Thabani Msimanga came to me the way most people come to me. Through a friend of a friend, with a problem and a dream and not much else in between. He had tried the bike delivery business before. 2018. He would go into town and wait with the other bikers, looking for jobs the way a man looks for rain — standing still and hoping something falls on him. After a few months of waiting he quit. Six years later he met me.
One Bike. One Decision.
He got a job with Simbisa Brands delivering for Chicken Inn. The job had one interesting clause — stay a full year and the bike is yours. He did not stay the full year. He paid for the bike anyway and walked out with it under his name. That decision — to pay for what he wanted rather than wait for what was promised — is the first sign of the kind of person Thabani is.
He came back to me. He wanted flexibility. He wanted to work his own hours. He wanted something he could control. That was his entire asset base when we started. One bike and the desire to not be controlled.
Building the Foundation
I did what I always do. Facebook page. Instagram page. Online directories. Google Business Profile. Before I even got the website up, Thabani went into town one Tuesday and lined up with the other bikers. He made six dollars. I ran a Facebook advert without waiting. Enquiries started coming in on WhatsApp the same week.
On reviews — I pushed Thabani hard in the early months. We stopped at fifteen reviews with a 4.7 rating. The reason we stopped is specific. I had checked the best-rated competitor in the space. They had fourteen reviews. I wanted us to be the best rated. So we stopped at fifteen and let the number speak for itself.
The Search That Changed My Model
One day I searched: best bike delivery company in Zimbabwe. Thabang Express came up at the top. Both the Google Business Profile and the website. A company with two bikes and no office, sitting above InDrive — a global company operating across multiple African markets. AI recommendations had us ranked number two, behind only Dial a Delivery. The same Dial a Delivery that Thabani used to work for. He used to be their rider. Now he is their competition.
Forty Percent
Thabani Msimanga was the first person to give me a stake in his company. He gave me forty percent. Before him, I was building things and accepting once-off payments. I would create something real and watch someone else harvest what grew from it. That deal changed my model. I stopped being interested in once-off payments. I started looking at people differently — not just at their businesses, but at whether I believed in the person enough to grow with them.
Two bikes. No office. Number one in the country. The foundation is built correctly. When the resources come, they will land on ground that is already prepared.