BY LIFESTYLE CORRESPONDENT
HARARE lawyer Patony Musendo and his Netherlands-based friend, food safety specialist Farai Maphosa joined hands to pen, Dear Yuppie: Letters to a Young Professional, written to assist young people fit into the conventional work space with ease after leaving college.
The book was officially launched last week at a well-attended ceremony at a local golf club in Harare.
Guest of honour at the launch, business mogul Nigel Chanakira, described the publication as “a must-read” and commended the authors for penning the book.
“This book is something I would be delighted to have endorsed because it contains nuggets I would recommend to any young soul. This is a book I would say must be read; it must be part of the curriculum in our schools,” he said.
Chanakira — who is also a banker, leadership developer and success coach — said the book was easy to read and contained “very, very useful nuggets”.
Our (education) system is churning out 300 000 kids per annum.
This book is also an answer to those kids who do not get the privilege to become a yuppie, a young professional. There are few who make it to become a yuppie.”
Expressing his love for the book after buying four copies for his children, he said: “I enjoyed reading it. It is also practical.”
He described the book as also helpful to entrepreneurs used to “hustling” to “formally corporatise” their organisations.
Harare mayor, Jacob Mafume, who also attended the launch, told other guests that he was with Musendo at law school at the University of Zimbabwe, and described him as “steady, calm and very deliberate”.
“We saw the writing skills even on social media, Facebook posts he would do.
“He would write in a very anecdotal manner and in a way that is easy to read… and there is always a laugh at the end of the story. And he is very good at laughing at himself,” he said.
Musendo said what was most striking about the book was that it was culled from his interactions with ordinary people in society.
“In the book I write about my interactions with ordinary people and how they helped me,” he said, adding that he also learnt a lot through his interactions with Maphosa, who is the food safety director at Danone in The Netherlands.
Maphosa, who travelled back to Zimbabwe for the launch, said the book contained 41 letters written uniquely to deliver important lessons to young professionals.
“There are 40 letters plus one. Each letter is unique in its own way. It has its own lesson… There are lessons that come from simple, ordinary things,” he added.
