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By Golden Sibanda
HE is a man of few words, but when he opens his mouth to say something you are can rest assured that he utters words of wisdom and optimism, no matter the magnitude of challenges.
Until mid last year, he had maintained a back seat position on the issues of business advocacy, having only acted in support of the then president of an influential business lobby group.
You certainly can never hold a great man down forever. Last year he rose from the lower echelons of the lobby group to claim his position amongst the Who’s Who of business leadership.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome Mr Trust Chikohora, the sitting president of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, one of the country’s biggest representative bodies for business.
Mr Chikohora was born in the rural parts of Masvingo and left these environs for the brighter and inspiring surroundings of city life in Gweru, where he did his primary and secondary education.
The 36-year-old affable president of ZNCC moved to Gweru from Masvingo at the age of three, attended Cecil John Rhodes Primary School, Fletcher High and Kwekwe High for his secondary education.
After completing his high school education the academically gifted ZNCC president enrolled with the University of South Africa for a Bachelor of Accounting Science degree.
This did not quench his thirst for knowledge and he enrolled with the University of Zimbabwe for a Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Accounting and later qualified as a chartered accountant.
His brilliant educational background saw him successfully registering as a Public Auditor and Fellow of the Institute of Directors of Zimbabwe. He upped the scales and studied for a Master of Business Administration, as his passion to acquire more knowledge continued to push him.
In recognition of his highly regarded educational background, Mr Chikohora was nominated to sit on the council of Charted Accountants of Zimbabwe and Institute of Directors of Zimbabwe.
As a man of great vision and ambition he had risen through the ranks at Deloitte and Touche in Gweru to become Manager in Charge (Gweru). But he had his sights on bigger challenges in the private sector, where he served as the finance director of a leading industrial firm.
He joined ZNCC in 2004, rising through the ranks from regional to national level, where he first deputised as president for two years.
He ascended to the position of ZNCC president in July last year at the chamber’s annual general meeting where he took over from the then president of the business lobby, Mr Obert Sibanda.
Mr Chikohora would not have risen to the demanding leadership positions of the chamber at a better time, tucking into the thick of things at ZNCC, after a decade of economic volatility.
“The economy faces various challenges after a decade of economic decline and so the challenges have centred on ensuring that the chamber plays a key role in economic growth,” he said.
“United we stand and divided we fall”, so goes the saying attributed to US statesman John Dickinson, who lived between 1732-1808. And this best describes ZNCC’s experiences.
“We have worked together as a team with the national executive committee of the chamber and this unity of purpose together with support from our members, co-operating partners and other stakeholders has made ZNCC occupy its rightful place in the economy.”
As such, the chamber had to ensure members stuck together like brick and mortar to effectively advance their interests.
As of last year, the chamber had more than 1 000 members.
ZNCC regards itself as the voice of business, which represents their interests through lobbying, collaboration and facilitation.
Says the business representative group: “The chamber provides a focus on business empowerment as the engine for economic growth and also encourages competitiveness in the economy.”
Mr Chikohora said the business representative group is a leader in business development and a channel of communication between business and the various authorities in Zimbabwe.
To effectively discharge its mandate, ZNCC collaborates with other representative groups with similar interests such as the Chamber of Mines and Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries.
Asked to comment on the economy, Mr Chikohora would only read from the same pages as his counterparts in business circles, zeroing in on the crippling liquidity crisis.
He contends that there generally is no cash for retooling and working capital for business and that when the money is available it would either be expensive or very short term in nature.
The ZNCC boss believes to extricate business from its current economic shackles there is need for the Government to open up lines of credit, which are affordable and long term in nature.
It is also the ZNCC boss’s considered view that the Government must lead the way in negotiation for lines of credit and also ensure improved inflows of foreign direct investment, which he said was very critical for both business, economic growth and development.
Like every either business- minded leader, Mr Chikohora believes there is also need to address the meagre salaries of civil servants, who make the bulk of employed people, to create demand for products as current salaries mean the workers have little disposable income.
The critical power shortages would also not escape his list of major stumbling blocks to business prosperity and so did erratic water supplies.
Mr Chikohora is a man who is not daunted by a task no matter how insurmountable it might appear and he believes an overhaul of ageing infrastructure would solve the perennial problems of power and water.
Many might not understand where his passion for business comes from.
He is an entrepreneur par excellence in his own right. He runs a chartered accountants firm in his hometown, Gweru.
As if he does have enough on his hands already, he also runs an employment agency in the same city and holds several directorship and chairmanship positions on the boards of several companies.
He is always a man of positive thinking and believes that in spite of the many challenges besetting the economy it will grow by double-digit figures this year.
“I am looking forward to a year of continued economic growth for as long as we continue with market-based policies and a stable socio-political environment which is conducive for business.
“In fact, if we step up our thrust as a country for economic growth, and address some of the challenges I raised above, we could get to double-digit economic growth,” said Mr Chikohora.
It is the kind of positive mindset synonymous with a man whose role model is the man who defied apartheid in South Africa, serving 27 years behind bars and eventually becoming the Rainbow Nation’s first  black president, Nelson Mandela, whom he believes made a positive difference for humanity.
His beliefs are deeply rooted in Christianity.
From the Holy Book the ZNCC boss is inspired by King David, who loved the Lord, was a worshipper and made a positive difference for Israel.