Back to Index

Inside/Out with Chiko Mukwenha a fruit and veggies type of guy, who is passionate about education, learning and technology
Kubatana.net
November 27, 2013

Describe yourself in five words?
Ambitious, laid-back, unconventional, funny, hello!

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
After my cousin Pamela Mukwenha came back from her UK trip where she met some of the brightest young minds effecting change in the world, I was curious to know what she thought about success and how we could raise our game. She said, “What made some people succeed is not amazing skill or anything that I couldn’t define for myself during my trip. It was, sometimes, persevering on ideas that may seem small or crazy to some.”

What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever done?
Asked to pray one day in high school, I was suffering from a serious dose of Monday blues and went, “Good morning Lord…”

What is your most treasured possession?
Besides my humor, it’s Macbook Pro. Often times I have called it my first girlfriend, much to the chagrin of my real girlfriend, but even she accepts second place now!

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Being in a position that you know is less than what you deserve but being powerless to change it.

Do you have any strange hobbies?
I watch Japanese Anime, in Japanese, without English subtitles.

What do you dislike most about your appearance?
I hate how my hair never grows to a comfortable level where I can maintain dreadlocks. It always grows so fast that I end up looking unkempt when we all know I’m the total opposite, right!

What is your greatest extravagance?
I’m a gadget freak and like to stay cutting edge. Price is secondary when I’m celebrating & I like to buy myself some little tech toys for trophies. By the way, I don’t touch anything but Apple products so my selecions are a little limited.

What have you got in your fridge?
Redbulls and lots of fruits. I’m a fruit and veggies type of guy.

What is your greatest fear?
My biggest fear is one day finding myself without a voice to change what’s going on around me nor the power to even try and influence proceedings.

What have you got in your pockets right now?
My wallet, gum and iPhone 5.

What is your favourite journey?
Recently I was on an amazing road trip from Harare to Cape Town. That takes the trophy! We had a blast and I would repeat that anytime.

Who are your heroes in real life?
My brother Allen will beat up Superman and Hercules at the same time whilst looking Medusa in the eye, anyday.

When and where were you happiest?
I can’t accurately say when I was “happiest” but one of the events was when I beat Farai Mandizha who is a chess International Master. At the time I was fifteen years old. Having talked big after touring some countries and winning some internatioal tournaments there, he came to our school and challenged us across six boards. I was happy to be the spanner in his works on that day! It was a great game of chess and I think both of us learned a lot at the end of it.

What’s your biggest vice?
I’m not led by emotion. That means sometimes I can do things that are unpopular just because I belive they need to be done. Respecting the status quo is not in my book, which is both a gift and a curse!

What were you like at school?
I was pretty weird I’m sure. I was often the quiet, little guy who wouldn’t talk to anyone and played chess or spoke only when asked. I always took time to warm to people and changing schools frequently made me feel like an outsider a lot of the time. Interestingly, although the syllabi would change from school to school, it never affected my confidence even if I didn’t do so well in mock exams. So I may have passed as someone who didn’t care about his studies to some people. I always played a waiting game knowing when I would finally be on the same page with everyone, I would go head to head with the best and I firmly believed I would come out on top. In a nutshell I was weird, dorky and a part-time comic.

What are you doing next?
World domination. I’m working on my startup, Vuvu that enables students to study more easily. I’m passionate about education, learning and technology, focusing on something that combines all three brings - heaven on earth for me!

Visit the Kubatana.net fact sheet

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP