AUSTRALIA-BASED music promoter and businessman Guardian Mushangwe has been honoured in Australia for leading one of the best Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme companies (NDIS).
Mushangwe, the inaugural winner of the Male Entrepreneur of the Year gong in the Zimbabwe Achievers Awards (Australia edition) in 2017, said it was an honour to be recognised outside Zimbabwe.
“I was really humbled; it is not easy to get recognition outside one’s country, but through God’s grace, we have been honoured in Australia at the fifth anniversary of our company Mopane Health Services.
“We have been officially honoured for being the first African company in Victoria Australia to reach a five-year-mark under the health program under the banner NDIS.
“The event, which was one of its kind, was graced by State MP Brownyn Halfpenny who was the guest of honour and it was opened by Uncle Shane, the aboriginal elder, and followed by African drumming and dancers,” Mushangwe said.
The versatile entrepreneur singled out the educational foundation he got from Zimbabwe as his source of success. “Zimbabweans are resilient people who can adapt everywhere they go. We were taught life skills in Zimbabwe, which made it easier for us to penetrate any field without much hustle,” he said.
Mushangwe is looking forward to invest more in Zimbabwe. “In line with vision 2030, I am planning to open up a health centre that focuses on psychosocial impairments to curb mental health issues faced by Zimbabweans.”
Meanwhile, Mopane Health Services is an organisation that focuses on disability and mental health support, clinical mental health nursing, counselling and other community services. “The organisation derived its name from Mopane Tree.
The tree is unique in the sense that it is only found in Southern Africa. “So owing to our distinct health service provisions within Australian communities, we then identified the similar distinction to that of the Mopane Tree,” said Mushangwe.
Born in Chitungwiza, Mushangwe is the founder of Heritage Events Group, which started in Australia as an events company in 2009 before expanding to Zimbabwe in 2013.
The Heritage Events Group has a branch at Makoni shopping centre in Chitungwiza. Over the years, Mushangwe has worked with artistes such as Killer T, Ammara Brown, Shinsoman, Dadza D, Winky D and Jah Prayzah among others locally and in Australia.