The National Railway Sector Turnaround & Innovation Competition

Accepting entries starting

The submission window for entries start on 5 January 2026. That is the day when the competition rule book becomes available and you can submit your entry. The time left to that day is

Table of Contents

• Accepting entries starting
• About
• The background
• The problems
• The opportunities
• This competition
• How entries will be judged
• What’s on offer?
• Prizes
• How?
• Timeline
• Get involved
• Sponsor
• About Prosper Chikomo
• Competition Questions & Answers

About

The National Railway Sector Turnaround & Innovation Competition for Zimbabwe is an unlimited multi-prize contest that is designed to help creative and innovative Zimbabweans and non-Zimbabweans who love Zimbabwe (see Eligibility Criteria), to dream, research, create, innovate, launch, implement, improve, and commercialize ideas, innovations, products, business proposals, and solutions that have the potential to contribute to the turnaround and development of the Zimbabwean railway sector through leveraging a vast and powerful support network comprising of the Zimbabwean railway sector players, government ministries, State-Owned Enterprises, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, donors, entrepreneurs, investors, small-to-medium-scale enterprises, startups, academic institutions, employed and unemployed graduates, sponsors, other partners and resources within and outside Zimbabwe, connections!

The aim of the competition is to bring together all Zimbabweans and all those who love Zimbabwe to work with a common purpose to turnaround the railway sector of Zimbabwe, as well as grow the Zimbabwean economy, create jobs, and opportunities for Zimbabweans.

The competition is organized and run by its founder, Prosper Chikomo, and supported and co-funded by sponsors and interested stakeholders.

The competition will run every year for 10 years starting in 2025. The target of the inaugural Prize, the 2025 Prize, and each year, is to support businesses, innovators, inventors, entrepreneurs, startups, individuals, groups, entitities, products, solutions, and business proposals that put together have collective potential to add at least US$1 billion to the railway sector, whether directly or indirectly, within the next 5 years, or by 2030.

This is a very broad and inclusive contest that is not exclusively an engineering contest that is exclusively looking for technical marvels or geniuses. Anyone with an idea, a product, a business proposal, or any kind of solution that can directly or indirectly benefit the railway sector in any way can participate.

The challenges facing the Zimbabwean railway sector today require all kinds of solutions from a vast array of disciplines, such as engineering, technology, science, environmental science, commerce, medicine, electricity, energy, zoology, geology, history, and more. Yes, history.

For perspective, or to give you tips or ideas, or for example, your entry could be a business proposal where you rent a locomotive and passenger coaches from a railway operator in Zimbabwe and you offer a historical railway tour all the way from South Africa through Zimbabwe to Zambia as a business. You then do that business and make money.

In environmental science you could come up with a solution to manage vegetation growth for railway maintenance and safety, and start your business with a railway operator in Zimbawe as your first customer.

In zoology you could come up with animal-friendly solutions to keep animals off the railway tracks without harming them which will reduce accidents on railways.

You could then get assistance (the prize) from a member(s) of the Prize Network, connections, to start a business to offer such services to the railway sector in Zimbabwe, Africa, and beyond.

You could be a material scientist or inventor who has developed a very strong material that can replace granite ballast or concrete railway sleepers and a railway operator in the Prize Network could give you access to a railway line to pilot test railway sleepers made with your material in real life standard operating conditions.

You may even be an architect or an interior designer who has found a way to recycle or repurpose old railway coaches into pop-up food outlets. A member of the Prize Network could decide to fund you to get that business off the ground and you could create a very famous and profitable railway-style business.

You could even be a student and suggest an idea of an ambulance train. I think I know what a scrap metal dealer will suggest. Chamisa said a bullet train will take 35 minutes to travel from Harare to Bulawayo, that’s how long it takes by air, so that will be the fastest ambulance in Zimbabwe. Imagine a train moving that fast turning at corners. Chamisa can make bullet trains turn at sharp corners at has high speed. There is a political solution to everything. I look forward to his entry. (laughs)

You don’t even need to know anything about railways, but how to use whatever it is that any railway operator in Zimbabwe has, whether it is infrastructure, an asset, a liability, or a service, and turn it into a mutually beneficial business. That is how we can revive the railway sector, revive the Zimbabwean economy, and increase the average personal income in Zimbabwe by 2030!

The Zimbabwean railway sector has problems right now, but instead of seeing problems in the railway sector, see the potential. You have a great opportunity right now to make the railway sector what you want it to be. Never again will there be a time like this. There is so much that can be done and from which you may even make money or start a business that maybe one day could command the heights of the economy. Dollar dollar bills y’all!

These are all businesses and jobs that Zimbabweans could create from scratch. The potential jobs and economic benefits from the turnaround of the railway sector by contributors like you is enormous!

All these solutions, products, innovations, business proposals and the like will add up to a swift turnaround and improved competitiveness of the Zimbabwean railway sector. In Japan and management literature they call them innovations and continuous improvement. Even a slight improvement in the railway sector is progress that Zimbabwe will not have seen to date. There is so much that even an unemployed engineering graduate could come up with and do and even rise up to become a captain of industry.

