At first, I thought Mike was joking. What a sick joke! But I soon learnt he was not joking. He was serious. He meant every word. Really? I should just walk out of the shop where I had put in so much as I set up. All the stock was remaining. All that I had put into growing the shop was null and void. It did not make any sense. Who was this person? How had I allowed a conman to pull the rug under my feet? This was no longer the good acquaintance who had befriended me and promised that we could partner on a business venture. This man had been one of my trusted customers for many months. He had just taken early retirement and wanted to invest his money in a good business venture. I had been running a small grocery shop for almost a year and was hoping to expand it. So, when this person proposed that we could work together by convincing me that he would inject the much-needed capital I required to grow the business as an investment on his part, I was delighted to find such a business partner. Little did I know I was being scammed. I walked out with nothing. 

These are some of the woes experienced by Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa. As a migrant seeking greener pastures or trying to escape the violence and heat of an unstable political landscape, you become prey to such predators who are always looking out for vulnerable and distressed persons who are already deprived of work opportunities and appropriate pay. This man who brazenly took over all that I had worked so hard to establish was a South African citizen. He just took advantage of the fact that I was a foreigner trying to establish myself. Where could I report this blatant criminal act? I was pained. I was perplexed and almost despaired. My heart ached for my family who needed to be cared for. Surely, we were all human beings, children of God. But this! I quietly took my leave and called the IBM company who had loaned me a fridge to stock their brand of drinks to come and collect their fridge. My family and I were now in an acute financial crisis. But I could not afford to waste time crying and licking my wounds. I held on to the promise that God never abandons the children who fear him.

I had got married to Nothabiso, my beautiful wife in 2009. In 2010 we had been blessed with our first baby boy, Nkosenhle Thapelo. I had brought my family to Johannesburg where I was striving for a better life. I had felt it was a good time as the grocery shop was doing well. Now, it was gone. I took the little that we had saved to buy socks, airtime and other small items to sell so we could survive, paying our rentals as well as buying food. After three months of that, I was approached by a man I knew from Zimbabwe who had a driving school. He confided that it was not doing well and asked that we put our heads together for a business venture. That was in 2011. We agreed to try venturing into Security. We shared tasks to do and I did most of the paper work; the documentation to register the company for compliance. I worked with Mr Dube in is company, Satenga, for a full year plus. I found the work interesting and gained a lot of experience in the security industry. In 2012, I decided to start my own security firm which I registered as Poshwave Security. I just registered the company and shelved it.

My mind was on reviving a passion I had in my early years for the things of God. I was born on 10 May 1982, and brought up in a Christian family by Jabulani and Sifiso Nsingo. I developed a zeal to share the word of God at an early age. After I was baptised, I joined friends who preached the gospel of the love of God in streets, and even in commuter vehicles. During my youth days, when I was with ‘Team on Fire’ an interdenominational group of young people. We were really on fire for the Lord, cautioning revellers and calling them to repentance and reminding them that Jesus was coming again and that as written in scriptures, “… in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away”(Matthew 24:37-39).  We used to have all night prayers on Fridays as the weekend started, then we would preach the word, even daring to pray people into healing, where one man who had gone blind had his eyesight restored. That episode strengthened our faith in what Christ can do. So it was that in 2013 I studied theology on a part time basis for two years at International Christian Bible and Missions (ICBM).  With the Evangelism passion still burning, I used to be a part time pastor in the area where we lived. After a successful course in Theology, I was one of the pastors ordained as a minister of religion in my church. So, my wife and I lead the Brethren in Christ Church (BICC) in Olievenhoutbosch. 

I also did a short course in Photojournalism and Documentary in 2015.  All that boosted my marketing skills as I executed well in the next big security company where I helped grow the workforce from 200 to 400. I oversaw Marketing and Human Resources. That was very useful experience for when I would start to manage my own company. In 2018, I felt good enough to start moving with my own company. Poshwave Investment trading as Posh Security came out of hibernation.  We had clients in Johannesburg, mainly with construction companies, which tended to have a short life span. We were cruising well when Covid-19 happened in 2020, throwing us back. We lost most of our clients but kept our faith. We were not daunted. After the Covid pandemic, the company started growing and we provided security in Gauteng, North West, Cape Town and in Mpumalanga. As the work grew and expanded, we engaged a marketing executive. The business kept growing and we have since engaged an operations manager who works with area managers. We also engaged a lawyer who handles the legal aspects of the business. My wife handles Administration as well as Accounts. Our head office is in Johannesburg. God has been so good to us. 

We have also expanded Poshwave Investments by establishing three other branches; namely Posh Cleaning, Posh Plumbing, and Posh Spices where we retail and distribute. We continue to lead the BICC Olievenhoutbosch congregation as well. God has continued to be faithful to us both at church and in business. We are happy. We are fulfilled with the blessing of our two boys, Nkosenhle Thapelo and Nkosinesisa Sibusiso. We have learnt to trust God absolutely because, even when we were beaten down, we were not destroyed; we were hard pressed on every side, but not crushed (2 Corinthians 4:8, 9). God never abandons us.