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Senior Lifestyle Writer

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused untold suffering and many lives have been lost, business affected and the world economy tumbling.

The highly infectious virus which was discovered in Wuhan, China in December 2019; locally came to the fore in January 2020 resulting in a total national lockdown in March of the same year.

Amid this dire situation, it is difficult to dream let alone decide on a deliberate onslaught against the Covid-19 virus through a well-structured business model. 

Not only is such dreaming a far-fetched idea given the generally limiting economic environment, it is even more alarming for a business person let alone a female entrepreneur to be in the forefront of combating Covid-19. 

They also said that cleaning with a household cleaner that contains soap or detergent reduces the amount of germs on surfaces and decreases risk of infection from surfaces. 

In most situations, cleaning alone removes most virus particles on surfaces. 

Disinfection to reduce transmission of COVID-19 at home is likely not needed unless someone in your home is sick or if someone who is positive for COVID-19 has been in your home within the last 24 hours.

But not so for Geraldine Zikwature, a trained accountant now the founder and managing director of the popular Ezeekleen Detergents, that has caused a stir especially in the ghetto surbubs, although the north side has started tapping into the market.

 In an interview with The Herald on Saturday Lifestyle, Zikwature said she decided to create the household detergent with local resources after the Covid-19 has affected some business and some women were finding it hard to buy their desired usually products from abroad.

She denied to share the formular but said her company specialises in alkali acidic chemicals specially formulated to keep households, industry and catering industries available in most shops around Zimbabwe and which have also become useful in the fight against Covid-19.

“Just like Coca-Cola, does anyone know the recipe now,” she jokingly said.

“I am one person who believes in going after my dreams even when the odds are highly staked against me and I am happy that I have been able to follow my dreams as seen through the strides we are making with EzeeKleen Detergents. 

Not only are we making cleaning a breeze with our products but we are also taking the fight to Covid-19 thanks to our Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) approved sanitisers and disinfectants,” she said. 

Zikwature said she is happy to be leaving her passion and is grateful to the Government’s black empowerment and indigenisation policies which have allowed enterprising Zimbabweans to venture into business with no limitations. 

“Opportunities for all is an ideal for meaningful development and I am happy that the Government of Zimbabwe has allowed all of us to live our dreams regardless of sex or beliefs. 

EzeeKleen is testimony to what we can do as empowered locals and I believe we are going for the top. 

The self-confident entrepreneur said her accounting background has helped her to venture into other business.

“ Yes I am a trained accountant with specialisation in taxation but I have always had great love for chemistry. In essence accounting is what I was encouraged to and EzeeKleen my own first love. 

“I noticed that most of the products we found in retail shops were very harsh and we started experimenting with chemicals and removing all that harshness. We perfected our mixing and we were able to come up with quality products that are loved by all,” she said. 

She added that her company has always been involved and visible since the Covid-19 outbreak and she is happy to be playing her part in combating the pandemic. 

“ From the start of Covid-19 we were very visible and we are happy to play our part in combating this pandemic regardless of the danger involved. 

We supply disinfectants and sanitisers to NGOs, hospitals and other service providers. 

We received WHO training on effective cleaning and disinfection and all our disinfectants and sanitisers are Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) approved,” she said. 

“We had to be innovative and we partnered an engineering company comapany to manufacture sanitising booths as well as the foot operated sanitisers. We are proud of our role and we will continue exploring and reinventing,” she said. 

“We have reach and presence across Zimbabwe in local stores and we want to even go regional and international. 

Our hope is to continue providing a quality service and we are also available online for engagement with the market and feedback,” she explained. 

The fast rising entrepreneur also had some words for would be entrepreneurs and Zimbabweans at large in the face of Covid-19. 

“My advice to all wishing to join the entrepreneurship journey is that they mustn’t stop at anything. Go after your dreams regardless of the limitations. 

It’s obviously not easy but the possibilities are too many. We also need to play safe and make sure we don’t fall to the dangers or the pandemic if we can avoid it,” she said.