You do not have to be rich. This contest is designed to connect all kinds of innovative, entrepreneurial, and creative contestants from all sorts of backgrounds to stakeholders, connections, who could give them a hand up and not a hand out. Money or capital should be the last of your concerns. First think of solutions to Zimbabwe’s railway sector needs and the money will follow you because you have a solution that is attractive to customers and investors.

Disclosure

This competition or contest is not being run for, by, or on behalf of National Railways of Zimbabwe.

This contest covers the railway sector of Zimbabwe, which is much bigger than the railway industry and bigger than any single railway operator. The Zimbabwean railway sector includes National Railways of Zimbabwe, Beitbridge Bulawayo Railway, African Rail Company, Transnet, many engineering companies, road transport, entire supply chains, the road and railway infrastructure, and more.

If you are looking to do business specifically with National Railways of Zimbabwe or any railway operator, you also have the option to approach them directly. It may even be faster for you that way. This competition is for individuals and entities who want to be part of something bigger, with many supporters, connections, and for better chances of success, and who do not want their chance at success to depend on just one organization.

The organizer of this competition may approach National Railways of Zimbabwe, or any railway operator anywhere in the world or any interested stakeholder, with any entry submitted in the competition.

The background

By Prosper Chikomo

Zimbabwe’s annual grain consumption requirements are about 2.2 million tonnes, 1.8 million tonnes being maize, the staple grain, and the rest being other traditional grains for human consumption. The average national maize yield in Zimbabwe is 1 tonne per hectare compared to about 5 tonnes per hectare in South Africa. With access to irrigation, a farmer in Zimbabwe can achieve a maize yield (harvest) of between 7 tonnes and 20 tonnes per hectare.

In 2019 the World Food Programme appealed for US$200 million to buy 200 000 tonnes of grain to feed 4.1 million Zimbabweans following a drought. This budget was 4 times the cost of maize in Zimbabwe and on the international market at the time, and also, according to my well researched calculations, enough to put 200 000 hectares under irrigation within 1 year. 200 000 hectares under irrigation can produce 1.6 million tonnes of maize annually, which is 8 times more maize than the World Food Programme was going to supply at the same cost.

Zimbabwe has 2.5 million hectares of irrigable land, with about 500 000 hectares not requiring water resources shared with other countries. Only about 10% of the irrigable land in Zimbabwe is under irrigation. According to the National Water Policy, less than 20% of the water available for agricultural use is being utilised. The dams are there, and they continue to be built and commissioned, but they lack irrigation equipment. When rains are good, Zimbabwe will produce a surplus production of maize, but when droughts hit, Zimbabwe can harvest about 700 000 tonnes of maize, about one third of the annual average national maize requirements, which necessitates the World Food Programme and other donors to provide food aid to Zimbabwe. That means increasing access to irrigation is key to Zimbabwe becoming self sufficient in maize and ending dependency on imported food aid.

I asked a representative of the World Food Programme why they don’t invest in irrigation development, which is cheaper than food aid and will leade to production of more food than is imported as food aid, to end Zimbabwe’s dependency on maize imports of food aid, and he said to me their mission is not to develop irrigation infrastructure but to make sure that no one in the world goes hungry. Indeed, the world actually produces enough food to feed everyone, so it is faster and more convenient for WFP to simply move existing stocks of food from one region or country to where the food is required.

In 2022 I went to the Department of Irrigation in the Ministry of Lands and I told them that I want to go into irrigation development and put 200 000 hectares under irrigation. I told them I do not have the money but I will look for it. I then launched Prosper on Farms with the goal of drought-proofing farmers so that they prosper on their farms. Lots of farmers applied for access to irrigation, and I used their applications for irrigation equipment to raise funding from foreign investors for irrigation development in Zimbabwe.

Between 2022 and February 2024, I found 28 investors who could invest a total of US$405 million into irrigation development in Zimbabwe. They had their terms and conditions. Some investors wanted the government on board as a partner, some investors did not want anything to do with the government of Zimbabwe because of US sanctions. One large foreign financier said if we pay a 10% deposit we can have any irrigation equipment we want. So, in theory, if we pay all the US$405 million we could have irrigation equipment worth US$4 billion. This will be a loan, which will have to be paid in foreign currency which Zimbabwe does not have much of, but with access to irrigation, farmers could grow crops for export to repay the US$4 billion loan.

For perspective, tobacco on its own is generating over US$1 billion annually for Zimbabwe, with only less than a total of 250 000 hectares of land in Zimbabwe under irrigation. More farmers grow maize and other grains than tobacco. So, given access to irrigation Zimbabwean farmers could generate even US$5 billion in agricultural exports to repay irrigation loans.

