Zim IT exodus benefits SA

This is in no small way due to the fact that most professionals have during the past 12 years migrated to neighbouring South Africa, and further abroad, in pursuit of political asylum or economic survival. One of those professionals, who has gone on to make it big in SA, is IT specialist Frazer Nkhono.

The 29-year-old owns Panashe Trading Enterprises, a six-year-old company that has become a household name here, now registered with the Department of Trade and Industry. His mission is to cut IT headaches for clients through cost-effective measures and competitive rates.

“We equip companies with latest technology and teaching them how to upgrade from one level of software or hardware to the next without hassles,” said Nkhono.

“We also provide short courses and refresher courses for company personnel, in which we follow any programme requested by the client. We already have experienced trainers in various IT courses. The clientele base continues to grow because we have always left our contractors happy.”

PTE also does upgrades and remedial action in the event that a company’s computers are infected by the most worrisome viruses, which have become commonplace and are now bugging most corporate bodies, eating away important files on a daily basis.

“In the event that a company’s IT system has crashed due to viral infection, we provide a quick DATA Recovery/System Backup system with data storage, through our trained engineers who have worked with a number of companies in both Zimbabwe and South Africa,” he said.

Apart from office IT, Nkhono’s company has also diversified into doing Professional Graphics and Corporate Branding for a number of local companies, providing branding and artwork for offices, vehicles, clothing and other corporate material.

The company also creates, designs and hosts websites and provides CCTV Camera and Access Control Systems for some commercial and residential premises.

“The major problem we have in the IT business here is that we don’t get tenders from government, as these are reserved for locals,” said the Harare-born Nkhono, who holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology and Science Study obtained from the University of South Africa.

Before migrating, he owned Frazer Consultancy, an IT facilitation company that trained personnel for some renowned institutions back home. He hopes to return to his homeland and continue growing his business when the situation finally becomes viable again.