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Herald Correspondent
AFTER the passing on of renowned economist and businessman Jonathan Kadzura, his son and erstwhile business protégé Gregory has serious challenges ahead of him as the empire his father left behind rests solely on his shoulders. Others would be mourning their father, revisiting the loss, the happy memories and shutting out the world as they come to terms with a life-defining event, but for the 23-year-old, no such luxury presents itself.

He has been called on to make sure the business continues smoothly after the maverick’s passing.

“It seems surreal but I have had to put everything aside and not focus on myself but rather to steady the business and ensure my father’s legacy and the lives of his employees are safeguarded and not in jeopardy. That is what he would have wanted,” says a sombre calm Greg.

Having been hand-held by his father and ushered into the pathway of the business, Greg had always known the ins and outs of the empire, whose most dominant feature is the Mount View Hotel and Towers in Mutare, which he was already stewarding as managing director.

But Greg had other expectations. He did not think this shepherding was so that he would become heir apparent. “I wanted to be my father’s helper that is why I accepted the challenge when he started to mentor me. I wanted to stand shoulder to shoulder with him helping him achieve his dreams.

“Never did I think I would lose him this early and have to assume this unenviable challenge,” he says. Yet as the businessman succumbed to a lung ailment, Greg was called into the role of making sure the business remained afloat and that the stakeholders remained calm as they looked into the eyes of the future of their investment.

“I would have liked to mourn like any young man. But we have partners. The bank as a partner has been good to my father throughout a trying economic period and they have to know their investment is in the right hands. That the estate is orderly and not in disarray. That is something that as a shareholder I have been called to the fore to ensure and it steals me from my quality time with my late father’s memories and thrusts me into a world of making business decisions. It is something I have got to do,” he says.

And with a whole host of employees under his watch suddenly thrust onto his lap, the young Gregory has an even greater task. “It is one job ensuring the staff are happy and well catered for on behalf of your father. You always have a dad to run to and ask for help and ideas.

“Now that I have to make the ultimate decisions that affect whole families, a unique gift of wisdom is what I ask for and it is this gift, bequeathed to me by my late father; that I tap on in my way forward,” he says.

While many would have to take time to go on holiday or become social hermits to come to terms with their loss and grieving, Greg has no such comfort. They say uneasy lies the head that wears the crown and so it is with Greg.

“I need to grieve. And I will. Six months. A year perhaps from now. I need time alone. Now, I just have to make sure everyone is safe and everyone’s interests are secure.

“After all, that is what he raised me to be. A calming spirit.”