of young women in local and national governance processes through capacity building on digital skills.
