Divine Ndhlukula

She was born on 5 February 1960 in rural Gutu to Mary and Piniel Simbi. She grew up in Gutu, having attended a number of schools, namely, Zvinavashe School, Machingambi School, Bondolfi Mission, St. Domincs Secondary School, Makumbe Mission. She was married to Stanely Ndhlukula (late) and has one son - David Simbi and two grandchildren. She studied for an Executive Masters in Business Administration (MBA) at Midlands State University and she holds another an MBA from Women’s University in Africa and a PhD in Business Leadership from the Women’s University which was conferred in recognition of her business leadership and gender equality initiatives. ==General career==

She worked for Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and Old Mutual for six years as an Accounting Officer and then joined Intermarket Life Assurance as a Marketing Executive where she worked for 16 years and left to found SECURICO. ==Business career==

She founded a security company Securico from humble beginnings in Zimbabwe in 1998. In an interview she said that the idea to form Securico was conceived out of the need to earn a livelihood but critically to revolutionize the male dominated security industry. Speaking to a Zimbabwean newspaper she said: Securico is the first Zimbabwean staffed security company to be certified to the internationally acclaimed ISO9001:2008 Quality Management System. ==Positions held==

• Security Association Zimbabwe – Past Chairman • Professional Executives & Businesswomen Forum (PROWEB) – Trustee • African Women Entrepreneurs Prog (AWEP) – Founding Trustee • Harare Sunshine Holdings • Member of the National Competitiveness Commission Board • First Lady Development Advisory Board • Inducted in the prestigious JA International Global Business Hall of Fame 2021 • Recognised as one of the Top 100 Women CEOs in Africa in 2019 • PROWEB (Professional Women, Women Executives and Business Women’s Forum) President: current (Year 2021) ==Philanthropic Work==

She is the founder of the Mentorship in Practice programme, Woman Owned Brand initiative, an offshoot of the Women in Enterprise Conference and Awards platform which she started in 2013 to help women scale up their businesses. Became the first SADC member at Women Presidents Organization. ==Honours and awards==

• Empretec Entrepreneur of the Year 2001 and Empretec Entrepreneur of Decade (Services Sector) 2002; • Zimbabwe Northern Region Leadership Excellence Awards Private Sector Winner 2016 ==References==