With Big Brother StarGame now rolling Zimbabweans are busy voting to keep our fellow countrymen in the running for the big prize but there is another young Zimbabwean hoping that you will cast your vote for him.
The beauty of technology is that people here can influence the outcome of the competition and the rest will be left to him. Log onto www.virginmediapioneers.com and cast your vote.
Blessing Magere is a 19-year-old entrepreneur currently based in Leeds, United Kingdom, who was chosen in the last eight, amongst a host of other contestants, in the Pioneers competition run by Virgin Media owned by mogul Richard Branson.
Eight Pioneers are one step closer to joining Richard Branson at his family home near Oxford on Tuesday, May 15, but there is only room for a final four. With Blessing anchoring the group more votes will be needed for him to make it. At the time of writing he had 707 votes with the leader on 1 203 and number four having 1 078 votes. Jacob Hill sits on top with his Lazy Camper.
The four Pioneers with the most votes will have the opportunity to spend one very exciting day pitching their business plans to Richard Branson, and three of his business friends to win a share of £5 000.
The whole concept of Virgin Media Pioneers is all about helping entrepreneurs to kick start their business.
Blessing started his first business when he was 16 called Essential Cleaning. His early success motivated him to launch a social enterprise called Bright Futures enterprise as well as his current project Not Just A Youth Enterprise Leeds, where they have developed their own fair-trade brand of rice, coffee, tea and hot chocolate.
Not Just a Trading Company is an innovative trading venture that offers young people and communities the opportunity to set up and run their own trading enterprises. But these are not just your usual trading enterprises. By supporting people to set up their own “Not Just a Community Enterprise” groups they help people to help themselves and create their own work opportunities. This offers groups of young people the chance to gain skills and run their own enterprises and also offering community groups the chance to generate income and use entrepreneurial skills.
“Crucially — reconnect the people who produce the products with the people who buy them. In short,  Not Just a Trading Company empowers youth and other community groups to gain skills and income in an enterprising way. And at the same time they are helping some of the world’s poorest people,” reads Blessing’s website.
It goes on to say they do more than talking, than campaigning, than just promoting the products of big companies but they work with the groups to create their own products in order to achieve all of they have.
Richard Branson is well known in the technology spheres with his much publicised Virgin Galactic which hoped by this year would be ferrying six passengers over 100 kilometres miles above the Earth at a cost of US$200,000 each.
“Today’s generation has the technological ability to do more industrial work up there, providing communications, advanced science and even, potentially, solar power and (computer) server farms in space — thus taking CO2-intensive industry out of the atmosphere. The challenge is to get the technology up there in a safe, reliable and cheap way with minimal environmental impact,” he was quoted saying.
He also made headlines with his Necker Nymph, a brand new mini sub that flies like an underwater plane. It’s outfitted with scuba gear, so the ride lasts as long as your air lasts. As the sub swims through shallow waters, the fish will not shy away because it is battery operated.
The carbon-fibre underwater plane can fit three people: two guests with one dive pilot. The sub can travel 11 kilometres an hour and can go 18 metres to 30 metres deep. However, you must be scuba certified to take the mini sub for a ride.

l costa.mano@zimpapers.co.zw