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Cynthia Bizure-Sithole

Robert Mukondiwa
It may seem counter-intuitive that one may want to set up a business in fashion but have no or little love for the all-important spotlight.

So when the arguably biggest name in fashion in Zimbabwe, Cynthia Bizure-Sithole opens up on being an introvert who would rather just observe her celebrated men and women’s wear retail brand grow while she sits on the back rafter, some may not take her mere word.

After all, she is blessed with the success of Jan Jam where the fashion world is all about vanity, being seen and being heard.

And the fashionista, who turns a year older today – her birthday – is blessed with additional gifts that further compound one’s disbelief in her being modest.

Blessed with an infinite beauty of Marilyn Monroe’s proportions and the respectable allure of Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 romantic comedy Breakfast At Tiffany’s, Bizure can easily claim the centre of the stage and the heart of the ramp.

“I have been asked to speak at a number of events. In fact I get a couple of emails a week asking for my presence at speaking events but I am a reserved person and not a public speaker at heart, but I accept and impart my knowledge and experiences to those who seek my story,” says Bizure calmly as she sits in her Harare city centre fifth floor office.

She isn’t the dazzling beauty that adorns the ramp in Jan Jam fashion shows and other events nor is she the prima donna some may perceive her to be from afar.

Her hair is screaming for attention as it is all over the place while she awaits the arrival of her hair dresser. Without the make up and veneer, you see the real Bizure-Sithole. The businesswoman and aggressive goal getter and not a go-getter; a go-getter is direction-less. A goal getter targets goals!

And there is a lesson you learn from her. Behind every pretty and successful face should be an aggressive realistic beast ready to conquer.

And her biggest driver to success is a weird fuel. Fear.

“I am afraid. We never grew up wanting but we never had anything to spare. So I want my family and children to have a better and more comfortable life than the one that I led, my siblings and i. so it is that fear that will my children get their fees on time, will they be well fed and well clothed, that gets me ready to get my hands dirty to ensure success,” she says.

And for the woman who crossed from the south to the north of Samora Machel with her products, migrating from having shops at the peoples’ downtown market at Gulf to feed the fashion vanity of north of Samora Machel aesthetic clothing appetites, Bizure has not done badly at all.

However, although her merchandise “changed” and became more and more posh, she has remained the down to earth mother, wife and businessperson who is determined but approachable.

And her life is not all glamour. An epic photo of her on an international merchandise hunting trip has her on the grind with a large box of merchandise ferried on top of her head. To reap rewards one has to sweat and Cynthia Bizure-Sithole literally sweats for her success when the going gets tough.

Juggling between family and demanding business, she strikes a balance that she says “only Go can explain”.

“God has blessed me, I never thought I would be where I am today but I think my belief has driven me,” she says.

And how she has grown. Dressing monarchs of democracy and a growing elite, Bizure has people on speed-dial whom a few years ago she would not have dreamed of coming within miles of but now dresses those with an exquisite deluxe sense of fashion and apparel assisted beauty.

Arguably the biggest indigenous built name in fashion, Jan Jam has continued to grow and anybody without at least a garment sourced from or through Jan Jam can safely feel fashion-dead. Her hand at helping others rise to the top is unmatched as she sponsors a series of fashion events and runs from the spotlight quickly after lending the hand.

Today, as she turns another year and is a year older, she remains shy in the face of the limelight. So shy you’d be lucky to know how old she has turned today!