March 2013

Divine Ndhlukula started Securico, a small security business, from the cottage of her small house in Harare with only five employees, little capital and no experience in the security business. She was determined to take on the big and established security companies who had become a cartel in a largely male-dominated industry. Today, her $13 million business employs more than 3,000 employees and has become Zimbabwe’s most successful security firm. Before she founded Securico, Divine exemplified a true Smallstarter in her small and humble beginnings in business. During her time as a white-collar employee, she was ordering clothes from factories in Harare and selling them to colleagues. She used the proceeds from this small business to buy a heavy-duty truck that she leased out to construction companies. And then, she pivoted into the security services business. Securico personnel during a training session In December 2011, Divine won the Africa Award for Entrepreneurship ahead of 3,400 nominees in 48 African countries. Her company, Securico, has won 11 national awards since the company started operations in 1998 and is the first Zimbabwean security outfit to obtain the ISO international Quality Management certification. Divine is a staunch believer in the galore of opportunities and potential in Africa. According to her Forbes interview, she advises young and aspiring entrepreneurs to: ‘work your plan with passion, determination and diligence, and when a bit of cash starts rolling in, have the discipline to know that it is not your money yet.’ Divine Ndhlukula’s story is another proof that determination and passion are far more important than capital and experience in the success of an entrepreneur. A key lesson here is the power of starting small. Smallstarters have the hunger, passion and scale needed to create upsets in any industry, no matter how dominated they are by the existing players! Have you been using your day job, gender or lack of experience as excuses from taking action on a small business idea you’re very passionate about? We hope Divine has inspired you today! Remember, you can find more interesting success stories and business opportunities like this one in the Business ideas section of Smallstarter. Smallstarter 14 March 2013

Divine Ndhlukula is a Zimbabwean businesswoman and farmer who was born on February 5, 1960 in Gutu, Zimbabwe. She has gained wide recognition for her entrepreneurial skills, having built an over 4,000 strong employee base from the humble beginning of her garage. She has an MBA in Business Administration from Midlands State University and another MBA in Business Administration also, from Women’s University in Africa, in recognition of her effort in business leadership and efforts on gender equality. She started SECURICO, a security company, in Dec 1998 right in the cottage of her small home in Harare with 4 employees, after she realized that there is a gap in the market for a service and quality oriented security services provider. SECURICO is the Zimbabwean manned security company to be certified to the internationally acclaimed ISO9001:2008 Quality Management System. SECURICO is also the largest employer of women in Zimbabwe – currently 900 outside government. It is one of Zimbabwe’s largest security companies. The Harare-based outfit is a market leader in the provision of bespoke guarding services and cutting-edge electronic security solutions. She is also the Managing Director of DDNS Security Operations (Pvt) Ltd. This is the holding company for SECURICO SECURITY SERVICES; Canine Dog Services and MULTI-LINK P/L, an electronic security systems company. In an interview with a Zimbabwean newspaper she said, I thought there was a gap in the industry. Companies that were there were not living up to the needs of the clients. The industry was renowned for wild cat strikes and guards generally were perceived as the lowly-paid in any sector. I wanted to change the perceptions and create a niche in which people could carve out a career and I knew I needed to go in with a different approach and that approach was going to make the difference , the people had to be key or central feature of the vision. Some of her awards and recognitions includes, Empretec Entrepreneur of the Year 2001 and Empretec Entrepreneur of Decade (Services Sector) 2002, Manager of the year 2005 for Zim Institute of Management, Celebrate a Sister Business award 2006, Institute of Directors Zimbabwe Director of the Year (SMEs) 2008, Institute of Directors Overral Director of Year(Run Up) 2009, Zimbabwe Women Filmmakers/UNifem Business Award 2010, National Quality Awards Company of the Year 2011, Zimbabwe’s 7th Best Employers 2010 and 7th Best Employer again for 2011, Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship 2011 Grand Prize run by Legatum and Omidyar, among others. Women of Rubies 13 March 2013