I also found a high-potential foreign investor who could invest US$5 billion in agriculture and the agricultural supply chains. The investor wanted a guaranteed production of 5 million tonnes of maize per year. This investor wanted control of production in Zimbabwe and logistics to export the maize to their own country in the national interests of their own country’s food security. The investor did not want to rely on international markets for sources of maize and agricultural commodities because what had happened during the Covid pandemic was that many countries woke up to some countries banning food exports, so the international market could not be relied on for the food supplies of many nations. Even a government of Botswana official told me this. Because I was in the middle of looking for investors in irrigation development in Zimbabwe, and because everyone in the rural areas in Zimbabwe can grow maize, and because Zimbabwe grows maize on an average of 2 million hectares of land annually, I figured if we put 1 million hectares under irrigation with funding from that investor, Zimbabwe can produce 7 million tonnes of maize annually, 2 million tonnes for local consumption and 5 million tonnes for export to the investor and the export revenue will pay off the irrigation infrastructure loans within 5 years. I also already had a sizeable waiting list of farmers who had applied for irrigation equipment.

Enter National Railways of Zimbabwe, with railways, locomotives, and wagons. That’s when reality hit. Zimbabwe is losing a lot of investment to other countries because of poor railway infrastructure.

Because of the condition of the railway infrastructure in Zimbabwe, it currently takes National Railways of Zimbabwe 72 hours to move freight 732 kilometres from Harare to Sango border post on the way to the Port of Maputo in Mozambique. If there are loading delays at sea ports, ships are charged hefty fees and these fees are passed on to customers. (You must come up with the solutions.) If the 732 kilometre railway line is rebuilt and brand new locomotives and wagons are used, and with state-of-the-art communication systems, it will take 6 hours. It used to take 6 hours.

At its peak, National Railways of Zimbabwe moved 14 million tonnes of freight traffic in one year. These days the National Railways of Zimbabwe moves about 3 million tonnes of traffic annually. Compare that against our export maize traffic of 5 million tonnes the investor required annually.

So the only way to be able to move 5 million tonnes by rail would be for the investor to first invest in brand new railway infrastructure in Zimbabwe. This was expected by the investor and not a major issue. At a price of US$0.05 per tonne per kilometre, moving 5 million tonnes of maize 732 kilometres by rail would generate for National Railways of Zimbabwe some US$183 million annually in new additional revenue from the export traffic of that maize alone. This is almost twice the annual revenue of National Railways of Zimbabwe. If we then add traffic that will then come from mining and other sectors of the economy that will want their cargo to take 6 hours to be moved from Harare to Sango border post, National Railways of Zimbabwe would easily be making over US$1 billion a year. US$183 million of new annual freight traffic income to National Railways of Zimbabwe will be US$1.83 billion over a period of 10 years, and that’s excluding freight traffic that will then be moved from road to rail because rail will now be faster and can move larger volumes.

About the railway infrastructure in Zimbabwe, a World Bank publication says;

The African Development Bank (AfDB 2011) estimates that the Government would need to spend some US$1.15 billion over 10 years to remove speed restrictions, repair electrification, upgrade signaling and telecommunications, and rehabilitate track.

So, US$1.83 billion from our additional new traffic alone would cover a US$1.15 billion loan and interest payments.

I went to National Railways of Zimbabwe headquarters and I talked with them about my potential export business needs and the potential thereof to National Railways of Zimbabwe. I was told that I must write a proposal and address it to the General Manager who will present it to the board and that I must also state who my shareholders are. I found that funny because I did not have shareholders, I am the shareholder. I now do these proposals as an individual, even agreements with national governments, one less requirement to meet, shareholders.

Comment

One key thing that I want every contestant to understand is that a lot of investors would require that my project has partners. I have already mentioned that some investors wanted the government on board as a partner and some investors did not want the government on boaard because of sanctions. I decided to propose to National Railways of Zimbabwe that they become a partner in my irrigation development business. It also so happened that 2 investors could put up US$200 million or more if a railway operator was on board. That’s why I went to NRZ. I knew where their offices were, and that they needed money for recapitalization, and they had tried to raise US$400 million and failed. This key requirement for a partner or partners is why this contest is offering connections and not money as a prize. You will be in a much better position to raise funding or investment when you have connections, whether to government, private sector, donors, or investors.

Eventually I decided to run this competition and as an individual without shareholders, not only to bring together the irrigation sector and the railway sector, but to bring all the economic sectors to come to the aid of the railway sector through mutually beneficial win-win relationships.

That way, I would get other like-minded people on board and bring a lot of development to both the irrigation development sector and the Zimbabwean railway sector.

I think we could have projects and investments that have total potential to generate over US$10 billion in a period of 10 years that can benefit the railway sector and the Zimbabwean economy in general, which is why in this competition I even allow entries from outside the railway sector, it’s because the economic sectors are interconnected.

My own irrigation development business has the potential to directly generate at least US$1 billion in annual revenue for National Railways of Zimbabwe, US$2 billion in foreign direct investment to rebuild the Harare to Sango border post railway line which serves other routes such as the Harare to Gweru route and is also used for imports and exports, US$1 billion in other railway infrastructure, at least US$2 billion more in income per year from traffic from other sources besides our export freight traffic. This is just one business proposal. There could be hundreds of other people in Zimbabwe with more impactful ideas, innovations, or business proposals that could benefit them, their businesses, the economy, and the railway sector. So yes, a total of US$10 billion over a 10 year period is a great starting target. Even solutions with smaller financial values, like only thousands of dollars in value, will be considered. Nothing is off the table at this point.

