Testimonials

I am delighted to be under the FICAD program that has presented me an exquisite opportunity to have hands-on experience after attaining my Electrical Engineering degree. Not only shall I applaud ZEPARU and its partner, ACBF, for the experience, but also for broadening my network and exposure as I have been interacting with significant fellows in the engineering field.

After graduating everyone hopes for a change in lifestyle, hopes are raised for a better life style, but then confronted with a dry spell, no job , not even voluntary , life becomes a mess, life becomes hopeless we begin to do things that we don’t enjoy just to put food on the table and cover our poor bodies. But there comes ZEPARU, ACBF and Jacob Bethel Corporation (JBC) with youth empowerment project. It wasn’t much about the money but the chance to be involved in the industry the chance to show case what we are made of.

I would like to thank ZEPARU for giving me a life changing opportunity that has created foundation onto which my career will be built on. I have been empowered with great entrepreneurial skills and industrial exposure that are crucial for every fresh graduate from University. I credit ZEPARU and ACBF for the FICAD project and may it be extended to other unemployed youths so as to create a free, empowered and highly innovative generation that has the potential of changing the world into a better place.

My name is Mangwiro Tinashe and I am an Agricultural Engineer by profession. I graduated from the University of Zimbabwe in 2016. I would like to thank ZEPARU, ACBF and the FICAD program for the opportunity that they gave me through the pilot project that was under the theme “Youth Empowerment and Entrepreneurship through Technology Transfer”

Since I finished school August of 2016 I have been looking for somewhere to start, with no industrial experience at all it was hard. I had almost given up when the FICAD program came to my rescue. I was just a stay home graduate, selling food items and clothes when I got an invitation to join a group of graduates who with the sponsorship of the African Building Foundation were to get 3 months of internship. This internship gave me a feel the professional world as well as attaining industrial skills .

The entire experience was amazing, and I wouldn’t have traded it for the world. I managed to design and implement engineering projects beneficial to the company I was engaged with. ZEPARU gave me the opportunity to discover several entrepreneurial opportunities within my scope. Today I can proudly say i am not the same person I was prior the internship period.

The youth empowerment program gave me scarce opportunity to have hands-on industrial exposure of processes, systems and machinery that were taught theoretical at university. I also had a chance to carry out maintenance work on these machinery and process improvement of the existing process through production work re-modelling. Production planning and controlling was one of the most excited experience l had during my attachment period since it has a greater link to my area of study.

This is a very good program which I greatly benefited from. I was able to gain some industry experience as well as meet and network with other inspiring individuals during the program. The FICAD project allowed me to identify key areas that I can further focus on and explore in my career. I thank ZEPARU for this great opportunity.

We would like to thank ZEPARU and all the stake holders involved for granting us the opportunity to gain industrial exposure at Schweppes Zimbabwe Limited, Harare plant through the internship programme. Having qualified with degrees in Production Engineering, through ZEPARU we were placed at one of the leading FMCG Manufacturers in the Zimbabwean industry and this was indeed an eye-opening experience. The hope now is to be able to use the experience and exposuretowards personal development and career growth.