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Flora Fadzai Sibanda, Chronicle Reporter

ALMOST everyone has the bug. Drive to any direction — east, west, south and north — you will see signs of houses and buildings being built — and residents who are now used to living and working in and around construction sites, dealing with the constant disruption, noise and frustration.

The need for a house, the thirst for brick and mortar, has resulted in a construction boom in Bulawayo and all the urban areas in Zimbabwe, a development that has birthed countless construction entrepreneurs. Most are snake oil salesmen, who don’t deliver what they promise, while a few are the real deal, they leave customers satisfied.

Musa Mashoko of GEM Holdings belongs in the league of the few. His company is headquartered in Bulawayo and has offices in the United States of America, United Kingdom and South Africa.

And not only are they into construction as GEM Builders and Developers, they have invested in real estate, farming, mining and retail.

“We had a hand in the building of Joshua Mqabuko Airport, we are building homes across the globe, we have even built supermarkets and so many other projects. Our prices depend on what kind of design that one wants. We have a fixed rate that we agree on with our clients. Most clients who approach us are those overseas as we have created a reputable image for ourselves so people trust us with their money and with getting the job done.

“Our company packages mealie-meal, matemba and beans. We buy these products from villagers in rural areas and package them. The dream is to have our own farm so that way we will produce our own food.

“We are also into mining. We mine gold and chrome at our mine, we also manage property for people who are living outside the country by taking care of their properties,” he added.

He says they have not abandoned the backbone of the company which is construction. “Construction will always be the backbone of our business because that is where we started it all,” said Mashoko.

But it was not always like this. Gem Holdings used to struggle for clients and recognition. Sharpriser, as it was named, was started by Mashoko and two of his late business partners in 2004
Saturday Chronicle visited Mashoko who said the company was started because of a desire to bring art and creativity in the brick and mortar sector.
Mashoko remembers the first house they built in Pelandaba suburb and that is the house which helped market their work and opened doors.

“From the first house that we built the company rose in such a sharp way that even us the owners were often in awe as everything happened so fast,” he said.
Unfortunately, Mashoko’s partners passed away over the years and after grieving their loss he stepped up and decided he would continue making them proud.

“I had to look for two other directors to help manage Sharpriser because I have always believed that more heads work well together when there are decisions that need to be made.”
When he partnered with his two current directors in 2018, they decided to open more branches as they felt it would give the company an edge over other companies.

“That is where the name GEM came from. We named our company GEM because we were now incorporating new items,” he said.

The lockdown did not affect them in any way because, according to Mashoko, they do not deal with the economy but have clients who have money so business has never been down for them.

He said they have managed to make a name for themselves over the years because of honesty, respect and good communication with their clients.

“As a businessperson you need to respect other people’s money just like you expect them to respect yours. That way it becomes easy to work with people.”

GEM Holdings has embraced the spirit of ubuntu and has a corporate social responsibility department.

“As a company that is doing so well because of God obviously we know we have a social responsibility that we are supposed to follow without any hindrance. Apart from donating to the orphanage, we have been building churches in new resettlement areas that have no churches.

After building it we hand it over to the people there, we do not decide for them what kind of church should they choose or how they should use it as long as everyone gets access to the church,” he said.

The businessman was husband to the famous late Bulawayo doctor, Dr Shamiso Matereke, the founder of Elite Medical Clinic situated along corner 5th Avenue and Josiah Tongogara Street. Her life was cut short by Covid-19 in 2021.

“We both had our own businesses. We used to motivate each other. We were each other’s number one cheerleader even though we both were not educated about each other’s businesses. She was my pillar of strength and I was hers,” he said.–@flora_sibanda