According to a World Bank publication (Page 120), historically, 45% and 35% of National Railways of Zimbabwe’s freight traffic was from mining and agriculture, respectively.

Freight business from mining and agriculture can drive the recovery of the railway sector though higher freight volumes. So it will be very short-sighted to think that the turnaround of the railway sector can only come from new railway infrastructure or recapitalization. The infrastructure may be there but the business may not be there. For that reason, this competition is also open to solutions that may not be in the railway industry but could be from other sectors like agriculture in my own case, or mining, or manufacturing, or any other sector.

Poor railway infrastructure actually discourages investment in agriculture and irrigation development, mining, and even other bulk commodity sectors of the economy, it even makes exports uncompetitive on price and makes food more expensive. Even food aid may reach the intended beneficiaries when they are already dead if the railway infrastructre is poor. At the same time foreign direct investment into irrigation development that does not support agricultural exports will fail just like a lot of failed irrigation schemes scattered all over Africa.

Apart from National Railways of Zimbabwe, I am actually very open to partnering other railway operators and other stakeholders, even a startup railway operator in Zimbabwe or any country neighbouring Zimbabwe. So long as it improves my chances to raise funding for irrigation development in Zimbabwe.

There is also no law that says the National Railways of Zimbabwe is the only entity that can mobilise investment for Zimbabwean railways or even come up with solutions for the recovery of the Zimbabwean railway sector.

So here we are.

The problems

The text in this section that gives a hint of the problem that is being addressed by this competition and by contestants is an excerpt from a World Bank publication: Newfarmer, Richard, and Martha Denisse Pierola. (2015, pages 108 – 110). Trade in Zimbabwe: Changing Incentives to Enhance Competitiveness. Directions in Development. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-0446-5. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO.

Rail Transport

High Implicit Costs Derail Traffic

Even though it is generally cheaper to ship goods by rail than by road in Zimbabwe—some US$0.03–US$0.05 per ton-kilometer compared with US$0.07–US$0.12 by road—and more environmentally sound, only 10 percent of goods traffic in Zimbabwe is shipped by rail.² And that share has been falling precipitously for the past two decades. In 1990, rail freight amounted to 14.3 million tons. As of 2009 it accounted for less than 3 million tons (figure 4.3).

Rail services, which in 2000 were already operating at only about 50 percent of capacity, dipped to less than 20 percent utilization, and have since bounced back with the recovery but only to their mid-2000s utilization rates.

Worn Out Tracks and Broken Equipment

The secular elements of these declines reflect a combination of systematic underinvestment in maintenance of tracks, locomotives, and rail cars and increased competition from road transport. The state enterprise operating the rail system, the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), has suffered steady attrition of its most skilled staff. In addition, the worsening economic situation adversely affected export traffic. The rail track infrastructure and signaling systems have deteriorated because of a lack of regular maintenance, and the traction and rolling stock have deteriorated. By 2007–09, only half of the wagons, one-third of the locomotives, and more than half of the coaches were in operation (AfDB 2011). As a consequence, labor productivity, as measured by traffic units per employee, was only 75 percent that of neighboring Zambia, slightly more than 50 percent of that of Botswana and Mozambique, and barely 12 percent that of South Africa in 2000–05 (Bullock 2009).

Because much of the rail infrastructure was built in the 1950s, it is well beyond the normal 40-year life span of track and would warrant additional investment in any case. However, because maintenance has been insufficient, especially in recent years, many of the segments need full rehabilitation. The rails are worn out in some areas; sleepers and ballast need replacement; and the signal systems are not functioning because of vandalism, theft, and lack of funds for maintenance. A manual system is used for signaling, which is only feasible because of the decline in traffic volumes, exposing the system to accidents associated with human error. The problems of vandalism and theft are so severe that the entire Harare-Dabuka route (313 kilometers) has been stripped of overhead copper cables, grounding the use of electrical trains (Masiiwa and Giersing 2012). The African Development Bank (AfDB 2011) estimates that the Government would need to spend some US$1.15 billion over 10 years to remove speed restrictions, repair electrification, upgrade signaling and telecommunications, and rehabilitate track.

And because virtually no new addition to the rail system has occurred for two generations, enhancing Zimbabwean competitiveness requires adding new links. For example, the absence of a direct link between Harare and Lusaka in Zambia means that trains using the Beira Corridor have to go through Bulawayo, Victoria Falls, and Livingstone, driving costs up some 41 percent (Masiiwa and Giersing 2012).

The opportunities

Below is the complete “Section 18: Powers of Railways” of the Railways Act, which states the powers of the National Railways of Zimbabwe, or the Memorandum of Association of National Railways of Zimbabwe.

