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Gregory Kadzura (centre) flanked by Gerald Rongai and Clive Nkala

Tafadzwa Zimoyo Lifestyle Writer
Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work. If ever there was a young personality that deserved the title of being labelled “intelligent” then it almost definitely has to be Gregory Kadzura.

At the age of 22 he shares aspirations with youths of his age. He wants the good life, a career and the ability to change the world.

But unlike his peers he has gone beyond the dreaming stage and is already the director of a reputable hotel in Zimbabwe.

While other young people are still relishing the good life at the expense of parents and would like to have their presence “felt” by being haughty and “loud”, Gregory is still a small voice of reason that wants to be felt by the amount of influence he has on peers.

“It certainly is great to be thought of as a great achieving young man but I feel I want to inspire other young people that the future belongs to us and if we commit and dedicate ourselves fully we can change the world and make our country and families enviable and comfortable,” said Gregory.

Running Mount View Hotel in Mutare at a time when it is transforming and rebranding, Gregory has a tough task ahead of him.

He could have refused the “burden” of transforming a troubled industry in a quiet city.

He could be rolling in Harare with his sleek BMW, hollering at the chicks and spending the dough in all the hot places but he sacrificed the exciting life to carry a burden in Mutare where he is far from his family and friends.

“You do not inspire your peers by taking the easy road. You inspire them by showing them that it is not age that breeds achievement but rather commitment and that demands sacrifice. I believe in the ethic of hard work, energy and tireless dedication,” he said.

So burning is the passion of the Peterhouse alumni that he never misses an opportunity to address fellow youth on career issues and business-related public speaking platforms whenever called upon to do so.

“I want to speak to my generation which is why my answer to every invitation is yes. Yes because they need to see someone who is on the grind and making it stone by stone and brick by brick. You can’t make it overnight and that is what many of the so-called young role models want to paint a picture of life as being rosy. Fast cars and plenty of travel and spending. As if money grows on trees. As if there is a short-cut to making money.

There isn’t. And if it is there it should not be taken. Because the ultimate is not to make money but to make a change – to be an achiever and to make sure your life’s story inspires someone in the future for the sake of our country. It is not about money but what sort of responsible change-maker that money helps you become,” he said passionately.

Stuck in his hotel as he overlooks the mountains and their cool clouds hanging on the hem of the hills, one would think it is the cool weather in the eastern gem of a town that has cooled Gregory’s head and made him a voice of reason amongst the youth.

Yet even before then as a junior councillor he was always a person destined to be a leader.

“The hotel I run has a capacity of up to 150 guests as an apartment hotel. It has banks as partners, hoping I make sound economic and financial decisions. I have employees much older than me with families and children who go to school. I am as good as a parent, a husband and a father because I have so many dependants by default.

I have clients that need a good night’s sleep and need to eat well. It is that responsibility that helps keep me down to earth with my feet firm on the ground,” said the hotelier.

On the private life, he is pretty reserved saying he has a special person in his life. But he IS searching. Not for love but youths to interact with and share his story and help influence and develop.

“Interact clubs, public speaking events, public appearances, private events that connect people, those are events that I always love to attend and share. There I teach something and also learn something. It builds me as a person as well,” he said.

His role model is not the most popular man in the world at the moment although he has his ardent supporters. Gregory is not coy to make the pronouncement.

“I know people may not like him at the moment but I need to be honest. My role model is Donald Trump. I feel I can relate to him because he had to take after his father. Not only did he do so, he absolutely nailed it by expanding the existing empire and made it the best in the world. I admire him for that,” says Gregory who inherited the “burden” from his father, political maverick Professor Jonathan Kadzura.

And as he has descended the mountain into this beautiful town he is there to share the vast mark of empire from where his father has left it off.

He doesn’t want to be just another hotelier.

He wants to be the monarch of this profession. The monarch of this glen and vast land.

“I wasn’t born neither to follow nor lead, but to inspire and be a servant of my generation by being a servant leader,” he said.

Educated at Greengroove Kindergarten, Courteney Selous Primary School and Peterhouse for his high schooling, he credits deep-rooted school systems as having nurtured him.

“It all begins in schools. The passion to become a worthy someone. The ability to respect the elders and respect even those younger than you. The drive to work hard. All that is from school and that is why I encourage the youth to stay in school and enjoy those years of building because one can never recover those years and the wisdom that comes with those years in priceless.”