It Is Not Where You Start But How You End

Edgar Mangwende is the epitome of the cream that rises to the top of the milk. Born in a family of six, he is the fourth child. His father was a driver for the national airline; Air Zimbabwe , his mother was and still is a hustlepreneur according to the lingo of the youth.

It is Not Where You Start But Where You EndAdd caption

One can hardly describe his upbringing as one that was well-to-do, but certainly the prevailing  standards in the newly post colonial Zimbabwe,they did not starve. A story which I remember quite clearly was one where his father flatly refused to go and be humiliated at Edgar’s primary school during a parents meeting(consultation day).His reason was that Edgar and his younger brother were not the sharpest tools in the shed and would hover around the last group of learners in their respective classes. Presumably they had not fully grasped the concepts of studying  and applying themselves. The father would boycott these occasions.

He was however surprised when the “O” level examination results came out and found out that the erstwhile dullards had passed well enough for them to proceed to form five and six after which they dully qualified for university. After four years of study Edgar was able to attain a BSc(Hon) in Horticulture form the Midlands State University. He proceeded after a few years of strife ,in which he could not secure any meaningful employment .He ended up joining a Multi-Level Marketing company where he used to sell green tea and other herbal remedies to clients in and around Harare. Edgar’s never die attitude and acute sense of purposed however ,eventually led him to be accepted         to study for an MSc  at the University of Pretoria .According to him ,times were hard. He would go without meals at times until one of his lecturers challenged his students to excel at an assignment he had given and he promised that the the best student would be sent to Scotland for a month-all expenses paid.Edgar set out to look for part-time work to finance his meals and for the resources he needed in order to complete the assignment .He did this with flying  colours and was able to pay his own way for the study visit to Scotland .Soon after he came back and completed his studies upon which he commenced  to write his book ,The Cage Mentality-From the mind to the Mountain top, whilst completing his PhD in Plant Pathology.

Whether his book bombs or not ,the fact that he has been able to achieve all these from his humble beginnings attest to the strong will,never die attitude that marks him out as one whom will certainly make waves in both his chosen field and whatever community he will choose to live in.