These are vast areas of opportunities for investors, inventors, architects, property developers, financiers, small and medium-scale enterprises, enterprises of all sizes, foreign investors, and many kinds of entrepreneurs, anybody, even you Bro, or Sis!

1. To acquire, establish and construct depots, stations, harbours, yards, tracks, workshops, stores, offices, hotels, houses and other premises necessary or convenient for the performance of the functions of the Railways or the exercise of the powers referred to in paragraph 2 and, for those purposes, to buy, take on lease or in exchange, hire or otherwise acquire immovable property and interests therein and rights over the same and concessions, grants, rights, powers and privileges in respect thereof.

2. To provide accommodation, entertainment and other facilities for passengers carried by the Railways and other persons.

3. Subject to the approval of the Minister, to acquire, take on lease or in exchange or invest in all or part of the business, property and liabilities of any person carrying on transport services, and to carry on or liquidate or wind up such business or undertaking.

4. To provide, operate or maintain a pipeline—

(a) in the property of the Railways; or

(b) on the property of any other person with his consent; or

(c) in pursuance of an authority granted by the Minister in terms of subsection (1) of section 3 of the Pipelines Act [Chapter 13:08].

5. To construct or to buy, take in exchange, hire or otherwise acquire movable property, necessary or convenient for the performance of the functions of the Railways or the exercise of its powers in terms of this Schedule.

6. To maintain, alter and improve property of the Railways.

7. To apply for, buy or otherwise acquire patents, licences, concessions or the like conferring an exclusive or non-exclusive or limited right to use information or a process which may seem to the Board capable of being used for the purposes of the Railways or the acquisition of which may seem to the Board calculated, directly or indirectly, to benefit the Railways and to use, exercise, develop and grant licences in respect of or otherwise turn to account rights, information and processes so acquired.

8. To enter into an agreement with any person whatsoever to obtain from or grant to such person, gratuitously or otherwise, rights or concessions in connection with transport services and other operations:

Provided that, if the Minister directs that in the case of any such agreement or class of such agreements his approval is required, the Railways shall not enter into any such agreement or agreements of such a class without the approval of the Minister having been obtained.

9. To determine—

(a) subject to the approval of the Minister, the rates and charges for services rendered by the Railways; and

(b) the terms and conditions under which goods or passengers will be accepted for carriage; and to make different provision for different passengers or classes of passengers or different goods or classes of goods.

10. To sell, exchange, lease, mortgage, dispose of, turn to account or otherwise deal with property of the Railways or any part thereof:

Provided that no property which exceeds forty thousand dollars in value shall be so dealt with without the Minister’s approval.

11. To draw, make, accept, endorse, discount, execute and issue for the purpose of the business of the Railways promissory notes, bills of exchange, bills of lading, securities and other negotiable and transferable instruments.

12. To insure against losses, damages, risks and liabilities which the Railways may incur.

13. To effect, whether as agent or otherwise, the insurance of persons and goods carried by the Railways.

14. To make contracts and to enter into suretyships or give guarantees in connection with the performance of the functions or the exercise of the powers of the Railways and to modify or rescind such contracts, suretyships or guarantees.

15. Subject to section twenty, to appoint and employ, subject to such rules governing their conduct whilst on duty and upon such terms and conditions as the Railways deems fit, such persons as it considers necessary for conducting the affairs of the Railways, and to suspend and discharge any such persons.

16. To pay remuneration, allowances and bonuses and to grant leave of absence to employees.

17. To provide pecuniary benefits for employees of the Railways on their retirement, resignation, discharge or other termination of service or in the event of their sickness or injury and for their dependants and, for that purpose, to effect policies of insurance, establish pension or provident funds or make such other provision as may be necessary to secure for such employees and their dependants any or all of the pecuniary benefits to which this paragraph relates.

18. To—

(a) purchase, take on lease or in exchange or otherwise acquire land or buildings for the accommodation or recreation of employees of the Railways;

(b) construct on land purchased in terms of subparagraph (a) buildings for the accommodation or recreation of employees of the Railways.

19. With the approval of the Minister and the Minister responsible for finance, to—

(a) sell or lease buildings referred to in subparagraph (a) or (b) of paragraph 18 to employees of the Railways;

(b) guarantee loans made to employees of the Railways or their spouses for the purchase of land or buildings for residential purposes, the construction of dwelling-houses and the improvement of dwelling-houses or land which are the property of such employees or their spouses;

(c) provide security in respect of loans such as are described in subparagraph (b) by the deposit of securities in which the Railways is hereby authorized to invest such moneys as the Board may deem necessary for the purpose;

(d) make grants or loans or guarantee loans to any club for the purpose of providing facilities for the recreation of employees of the Railways;

(e) make loans to employees of the Railways for the purchase of dwelling-houses or vehicles, tools or other equipment to be used by those employees in carrying out their duties.

20. To do anything for the purpose of improving—

(a) the skill, knowledge or usefulness of persons employed in connection with the provision of transport services; or

(b) the efficiency of the equipment of the Railways or the manner in which the equipment is operated; and in that connection to provide or assist other persons in providing facilities for training, education and research: Provided that the Railways shall not make grants or loans to educational institutions without the approval of the Minister responsible for finance.

