He wears only white clothes. White, he says, is a sign of purity, cleanliness, love and hope. Many did not know 24-year-old Teemak until he bought Enzo Ishall for US$100 000, recently.
Ooh my word, this is no joke! Real name Tawona Ozwell Chipunza, Teemak is a maverick millionaire in United States dollars terms, a larger-than-life character who deceives you at first sight with looks, calmness and composure. Softness! Prod him on and soon he opens up, and hey, the world spins.
When he recently made headlines for signing popular Zimdancehall star Enzo Ishall for a US$100 000, the big dogs in the entertainment industry were shocked at the news, a first in Zimbabwe’s showbiz.
The young promoter had arrived on the music industry with a bang.
But not many people know Teemak’s business.
How did he make millions at such an age, who is he anyway?
Although born in Zimbabwe in December 1996, Teemak was only in the country up to Grade 7. For the last 10 years, he has been based in Malaysia and that is where he made his fortune.
“I went to Malaysia after Grade 7 and I did my high school and university there. I studied computer science,” he says, before delving into his professional and financial journey.
“Initially I was into the sales business. I was a salesman for a UK investment company; I worked in their Malaysian branch. I did sales from age 19 to 21 before deciding to form my own company,” he says.
The company is called Maximus Capital, a hedge fund based on forex trading. And he chose forex trading for a reason.
“Forex trading is the biggest financial market in the world. The daily volume of forex traded there is almost US$7 trillion a day so if you are a good trader, it’s up to you to decide how much of that you take on a daily basis so I started my company Maximus Capital in late 2018 and last year we grew really big.”
Teemak saw a huge opportunity to earn mega finances as he worked for the British company.
“I was a high ticket salesman which means I was dealing with six figure sales which is over 100 000 USD so I realised I already had a clientele because with every person you sell to, you develop a relationship. I then realised if I could convert these people into my personal clients, I can give them better returns than the company I worked for through my skill which is trading.
“I also capitalise on my friends because I went to an international school and to one of the best universities in Malaysia so I had people from very affluent backgrounds around me.”
The young man took advantage of that and started his journey to being a millionaire. He explained what he does as a fund manager for his company.
“We get investors from different parts of the world and I, as the fund manager trade their funds on the financial market and based on the contract we have with the investor, we pay them their monthly returns. Now we have collaborations with a few governments and private banks. One of these banks is in DRC and another in Cayman Islands.”
Teemak says his company valuation is now almost US$10 million in investment, which is the total amount of funds that they have managed to gather in investment which they are working with now.
The young mogul, who has spent less than six months in the country combined over the last decade, says he has decided to return to Zimbabwe to invest in the economy.
“That is one of the major reasons why I am here in Zimbabwe — to invest. And also to find young people that are ambitious and have strong business ideas that need funding. That is one of my major tasks in 2020.
“I have people helping me to identify these young people and we have a certain amount of money allocated for that and as my business grows, it allows me to invest more here. Because no matter how many millions or billions I generate outside, I’m still a foreigner out there.”
The young millionaire does not hold a negative view of Zimbabwe as a country or her economy.
“Despite people’s perception of the Zimbabwean economy, I think this is one of the best economies to invest in right now because there is so much room for growth. If you go to America or Europe, their markets are very saturated, which means that the potential of growth there is much lower because everything has already been done. They have the fastest internet, they have the best businesses but when you look at Zimbabwe you realise there is so much that needs to be done.
“The young people from Zimbabwe in the diaspora want to keep their money outside and that is what is perpetuating the problems we have in this country.
“The better thing to do is bring money into this country and do projects and spearhead change with good management — this way you can realise a very high profit whilst helping the country in the same breath and that is what I am looking at right now.”
Teemak only wears white and says he grew up telling himself when he reaches a certain level of wealth, he will only wear white. The late American entrepreneur, Jim Ron, is his role model.
“Jim Ron died in 2009 and I really focus on his philosophies because he emphasises on a person making themselves better and improving their skills set to then allow them to have better opportunities. He has a simple philosophy, “For things to get better, you have to get better.”
“He focuses on personal development and that really works for people in a country like Zimbabwe. Fine the economy is not at it’s best, fine there are problems in the world; But if you get better, everything around you will also get better.
“I think I can safely say I have watched over a thousand hours of his videos in the past two years. Now I listen to him much lesser because I have grasped most of his concepts,” says the charismatic businessman.
He added that securing a group of investors from Qatar was one of his biggest moments that turned his business around.
“They still invest with us because we deliver our end of the deal and I can show you how they invested US$200 000 just last week.”
Teemak entered the Zimbabwe business and entertainment landscape by storm earlier this year, firstly made headlines after buying a car for popular renowned ‘DJ Towers’ Tawanda Marimbe.
Currently he went back to Malaysia for some business meeting and is set to return at the end of the month ahead of other investments deals in the country.
