LocationsFrom Farms to Startups, Building Zimbabwe’s Future One Idea at a Time
Youth as Agents of Change
February 25, 2026
• UNDP Zimbabwe, with the Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund (ZRBF) (funded by EU partners) and the Climate Adaptation, Water and Energy Project (CAWEP) (funded by UK-Aid partners), in partnership with the Government of Zimbabwe, is backing youth with climate-smart training, technical skills, and startup support to drive local economic resilience.
• In districts including Chipinge, Nyanga, and Hurungwe, young farmers are adopting climate-smart methods and savings groups to turn smallholder farming into sustainable businesses.
• Youth-led green enterprises are expanding into agri-processing, producing eco-friendly cooking oil and strengthening rural value chains.
• Young entrepreneurs are tackling rural energy gaps through mobile solar installation and repair services, powering homes, clinics, and schools.
• From welding shops to urban organic snack brands, youth businesses are creating jobs and expanding access to essential services.
Zimbabwe’s rural landscape is home to nearly 67% of the country’s population, with most communities relying heavily on smallholder agriculture for food security and livelihoods. Villages are typically scattered across vast areas, accessed through dusty roads and limited transport infrastructure. Families live in homesteads built with brick or traditional materials like pole and dagga, while basic services such as electricity, internet access, and piped water remain scarce or unreliable.
Agricultural activities dominate daily life. In this context, young people face high levels of unemployment and migration pressure but also represent untapped potential for driving rural innovation.
Today, many rural youths are stepping up, introducing climate-smart farming techniques, forming savings cooperatives, launching green enterprises, and revitalizing local economies. With the right support, rural Zimbabwe is proving it can thrive on the energy, ingenuity, and resilience of its youth.
Young Farmers, Big Impact
In Hakwata Village, Chipinge, located on the edge of Zimbabwe’s lowveld, mornings begin with barefoot children walking to school along winding paths. Access to water is unpredictable, and rainfall patterns have grown increasingly erratic. Yet amid this uncertainty, 24-year-old Vimbai Mufudzi stands as a symbol of hope and innovation.
After attending a UNDP-supported community workshop, Vimbai began cultivating tomatoes and cabbage using climate-smart farming techniques, including mulching and efficient water use. “We used to lose crops when the rains failed,” she explains, walking between neatly mulched rows of vegetables. “Now, we’ve learned to grow smarter and make the most of the little we have.”
Vimbai now trains other young women in her ward and belongs to a savings group that reinvests earnings into other widespread projects. “It’s not just farming, it’s business. We’re building something sustainable.”
While 26-year-old Tendai Muzenda in Nyamahumba Village , Nyanga, is also redefining what it means to be a young farmer in Zimbabwe. “I used to think farming was something for old people, but after attending UNDP business training, I realized agriculture is a business. One that can protect us from climate shocks.”
Across provinces such as Masvingo, Manicaland, and Matabeleland North, dozens of young Zimbabweans like Tendai are becoming frontline responders to climate change. With support from the Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund (ZRBF) and the Climate Adaptation, Water and Energy Project (CAWEP), youth are adopting climate-smart techniques, including organic composting, mulching, small-scale irrigation, and resilient seed varieties.
Beyond farming, many are building green enterprises from agricultural by-products. In Hurungwe, 30-year-old Isaac Dube is part of a youth-led agri-processing center that turns wild nuts into eco-friendly cooking oil.
“Not only are we reducing deforestation, but we’re also earning income while protecting our environment,” says Isaac. “UNDP helped us access startup capital and connect with local markets. That changed everything.”
Tatenda left, Lisa middle and Brian Right standing at one the centres where are working on.
Beyond Survival, Towards Resilience
Climate change is no longer a distant threat; it is a daily reality. Shifting rainfall patterns, prolonged droughts, and increasingly frequent storms are disrupting traditional farming systems, deepening energy poverty, and straining rural infrastructure.
In Chipinge, where power lines often stop short of reaching remote homesteads. Three young innovators, Tatenda, Lisa, and Brian are flipping the switch on energy poverty. In their twenties, the trio met during a UNDP-supported youth entrepreneurship training under CAWEP.
Together, they launched a solar solutions enterprise that specializes in installation, repair, and maintenance of solar systems in rural communities that had no reliable or affordable energy access.
