WHERE there is a will, there is a way…
This is true with regards to Masiiwa Maison Table, owner of Vic Falls Airways which has recently been granted a licence to operate in Zimbabwe.
Born in Mbare to immigrant parents from Malawi, Masiiwa Maison Table comes from humble beginnings.
His parents lived in hostels in Mbare before they moved to Mufakose where he grew up, and for his secondary education he went to Highfield Secondary School.
When I first met Masiiwa Table in 2008, he was training to be a pilot in Wolverhampton. He was doing something unheard of when most Zimbabweans or Africans in the UK were studying nursing which guaranteed them jobs with the National Health Service (NHS).
Those were also the days when many Zimbabweans were investing in magonyeti or haulage trucks.
When he told me that his aspiration was to own an airline, I thought he was hallucinating. How could he, a black person, ever think of owning an airline?
But on August 12 2014 Masiiwa’s dream came true when the government finally gave his airline an operating licence to ply international routes (Beijing, Johannesburg and London) as well as domestic routes.
Referring to the Bible, Masiiwa Table says he believes that no matter how much effort one puts in trying to achieve something, if it’s not your time you will struggle. “Peter spent a whole night fishing but catching nothing until Jesus showed him where to fish,” happy Masiiwa said.
“My time has come now, and I would like to thank President Mugabe’s indigenisation policy that made all this possible.
“It made it possible for a black Zimbabwean to own an airline; my company is probably the only one (owned by an indigenous) to own an airline in Southern Africa. I am so happy,” he said.
“My wish is to meet President Mugabe, shake his hand and say thank you Baba for your policies that made me a proud owner of an airline,” he remarked during the telephone interview.
But his journey to owning an airline took him almost 8 years in which he experienced many obstacles.
Masiiwa said his dream started from a hospital bed in 2006, where, after three months in hospital here in the UK, he told his doctor that if he survived he wanted to start his own airline and a train company.
And his doctor did not believe him, he said; probably taking it as post traumatic disorder!
But when he was discharged from the hospital, Masiiwa says he self-funded himself to get a PPL (Private Pilot Licence), which cost him more than £10 000 (about US$16 000) to do more than 45 hours flight lessons required.
He did his training at the Halfpenny Airport (also known as Wolverhampton Business Airport). There were no other black trainee pilots at the time apart from a young Zimbabwean man, Kuda Murapa, who he says was much better than himself.
“I trained with Kuda Murapa. He was very good. His father is a pilot, used to be a Captain at Air Zimbabwe. Kuda was better than me,” Masiiwa said.
Armed with a PPL (Private Pilot Licence), Masiiwa said he then formed a company Tablemark, a private company, with his father who lives in Mufakose in Harare. Together they own 100 percent ownership of the company, which is now trading as Vic Falls Airways.
“My father did everything for me, including the company registration in Zimbabwe as well as applying for an Air Service Permit (ASP). An ASP means the government has allowed you to set up your own airline.
Fortunately for us we did not encounter any problems in securing the ASP.
When the licence expired after three years we were able to renew it again with no hassles,” he says.
However, even though they had the ASP and an Aircraft Operations Certificate (AOC), which is given by the Civil Aviation (Ministry of Transport) after one identifies an aeroplane; it has not been easy to get investors or an operating route.
Masiiwa and his father had to wait a few more years to get an operating licence, during which time he visited many countries including Brazil looking for investors.
“In Brazil we went to Monash, Sao Paulo, Brasília, and also Guyana, but it wasn’t easy to get an airline or investors. We were looking for Embraer aircrafts.
You see, with the politics and economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe it was very difficult to convince potential investors.
They all said it was difficult to invest in Zimbabwe because of the sanctions, so we gave up,” Masiiwa Table told me.
Now that they have an operating licence and a route to ply, Masiiwa says he is still meeting some investors.
Another setback was the Government’s policy to refuse issuing operating licences to aircrafts that were over 20 years of age.
The Civil Aviation is responsible for making sure that all aircrafts operating in the country are fit for the purpose; and before 2012 they were not giving licences to aircrafts that were 20 years old and above.
Masiiwa said they had been looking for aircrafts that were 25 years old and their luck came in 2012 when the Civil Aviation relaxed the age restriction.
Another hiccup was the difficulty in getting a flying route.
The Government had given a flying route to Fly Kumba, which flew between Bulawayo and Johannesburg until it went out of operation.
With no flying route it was also difficult to attract investors.
However, Masiiwa Table believes that the delays gave them more time to learn about the business and to make preparations. They also learnt from Fly Kumba.
I asked Masiiwa where he got the money to buy an aeroplane, but he laughed and said, “We did not buy an aeroplane or aeroplanes. We have ideas. These days you don’t have to buy an aeroplane but you lease one.
“We are leasing a B767-200ER which is currently at the airport in Harare, from South Africa. We are also leasing three Boeing 777 (which have the capacity to carry 341 passengers each) from Egypt and these are the airlcraft that will be plying Harare-Beijing, Harare-London and Harare-Johannesburg routes,” he said confidently.
“People are already applying for jobs,” Masiiwa Table said. “We are going to create about 80 jobs; 56 for cabin crew, ten for administrative staff and the rest for pilots although in the first six months we will use Egyptian pilots.
“That’s how it works but we will eventually use Zimbabwean pilots. We will start recruiting cabin crew in September and they will undergo some six weeks training. We hope to start flying in and out of Harare in November,” he said.
Masiiwa Table has already appointed a board for his airline and a chief executive officer, Norbert Machingauta, who is based in Zimbabwe. Moses Hunga, also Harare-based, is one of the board members.
Most of his board members are based in Zimbabwe and Dr Itayi Garande, UK-based lawyer and journalist, is one of the company directors.
“Many people have been saying Itayi Garande has bought an aeroplane and that he owns Vic Falls Airways, for the record it is not true. He is one of the directors and the company that is trading as Vic Falls Airways, which I have already told you about (Tabmark) is owned by myself and my father who is a pensioner,” Table emphasised.
I asked him what his advice to other Zimbabweans who want to start businesses in Zimbabwe, and Mr Masiiwa Table said people should not lose heart.
They will come across a lot of frustrations but like him, they should keep trying.
They should be resilient.
“We kept knocking at the Ministry of Transport’s doors until they heard us. We should take advantage of the indigenisation policies and economic empowerment and one day the doors will open up,” he said.
Good luck Mr Masiiwa Maison Table and Dr Garande, both UK-based Zimbabwean entrepreneurs. Indeed where there is a will there is a way.