By Patrick Chitongo
Moonlight Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chomi Makhina, was the guest of honor at this year’s Lowveld Agricultural Show and Trade fare, not by mistake but by choice.
But before I trace his footsteps, and those of his company, up to his presents at the colourful event, I would like everyone to know the power of a name.
Chiredzi is the home to Shangani speaking people. As if the CEO’s parents knew that he was going to be a darling of the Sugar town, they named him Chomi.
In Shangani, Chomi means a friend. So he was a friend of the Lowveld from birth, before he knew it. He shall remain a friend of the sweet town for ever.
In 1999, Moonlight started a snail relationship with a group of Hippo Valley and Triangle workers. The workers joined as a group, and this was the birth of a Group scheme.
As years passed by, the number of the group scheme started to swell, owing to timeous and quality service rendered to them.
The relationship cemented, but the inevitable economic meltdown caught up with it, and in 2008-2009, there was no liquid money from Tongaat workers to pay their premiums.
That alone was a blow to all funeral services providers, leading to many of them staggering, while most of them folded.
During difficult times, a true Chomi(friend), is seen by giving support and innovations to navigate through.
This is what Moonlight did. It was difficult for the organisation to leave their clients. Like the famous English football team, Liverpool, they promised their clients that “they will never walk alone”.
True to this, Moonlight innovated, and in a surprising innovation, settled to have their clients pay through barter trade.
The group scheme started to offset their premiums with sugar. Moonlight would then sell the sugar in Harare, and convert the money raised into premium payments.
The barter trade went on for some years, until the dollarisation period, that saw the government adopting the greenback regime.8
The group schemes started to vibrate, handsomely honouring their premiums. That alone made the company liquid and back on foot again.
As a great thank you, Moonlight chose to reward with a permanent mark, the construction of the State of the art funeral parlour in Chiredzi.
The services at the new imposing parlour are next to none. It does not serve paid up members only, but walk in clients are also cartered for.
The economic growth that came with the dollarisation, catapulted the company to a powerhouse, and not only established the giant Chiredzi parlour, but it spread it’s tentacles across the country. Currently, it boosts of 46 branches countrywide, all offering incomparable services.
This is a clientele cognisance and paradigm shift that no any other funeral service provider is providing.
As a ‘Chomi’ in Chiredzi, the friendship did not end there, the organisation is still looking at other avenues to plough back to the community.
The public realtions for the organisation Noway Museba put it this way,
“Our roots are in Chiredzi.”
The organisation is still keeping it’s presents in Chiredzi by ploughing back, extending to schools.
This year the organisation sponsored sporting activities among several schools, where they provided medals, shields and sporting necessities.
Museba said “The Best way to reach a parent is through his/her child”. This sounds too physiological.
Museba said her organisation has its own mantra, ‘celebrating life”. This is the reason why they encourage and support sporting among it’s client, hence it’s roburst involvement in supporting sports.
