Shandirayi Mahemu lived in the UK for several years, but he is back home in Chipinge to fulfil a long-cherished dream — to turn his hometown into Zimbabwe’s very own Silicon Valley. For those not in the know, Silicon Valley, located in the south San Francisco Bay area of California, is known as the world’s pre-eminent hub for technology. As our Editor-in-Chief Munyaradzi Huni recently found out, Shandirayi is already turning his dream into reality. Read on . . .
to construct a state-of-the-art macadamia processing plant in Chipinge
Whenever the late Elias Munhundiripo-Makandeni, the former Tanganda Tea Estate field manager, visited his farm, Rosywood Mahemu Estate, he took his young son, Shandirayi, along with him. L:ike many young boys of his age at the time, Shandirayi enjoyed the trips to the farm but it never occurred to him that one day the onerous responsibility of running the farm would rest squarely on his shoulders.
But fate decided otherwise. On 3 April 1987, Elias Munhundiripo-Makandeni was shot dead in his office while preparing the farm payroll. Naturally, Shandirayi was gutted by his father’s untimely death. He turned his back on the farm and sought solace by migrating to the UK. A number of opportunists took advantage of the void to settle themselves on the farm, but soon vacated without any external intervention. The superstitious among us would be tempted to say Munhundiripo-Makandeni was protecting his legacy from his abode somewhere beyond the stars.
Shandirayi means “to work” in Shona and that is exactly what the junior Munhundiripo-Makandeni is doing as he works to keep his father’s legacy alive. Coincidentally, this visionary prefers to be called by his first name which, no doubt, motivates him to work hard.
The second oldest son in the family, Shandirayi started making plans to relocate to the farm in 2014. In November 2015, Shandirayi and his wife visited the farm for the first time since 1994. This rekindled his love affair with the farm and he immediately made a life-changing decision to bring it back to life. It was as if his father had whispered something in his ear, something not even he could resist. He responded to the “whispers” by investing millions into Rosywood Mahemu Estate which, according to its website, “is a multi-faceted farm, which specialises in potatoes, peas, cattle ranching, dairy cattle, bananas, avocados and macadamia nuts”.
“The farm is now completely mechanised with state-of-the-art equipment. From building dams and pivot irrigation to building a dream farmhouse – Rosywood has changed the local community.”
Now the executive chairman of Rosywood Mahemu Estate, Shandirayi and makes no secret of the fact that he is a proud son of the soil from rural Chipinge. And he is back home to make a difference, not only in his life, but that of Chipinge as a whole.
before his untimely death remains was something to marvel at,” says Shandirayi
The Brick by Brick team was afforded the opportunity to tour the macadamia nuts processing plant currently under construction just outside Chipinge Town. Unfortunately, Shandirayi was out of the country at the time, but he did not mind sharing his vision by phone.
“The project is a huge commitment to Chipinge and Zimbabwe as a whole. It’s the brainchild of Shandirayi Mahemu, born and bred in Chipinge. After spending a good part of my life in the Diaspora, I decided to come and invest back home, where my roots are.
“The development is multi-faceted. We have a farm (or rather 2 farms) and a macadamia nuts processing factory. On the farming side, we are aggressively growing potatoes, macadamia nuts and avocado pears. I inherited the first farm from my father while I am leasing the second from a local family sympathetic to our cause. We have invested over US$15 million into the farming operations since 2016 while the factory alone has gobbled up US$25 million. Needless to say, the factory is one of the biggest in Southern Africa with state-of-the-art machinery and pioneering systems.
“My late father is my biggest inspiration. What he achieved in a short space of time before his untimely death remains was something to marvel at. I am in awe of him up to this very day. I regard myself as a visionary who dreams big. No wonder it is difficult for some of my peers to comprehend my long-term plans at this stage. My overarching desire is to see Chipinge on the world stage and everything else tends to radiate from there.
“Shingirayi’s long-term vision is to see the world’s most sophisticated, green, education and tech city in my lifetime. To see the equivalent of Silicon Valley of California right here in Chipinge; to see a Cambridge area, where Harvard is situated; to see a mini-Miami along Save River here in Chipinge; to see the world’s biggest airport, metro system, [pothole-free] road network here in Chipinge. That’s my desire. We have to start from somewhere and the processing plant is the ignition for that.
“We are preparing the plant to be ready to take delivery of [macadamia] nuts next season (2024). We are planning a total of 1,200 hectares of macadamia which will start to feed our factory in 2025. It will be of immense benefit to the local macadamia farmers who were getting disillusioned with the current nut-in-shell market. The factory will be a game-changer for Zimbabwe.
“The future is exciting. If we just zero-in to the processing plant, it will start processing up to 6,000 tonnes of nuts, increasing to 16,000 tonnes over the next 5 years. In that period, we will start taking delivery of cashew nuts from our partners in Tanzania as well as locally produced pecan nuts for pasteurisation. There are also plans in the pipeline to dry and package mangoes for the local and export markets.”
Clearly, the sky is not even the limit for the highly ambitious Shandirayi. What, therefore, is the secret behind his phenomenal success, Brick by Brick wanted to know?
The answer was spontaneous: “Our ethos is simple. It was handed down to me by the founder of the organisation, Elias Munhundiripo-Makandeni – ‘If you do the best you can, you automatically take care of your future and the future of your children.’ Thanks to that ethos, Rosywood Mahemu Estate’s emphasis is on the most humane and natural farming methods we can achieve, whilst striving to achieve complete mechanisation so that we can ensure the produce we farm is the best in the country, and achieve the highest possible yield . . .
“Though Rosywood Mahemu Estate has grown into a large-scale corporate organisation, the family values remain at the centre of all its activities and, with Shanda as its chief executive, that will continue up to the grandchildren of Munhundiripo for many generations to come.”
Wherever he is, Munhundiripo-Makandeni must be wearing a broad smile on his face. With such a visionary for a son, his legacy is certainly guaranteed for posterity!