21. To grant such scholarships or bursaries as the Railways considers to be in the interests of the transport industry.

22. To make subscriptions or donations to charitable or benevolent funds or organizations.

23. Generally, to do all such things as are incidental or conducive to the performance of the functions of the Railways or are incidental to the powers specified in this Schedule or which are calculated, directly or indirectly, to enhance the value of or to develop the transport services or other operations or property of the Railways.

This competition

(In one sentence: ) You are required to come up with innovations, ideas, products, solutions, business proposal, and the like, that meet any of the objects or clauses of Section 18: Powers of Railways of the Railways Act which was reproduced in the section above.

(In many descriptive words: ) You are required to come up with, develop, provide, launch, offer, demonstrate, propose, and/or implement a solution that can help in the resuscitation, recapitalization, development, improvement, efficiency, success, competitiveness, and/or prosperity of the railway sector and/or its players.

Use the objects or clauses of Section 18: Powers of Railways of the Railways Act as a guide of what your entry can be about or what business you could do with National Railways of Zimbabwe. The National Railways of Zimbabwe is looking for investors, so whatever your idea, product, service, innovation, solution, or business proposal is, make sure it can fit into any or more of those areas. This is extremely and strategically important, whether National Railways of Zimbabwe will be involved in this contest or your business or neither.

Your solution can be an innovation, technology, a patented invention, an improvement, a startup, a new business, an existing business, or a business proposal, or similar. Your solution does not necessarily have to mainly operate in the railway sector, it may even be in mining, telecommunications, transport, or any sector or industry that can indirectly benefit the railway sector, railway operations and railway infrastructure, or from which the railway sector can directly or indirectly benefit. Entries that specifically require funding from National Railways of Zimbabwe will be disqualified because NRZ itself needs money for recapitalization. Entries that are open to other funding sources will have a better chance.

Comment: National Railways of Zimbabwe cannot do business that it is not empowered to do by law. All the railway operators operating in Zimbabwe have an agreement with National Railways of Zimbabwe. So it follows that whatever business they do that National Railways of Zimbabwe allowed them to do in Zimbabwe is something that National Railways of Zimbabwe legally has the power to do under the Railways Act. That said, it may or may not be National Railways of Zimbabwe that you will end up doing business with, which is why you must ensure that whatever you want to do with NRZ or any railway operator in Zimbabwe is something that National Railways of Zimbabwe has the legal power to do or be in.

How entries will be judged

Judges will be drawn from various government ministries and the Prize Network.

Your entry will first be evaluated by the organizer of the competition to see if it is suitable and consistent with the vision of the organizer. Entries that pass this stage will then be judged by other judges who many be stakeholders in the Prize Network for example.

The judges provided by various stakeholders and members of the Prize Network will decide which entries are suitable for their needs and are consistent with their visions, and can get any support or prize from them. Any entry that is successful at this stage will get whatever prize, benefit, support, or resource that any judge representing a member of the Prize Network decides to provide to the entry.

In other words, it is possible for one entry to win many prizes and for another entry to win just one or nothing at all. This competition does not officially provide money as a prize, however judges and members of the Prize Network could provide money as a prize to an entry or entries.

What’s on offer?

The National Railway Sector Turnaround & Innovation Competition for Zimbabwe uses a network of sponsors, supporters, donors, and strategic partners in its Prize Network to provide various prizes to winners, prizes that could be in any form, from funding and legal services support to access to facilities for testing products or manufacturing prototypes or even manufacturing the first batch of products.

There is no set or fixed limit in terms of how many winners there are or what type of prize a contestant can get. A contestant’s prize(s) will depend on the offer(s) from the interested Prize Network member(s). The more interesting, competitive, feasible, viable, lucrative, profitable, defensible, and powerful your solution is, the more prizes you are likely to get from interested Prize Network member(s).

Prize Network members are interested in things that are relevant tothem and are of interest to them. A Prize Network members may want to support fintech startups while another may want to support manufacturing locally developed technologies that have railway or even telecommunications uses. If your entry is profitable, you may be able to secure funding from investors who may be in the Prize Network. You could even find your first customers or even contract manufacturers in the Prize Network.

The design of the competition increases the potential for entries to find strategic partners, customers, investors, suppliers, equipment, pilot sites, resources, and to be noticed by interested stakeholders compared to conventional competitions that just focus on the highest ranked 3 or 5 or 10 winners who take all the cash prizes. In the National Railway Sector Turnaround & Innovation Competition for Zimbabwe, the number of winners of something is not pre-determinerd, set, or fixed, but is limited by the prize offers from the member(s) of the Prize Network.

Prizes

The National Railway Sector Turnaround & Innovation Competition for Zimbabwe was designed with the insight that to succeed, most businesses neet connections more than money, connections to investors, customers, opportunities, resources, infrastructure, expertise, and more.