“Growing up, we studied by candlelight or paraffin lamps,” says Tatenda, the lead technician. “Now we’re helping families light their homes and power their livelihoods with the sun.”
While solar uptake is expanding in Zimbabwe’s urban centers, rural areas remain underserved, often lacking both equipment and skilled technicians. To bridge this gap, the trio combined their green entrepreneurship training with deep community knowledge to create a mobile solar service.
“We travel by motorbike with our toolkits, panels, and batteries,” explains Lisa. “Sometimes it’s a two-hour journey to reach a household, but when they flip that switch for the first time, it’s all worth it.”
Since the beginning, the enterprise has installed over 10 home lighting systems, repaired dozens of faulty units, and trained five local youth as community-based technicians. Their impact now extends to powering rural clinics, schools, and small businesses.
Tawanda Muzambi young welder
Built by Youth: Welding, Weaving, and Trading Toward Tomorrow
While many youths are tackling climate challenges head-on, others are transforming their communities through entrepreneurship, one business at a time.
25-year-old Tawanda Muzambi turns sparks into success from his small welding shop, built from scrap metal and determination. Trained through UNDP-supported CAWEP technical skills programmes, Tawanda now crafts gates, doors, window frames, and even ox-drawn carts for farmers.
“Before this, I used to herd cattle,” he shared. “Now I earn over USD 200 a month and I’ve trained two younger boys to work with me. Welding gave me purpose and power.”
In Hakwata, 25-year-old Tafadzwa Marufu proves that even a small start can blossom into a thriving enterprise. His journey began with the USD 200 he earned while assisting technicians during CAWEP solar installations.
“It was temporary work, but it gave me a starting point,” he added.
With the money, Tafadzwa purchased basic stock such as mealie meal, sugar, and soap and opened a roadside shop using wooden shelves. As business grew, he noticed the community’s struggle to access banking services. He reinvested profits into a mobile money transfer service, allowing locals to send and receive funds, buy airtime, and pay school fees without traveling long distances.
“People used to walk 10 or 15 km just to do a simple money transfer,” he explains. “Now they come to me thus saving time, money, and stress.”
Later, with additional savings, he bought a motorbike. Initially for restocking, he soon expanded into motorbike transport services, ferrying groceries, farm inputs, travellers and schoolchildren. Today, Tafadzwa’s enterprise serves as a multi-service rural hub, employing two youth and offering essential services to the community.
“Sometimes all it takes is one small chance and the courage to grow it,” Tafadzwa reflects. “That $200 changed my life. Now I’m changing others’ lives with what I built.”
From the Capital, With Courage
In Harare, 27-year-old Tracy Mapfumo is cooking up more than just snacks. She’s leading a movement rooted in health, sustainability, and youth empowerment. A Youth Connekt Zimbabwe competition winner, Tracy founded Eats & Treats, an organic snack brand run by young people.
“I started in my mother’s kitchen, roasting groundnuts and drying fruit for friends, now we supply organic snack packs to cafes, schools, and wellness stores around the city.”
Since her win, Tracy has opened a small processing unit at Boka and hired two youth as production assistants. She is also piloting a school outreach programme to teach children about nutrition, food safety, and entrepreneurship.
“I want to inspire people to eat better and dream bigger,” Tracy says. “If they can snack smart and see that food can be a business, that’s impact.” She added.
Her urban innovation complements the grassroots enterprises of Tafadzwa and others. Zimbabwean youth are proving that entrepreneurship, when rooted in purpose, can reshape livelihoods and rewrite the future.
From remote villages in Chipinge to the bustling streets of Harare, Zimbabwe’s youth are redefining what it means to lead, adapt, and build. Whether it’s growing drought-resistant crops, powering communities with solar energy young people are not waiting for opportunities, they are creating them.
What connects these diverse journeys is a shared determination to rise above challenges and transform adversity into action. With the right support, mentorship, and access to resources, youth are not only finding their place in the economy, but they are also reshaping it to be greener, smarter, and more inclusive.
In a country where climate shocks, unemployment, and inequality continue to test communities, the energy and innovation of Zimbabwe’s youth stand as a beacon of hope. They are not just responding to today’s challenges, they are planting the seeds for a more resilient, sustainable, and prosperous tomorrow.