The other day, I was having a chat with a close family member based in Europe, a founder in the fashion tech space. I am her business mentor and sounding board. As we unpacked her entrepreneurial journey over the years, we established that, finding a safe and trust-based space where you bounce off ideas with like-minded founders, sharing the same about their own ventures, has to be the biggest founders' dilemma across the globe.
On investigation further, we established that other founders' communities had found ways to overcome this challenge. In Zimbabwe, there is a dearth of safe, trustworthy spaces, where founders feel free to share, cross-pollinate, mentor and co-coach each other about their new or expanded ventures. These are unique and exclusive spaces founded by the founders themselves, on a fee-based, conscious, dedicated and deliberate basis.
Unless you grew up in a family business or inherited one, entrepreneurship by its very nature is inherently a lonely and challenging journey, marked by uncertainty, risk and the necessity for resilience, razor-sharp focus and perseverance.
These traits are generated from inside of you and often a founder needs other founders to cheer them on, in order to get to the finish line, when the business launches.
Many would-be startups, simply vanish from the business landscape before their businesses see the light of day. Founders ought to rely on each other for validation, mentorship and shared learning, particularly during the critical phases from ideation to launch and beyond. At sector level, they do not always need to see each other as competition.
In many parts of the world, founders cultivate communities, networks, or clubs, in essence, entire founder ecosystems, that foster trust, confidentiality and mutual support. These environments enable entrepreneurs to share ideas, seek advice and navigate the inevitable pitfalls of startup life.
However, in Zimbabwe the landscape presents unique challenges. The low trust environment, characterised by fears of idea theft and business cannibalisation, hampers the development of such supportive ecosystems. Instead of open collaboration, entrepreneurs often operate in silos or guardedly, which stifles innovation and collective growth.
Trust is the currency of collaboration. Building it requires intentionality, patience and strategic engagement.
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This instalment explores how founders in other countries have navigated similar challenges and overcame them.
It looks at the importance of safe and confidential spaces and practical strategies for Zimbabwean founders to develop intimate, resilient, trustworthy entrepreneurial communities, despite the prevalence of a low trust environment. Business organisations such as the CZI and ZNCC, to name a few, whilst relevant, serve a different purpose altogether.
Founders’ dilemma: Need for safe
Founders, especially in early stages, often face the “founders' dilemma”: balancing openness and collaboration with the need to protect their ideas, before patenting them takes place. Sharing ideas publicly or even within loosely-connected networks can risk idea theft or business cannibalisation. Therefore, the creation of secure, intimate and trusted environments is essential for fostering honest dialogue, mentorship and collective problem-solving. The Caucasian community in Zimbabwe is no new to this phenomenon but they do it alone without including founders from other communities.
In high-trust ecosystems, such as the Silicon Valley or Israel’s startup scene, founders often join exclusive clubs or networks that enforce confidentiality, vet members carefully and promote a culture of trust. These entrepreneurial ecosystems serve as incubators of innovation, where founders can openly discuss their ideas, challenges and strategic plans without fear.
How other countries have overcome the founder’s dilemma:
Silicon Valley and the power of trust
Silicon Valley’s success has been partly due to the culture of openness, yet it also recognises the importance of trust and confidentiality. Many startup founders participate in exclusive accelerators, angel investor networks or mastermind groups that uphold strict confidentiality agreements. For example:
The Y Combinator (YC): The YC is a renowned accelerator that vets startups thoroughly and maintains confidentiality amongst its participants. It provides a safe environment for founders to share ideas, seek feedback and learn from peers, knowing that their intellectual property is protected.
The mastermind groups: Groups such as the Entrepreneurs' Organisation (EO) or private mastermind circles often operate on a confidentiality basis, enabling founders to share sensitive information with trusted peers.
Israel’s “Startup Nation”
Israel’s vibrant startup ecosystem is built on tight-knit communities of founders, investors and mentors who develop deep trust over time. Many Israeli entrepreneurs participate in exclusive clubs or mentorship circles that emphasise trust, often formalised through confidentiality agreements and shared cultural values.
Shared cultural values are key here. In Zimbabwe, about 90% of people refer to themselves as Christians, implying the sharing of a well- defined Christian value system. Yet, this value system stays in the churches founders belong to and very few founders adopt the same values in an entrepreneurial setting. Greed, chicanery and corruption supercedes any Christian value. This boggles the mind.
Scandinavia’s co-operative models
In countries such as Sweden and Denmark, cooperative models and business clusters foster trust among entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurial ecosystems operate with shared values and formal agreements that protect ideas and prevent cannibalisation, creating a safe space for innovation for founders.
Australia's startup hubs
Australian founders participate in industry-specific clusters or incubators that vet members and enforce confidentiality, enabling founders to share ideas without fear. Trust is central to these startup hubs.
Strategies for Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe’s context, characterised by low social and business trust and fears of idea theft, presents unique hurdles. In order to develop effective entrepreneurial support structures, Zimbabwean founders need a strategic approach that gradually builds trust and safeguards founders’ interests. This initiative has to be home grown by the founders themselves, without any government intervention.
Start with small , vetted clubs
Vetting process: Establish a selective process for founder clubs or networks. Potential members would have to undergo an application and verification process, which may include references, business history and interviews. This builds a foundation of trust among members.
Confidentiality agreements: The participation would have to be formalised with the understanding and signing of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to legally protect ideas shared within the exclusive group.
Small, cohesive groups: Initially, the groups ought to be kept small, in order to foster intimacy, accountability and trust.
Fee-based: Generally speaking, Zimbabweans do not put a premium price on business information. They believe it must be shared for free. That is why they will visit someone's business operation for the first time, copy everything by taking photos and go and duplicate the business. As a result, Zimbabwe has become an environment of copy-cats, where sectors with low barriers to entry are over-traded. Consequently, any new formation by founders to build trust-based founders ecosystems, must be fee-based. The fee-based collectives of this nature in the UK for example, are charging £3 500 and above per annum. That way, you separate the girls from the true businesswomen and the boys from the businessmen. These founders' clubs cannot afford to host freeloaders, because freeloading is not a value that should be upheld in these clubs.
Leverage trusted intermediaries
Mentorship programmes: Once set up, the club's secretariat engages reputable local entrepreneurs, business leaders, diaspora professionals, etcetera, as additional ad hoc mentors and facilitators.
Institutional support: Partner with trusted institutions such as banks, universities and relevant government departments on a triple helix basis, chambers of commerce and development agencies that can endorse these networks.
Build a culture of trust over time
Trust such as Rome, cannot be built in a day. It is gradual. Once participating founders realise the importance of maintaining trust, they will be encouraged to maintain it further.
Incremental sharing: It is vital to encourage founders to share less sensitive information initially, gradually increasing openness as trust develops.
Consistent engagement: Regular meetings, shared projects and success stories help reinforce trust and camaraderie.
Transparency and accountability: Establish norms of transparency, shared goals and accountability within the club.
- Ndoro-Mkombachoto is a former academic and banker. She has consulted widely in strategy, entrepreneurship and private sector development for organisations that include Seed Co Africa, Hwange Colliery, RBZ/CGC, Standard Bank of South Africa, Home Loans, IFC/World Bank, UNDP, USAid, Danida, Cida, Kellogg Foundation, among others, as a writer, property investor, developer and manager. — @HeartfeltwithGloria/ +263 772 236 341.