This insight was particularly influenced by the fact that the National Railways of Zimbabwe actually has enough resources to resuscitate itself and therefore, foreign investment which is always being sought is not really required. It’s like when people say Zimbabwe cannot feed itself because the white farmers left, then they don’t say or explain how there is surplus maize production output when rains are good and the increasing record-breaking tobacco production output every year. The resources to turnaround the Zimbabwean railway sector are there in Zimbabwe.

This competition, or the Prize Network, and or the organizer, may, among other things, provide an entry all, one, or some of the following benefits:

• Marketing support
• Government support
• Business plan development
• Strategic business partnerships
• Strategic marketing plan development
• Company registration and/or formalization
• Sites for pilot projects or pilot tersting
• Product development support
• Manufacturing facilities
• Technical support
• Business linkages
• Connections
• Mentoring
• Training
• Publicity
• Investment
• Funding
• And more.

How?

Let me use a hypothetical example, where your entry is of a mechanical innovation or device. Let us say you have a machine that you invented that could reduce wear and tear on locomotives and railway wagons, but you do not have the equipment to manufacture it or the capital to build a factory or even money to get your business off the ground.

National Railways of Zimbabwe, which is one of the players in the Zimbabwean railway sector, boasts that its “workshops are among the largest integrated workshops in Southern Africa.”

NRZ also says its:

Machine Shop boasts of a variety of machinery, which produces a wide range of finished components. Among the most specialised machines are the vertical borers, horizontal borers, CNC lathe, surface grinders and cylindrical grinders. Operations carried out include turning, drilling, planning, boring, milling and gear cutting.

The NRZ workshops can also do fabrication. For a list of services that the NRZ Workshops offer, see their webpage.

If, for example, NRZ is a member of the Prize Network in this competition, NRZ may offer you a prize to fabricate your prototype or sample product for a fee, at a discount, or free of charge. NRZ could even offer to test your devide on its locomotives to see if it lives up to what you say your device can do. If the results of the field tests of your device done by NRZ will be very valuable capital to you if tests confirm your claims and NRZ sees value in your device. if NRZ decides to become your coustomer, you will have got a reference customer who you could use to get more customers. It is all up to NRZ as a member of the Prize Network and a judge of your entry what prize they want to offer you.

NRZ may also offer to buy your patent or to licence your intellectual property. As you have read above, Section 18 (7) Powers of Railways in the Railways Act, gives NRZ the power:

7. To apply for, buy or otherwise acquire patents, licences, concessions or the like conferring an exclusive or non-exclusive or limited right to use information or a process which may seem to the Board capable of being used for the purposes of the Railways or the acquisition of which may seem to the Board calculated, directly or indirectly, to benefit the Railways and to use, exercise, develop and grant licences in respect of or otherwise turn to account rights, information and processes so acquired.

NRZ may even offer to get a licence from you to manufacture your product with a strategic business view of generating revenue from sales of your product as a licenced manufacturer of your product, and indeed, it could even happen that your business or product may end up generating more revenue for NRZ that NRZ’s freight business. General Motors in the United States manufactured cars, but made more money financing the sales of those vehicles than it did from manufacturing those cars.

Section 18 (23) Powers of Railways in the Railways Act, gives NRZ the power:

23. Generally, to do all such things as are incidental or conducive to the performance of the functions of the Railways or are incidental to the powers specified in this Schedule or which are calculated, directly or indirectly, to enhance the value of or to develop the transport services or other operations or property of the Railways.

NRZ may also, if it wants, give you, as a prize, a quotation of just how much it will cost you to have your machine or device made in their workshops. It may even a private sector manufacturing company and not NRZ that could do that for you.

That is how this competition works. This competition has no set minimum or maximum or limits on the types of prizes or opportunities you could get and it does not have a limited range of specific types of prizes.

Your entry will be read by many judges from various economic sectors and industries, various stakeholders who could be prospective business partners, competitors, investors, from government, and so on.

In that scenario, it is also possible that a financier could also decide to finance you or your business to commercialise your innovation or to launch your business and scale up your production.

So, in this example, you could then, if you wish, combine the offer from NRZ with that from the financier with the result that NRZ Workshops will handle the fabrication or manufacturing for you while the financier bankrolls production and the whole operation. This helps you get your business of the ground and at the same time also benefits NRZ and the financier. Everybody wins.

Timeline

Competition launches
1 November 2025

Submission window opens
5 January 2026 (The Submit Entry button will becomes active on the website. Competition documents made available to download.)

Submission window closes
31 May 2026

Winners announced
June/July 2026

Get involved

You can become involved in the competition as an individual, a group, or as an entity. There are FOUR main ways to publicly participate in the National Railway Sector Turnaround & Innovation Competition for Zimbabwe:

1. as an idea contributor,
2. competing for a prize, or
3. as part of the Prize Network, or
4. as a sponsor of the event or the contest or anything else.

Idea contributor
You can suggest an idea either anonymously or publicly. There is no prize for submitting an idea. It will be treated just like posting something into a suggestion box.

