AUTHOR / MUSICIAN / STORYTELLER / INSPIRATIONAL SPEAKER / BUSINESS ANALYST

Simon attributes his late life renewed interest in his culture to reflections of these early days of rural Zimbabwe, where he was immersed in cultural experiences of one form or other.

High school saw him off to a boarding school outside the capital city, Harare. This brought him into contact with students from all other parts of Zimbabwe, further enriching his cultural and worldly understanding.

Upon completing high school Simon was offered a civil engineering cadetship with the Rhodesian Ministry of Roads and Road Traffic, in the materials planning division, which meant spending a lot of time in the field. He saw a lot of his beautiful country, including national parks teeming with wildlife, most of which he would not have seen as an average black "Rhodesian", due to the racial laws of the times that disallowed black people from designated whites only areas, such as hotels and national parks.

FOR BUSINESSES...

In 1978, Simon was fortunate to be granted a Commonwealth Governments' scholarship to study electrical and computer systems engineering at Monash University in Melbourne. He has since gained a Bachelor of Commerce degree, via distance education with the University of New England in Armidale, NSW and is due to complete a Master of Marketing Management with Honours degree through Griffith University by the end of July, 2006. His market research thesis seeks to understand consumers' meanings regarding certain aspects of brands. Simon is keen to share his business knowledge and is seeking opportunities to address business groups, such as small business people that desire to further develop their marketing knowledge, in areas such as understanding the behaviour of consumers and how to develop marketing strategies that meet the needs of customers. He can also facilitate team-building sessions that utilise African style music to draw the parallels between a musical ensemble and a work team.

Simon has more than five years experience as a business analyst, gained through a large financial institution in Melbourne. He has also worked in small business management and sales for more than 6 years. Simon has more than 3 years experience as a vocational business studies teacher (marketing, management & human resources) and taught at the Gold Coast Institute of TAFE and a Gold Coast- based private Business College.

FOR PRIMARY & SECONDARY SCHOOLS, COMMUNITY GROUPS ETC...

Simon strongly believes that every race on earth has something positive to contribute to the rest of humanity and that cultural value-exchanges ought to be encouraged, especially among the youth, in order to cultivate mutual understanding, peace and co-operation among the peoples of this world.

To this end, Simon is passionate to share African culture, especially that of his Shona people of Zimbabwe, with school children and adults across Australia and indeed the world. Simon can speak on a diverse range of topics around the theme "Sharing the Forgotten Africa", that depict several aspects of African culture including, but not limited to beliefs, customs, rituals, the role of music and folktales to both primary and secondary school audiences. Simon is also willing to work in liaison with teachers and based on their needs to design and deliver specific programs that seek to deliver positive educational outcomes.

Simon is an accomplished percussion player and utilises drums and exotic African instruments to provide rich educational and entertainment experience and value to his audiences regardless of their age. Simon authored, narrated, performed and released a CD entitled AFRICAN FOLKTALES that was produced by ABC Audio and is available at ABC Shops and ABC online. Simon has presented to primary, middle and senior students and even helped with a fund raising project launch to raise money to assist a poor sister school in Mozambique. Both students and teachers have found his performances informative, entertaining and inspiring. The students love and can relate to him and he receives warm respect and appreciation from the teachers, principals and the parent community.

Simon believes that he has much African cultural knowledge to share with children and adults alike. His goal and desire is to share this knowledge and his other natural talents to become a resource of choice regarding African culture and the promotion of inter-cultural understanding in these troubled times we live in.

"Simon is an engaging and entertaining person who displays excellent storytelling skills. He is also a professional musician who plays African drums and exotic instruments that never fail to entertain. Dressed in traditional colourful African clothing and acting his part well, he very ably interests his audience and quickly builds a rapport which encourages both students and staff to respond positively. His performaces have delighted students and people of all ages... I highly recommend Simon to any school or organisation which wants to experience the authentic colour, sound and joy of African culture that he brings to lide in his presentations."

- Meryl Siggs, Deputy Head of Primary, Trinity Lutheran College, Ashmore.