University of Zimbabwe and the Catholic University of Zimbabwe
paNhari
paNhari is a Zimbabwe-based organization that provides training in entrepreneurship, employment readiness and leadership development at the University of Zimbabwe and the Catholic University of Zimbabwe. The organization was founded to address the incompatibility between traditional university curricula in Zimbabwe and the skills students need in order to succeed as professionals.
The paNhari program includes four major components, offered to over 100 annually across the two institutions:
- Entrepreneurship Education
- Leadership and Non-Cognitive Skills Development
- Business Incubation
- Social Action
“Entrepreneurship Education” is a semester-long extra-curricular class at the University of Zimbabwe, and may be taken for-credit at Catholic University. Students learn financial literacy, marketing, grant writing, project management, business ethics and business plan development.
Leadership and Non-cognitive Skills Development takes place through two program offerings – a semester-long leadership class and a shorter workshop-oriented “Passport to Success” program. Through these, paNhari equips students with non-cognitive and “soft” skills that amplify their ability to engage in entrepreneurship and succeed in the workplace.
pNhari students work together in teams to apply their leadership and business skills directly to a community project, under the guidance and supervision of paNhari staff and mentors. Recent projects that have been founded by paNhari students and have received national and international recognition include:
- Shift Organic Technologies – specialists in integrated organic agriculture systems. A detailed description of their work is here and on Facebook.
- ZIMALL – One of Zimbabwe’s first online retailers. More information can be found here.
- CamLaps – An electronics retailing business which exclusively targets university students. Their website is here