Personal Statement for Morgan Tinoza As you travel across the countryside throughout Zimbabwe, you will get

touched by how technologically underdeveloped the country still is. It seemed that years of economic hardships have left mostly chaos and ill-equipped professionals. The I.T professionals in particular have shunned the rural areas and concentrated in urbanised areas were principally lies demand for their skills. This has affected even the delivery of the skills in the schools and communities as there are very few teachers to deliver the skills to the communities. Given Zimbabwes gradual economic growth and its association with SADC and COMESA, there is clearly a beneficial opportunity for any Zimbabwean-trained business leader interested in the SADC and COMESA marketplace. I would like to capitalize on this opportunity by providing new ideas and products that would strengthen the regional economic integration. For this, I would need the proper training and understanding of such components as the dynamics of the international marketplace and the possible risks in new product development practices. Earning an MBA degree from The University of Zimbabwe would be a significant component of this training. The immense experience I have gained ever since completing my BSc degree through working for Blue chip organisations, I foresee my future career as assuming an advisory, and ultimately a leadership position in a software development company interested in the Southern African region. I plan to use my knowledge in the development and implementation of new application systems. This would go a long way in delivering cheap information technology to the region that will be affordable and have local support. In turn this will propel information technology solutions to be delivered even to the rural areas as the cost factor would ensure they will be affordable. Working for Unilever has accorded me the opportunity to work with people from across the Globe. I have had the opportunity to travel and work on projects in foreign countries and this has helped me to appreciate the difference in societies and importance of adapting and integrating into different cultures. My ability to integrate easily in foreign communities has provided me with the confidence to anticipate and even enjoy challenges abroad which is a capability that I intend to exploit in the near future to my greater benefit. I would like to drive my ideas throughout the SADC region blended in the systems that I wish to develop and implement The nature of Information technology in industry as a supporting service has helped me to understand the operations of all departments through supporting their operations. I studied the role of other departments, looked at the human aspects, and interacted with colleagues in all the other fields such as engineering, finance, marketing, human resources etcetera. As I gained experience I now feel the need to consolidate my technical and functional knowledge. Time and again I have been given the opportunity to coordinate some regional projects and this has given me a solid technical background and thus become more competent and assuming greater responsibilities in overseeing other peoples work. One of my greatest achievement as of now was the conversion of the Enterprise Resource Planning system that is used at Unilever from ZimDollar base currency to USDollar base currency. Over the course of my career, I have learned that technical expertise complements well with manager's responsibilities and promises a substantially higher rate of success. Consequently, I believe that I could greatly benefit from receiving quality education as an MBA student. Earning a Masters of business degree from The University of Zimbabwe would provide me with the optimal position of becoming a competent manager with a sound understanding of software development and international perspective to effectively "go regional" and then global.