Competitor
Individuals, teams, and entities with a strong desire, the motivation, and the energy to drive and lead the turnaround of the Zimbabwean railway sector, whether directly or indirectly, can enter the competition. Formal business registration is not a requirement. Entries will compete for various types of prizes, rewards, or support such as access to test facilities, access to manufacturing facilities, customers, and various other types of support provided by the Prize Network. You could also become a business partner of the competition’s organizer, Prosper Chikomo.

The Prize Network
The Prize Network comprises of all kinds of interested stakeholders and is designed to facilitate the winning contestants to establish their businesses, business connections and networks, improve their capital raising prospects, and to foster intra-industry and cross-industry collaboration for the purpose of turning around and developing the Zimbabwean railway sector.

Interested stakeholders in the Prize Network include sponsors, strategic partners, government ministries, State-Owned Enterprises, parastatals, private sector, NGOs, donors, high net worth individuals, retired experts, academic institutions, mentors, innovation hubs, tech hubs, investors, financiers, and other acceptable interested parties who want to play a role in the turnaround and the development of the Zimbabwean railway sector and the Zimbabwean economy.

The Prize Network will provide strategic support to winning contestants which may, for example, be in the form of idea development, legal services, access to test facilities or manufacturing facilities, prototype manufacturing, pilot sites, pilot projects, product development, and market testing, among others. Judges will also be drawn from the Prize Network.

Interested individuals and organizations can apply to become a member of the Prize Network here. You can also submit a proposal of how you want to work with the organizer andf the contestants who have promising innovations and solutions. Know more.

Sponsor

You can sponsor any aspect of holding the contest or anything else that is not a prize. You can even sponsor as an individual or a group or an entity. Send you proposal. Sponsors of prizes will be in the Prize Network, which has separate benefits from non-prize sponsorship. It is actually going to cost a lot of money to run this contest. I will even need airtime. Become a sponsor.

About Prosper Chikomo

Entrepreneur. I have no money.

I have advised random entrepreneurs and youths on business. Like one guy who tried selling me a bottle of low-priced perfume in the street and I told him that if he really wants to succeed in that business he had better become the wholesaler selling in bulk. He then told me he believed God had sent me. He said he had been praying with his mother for a breakthrough for his business and I had provided answers to his prayers. He said it was not a coincidence that our paths had crossed yada yada yada.

Then there was the youth who tried selling me a brand new pots set for US$300, “Made in Germany,” he said, like that would persuade me to buy. He was going door to door in the industrial areas. I asked him about his level of education. He told me had just completed O’level, which meant he was still a teenager. I asked him for more details about his job and I gave him my analysis and unsolicited opinion on a disclosed “take it or leave it” basis right in the street. I told him pots sets from China are like US$30 to US$40 and very few employees in Zimbabwe were getting such kind of money per month. I told him if he can get about US$300, he would be better off going for training to install solar power systems. I told him he could recover all his investment in that training in just one client job and with that qualification, and being so young, he could even get a better paying entry-level job in the solar power generatiion sector. When I was about to go, he asked for my name. I decided not to tell him. Batman never tells people that he is Bruce Wayne. Helping people anonymously is fun.

Then recently there was a 10 year old kid who came to me and asked me for money to help him buy soccer boots. He told me they were required to have those soccer boots to be in the team. He said he had US$3 and needs only US$5 more. I told him I don’t have any money, and I actually didn’t have any money, and then I said, “Let’s think of businesses that you could do that could make money. What can you sell at school that people who will be at soccer practice can buy?” Dude had one product in mind. I also suggested that he find sponsors or he goes to a shop that sells soccer boots and negotiate a lower price. We was brainstorming! Since we both did not have money, I said to the kid, “Well, since the year is almost over, maybe forget about the boots for now and just focus on making the money which by Christmas will be enough for you to buy yourself soccer boots that you will use next year.” I then said to the kid, “Well, the shop nearby sells 20 leaves of vegetables for US$1. You have a borehole in your yard. A seed tray had 120 slots for 120 seedlings. If you plant 120 seedlings of vegetables, and water them, after 60 days, by Christmas time, you will have made US$120. He put both his hands on top of his head, and his jaw dropped. His reaction was like I had said US$120 billion! A few weeks later he said to me he did what I said and he now has soccer boots.

If it will make you feel better about the competition, I advised an ex-SpaceX electric aircraft startup founder on use cases for his startup’s aircraft. His startup was later acquired and I felt good when I learned about the acquisition. It is probably the same way I will feel when I read that a contestant who started with nothing developed an entry in this competiton into a US$1 billion a year business. It was called Talyn.

There is no difference between what I did for all those people and what I am doing and will be doing for you and others in this competition, and the national railway sector. I am not running this competition this for fame, but for enjoyment from creating opportunities that will generate US$1 billion in economic activity within 5 years. If it works fine, it it doesn’t, well I tried. You can actually see that I am trying. I made this website and I am putting the Prize Network together so that you can have a chance at success, an opportunity, even if you may be a long-term unemployed graduate who has never had a job.

In case you are wondering, the competition is much simpler and much cheaper to run if I run it is in my name.

Competition Questions & Answers