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Michelle Chimuka is the founder and CEO of Rivuuz (pronounced reviews), the first residential construction management service based in Lusaka, Zambia. The Rivuuz online platform connects homeowners with vetted construction professionals – its mission is to make homebuilding as stress-free as possible.

Graduating from Sussex in 2020, Michelle studied MSc Entrepreneurship and Innovation and was a Chevening Scholarship recipient. Michelle tells us how her time at Sussex took her from being an accountant with a burgeoning business idea to becoming a successful entrepreneur.

Tell us about Rivuuz. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

The idea for Rivuuz came many years ago from the day-to-day frustration of finding contractors while I was building my own home in Zambia. I didn’t know how to vet professionals – I just trusted people’s recommendations. I also didn’t know what to check when I inspected the work, which meant I missed lots of mistakes.

From being frustrated at the problem to being curious about how to solve it, I started diving deeper into it. I got a bit obsessed – I began researching businesses like Checkatrade (UK), Thumbtack (USA), and Kandua (South Africa) – and before I knew it, I was committed to building this business.

By the time I arrived at Sussex, the idea for Rivuuz was already in the back of my head. I was using every lesson and every assignment through the lens of building Rivuuz. I had this whole year to figure it out and think it through from all the perspectives of the different courses I was taking. That's what really helped me to be clear on what I wanted to build and how I wanted to build it.

When you're a solo founder figuring out your business all by yourself, you need a sounding board. Startup Sussex was absolutely fantastic.” Michelle Chimuka

How did the MSc in Entrepreneurship and Innovation and your time at Sussex help develop your skills?

All modules on my course helped me in different ways. One of my favourite modules was New Venture Creation and Simulation, which was particularly helpful in thinking through the different components of building a business. And the International Entrepreneurship module helped me think through the challenges involved with geographic expansion, which has proved extremely helpful in my business today.

I also took up extra-curricular activities such as Startup Sussex [the University’s ideas competition]. When you're a solo founder figuring out your business all by yourself, you need a sounding board. Startup Sussex was my sounding board and it was absolutely fantastic. It helped me define my business – it was like a little business incubator.

In the early days when I really didn't know what I was doing, Simon Chuter from Sussex Innovation and Luke Mitchell in the Entrepreneurship team were really helpful in challenging some of my ideas and clarifying some of my thinking. I thank both of them.

What challenges did you find when starting Rivuuz and how did you overcome them?

The initial challenge was the technical aspect of building an app, as this was my initial idea. I explored various options, from learning to code to hiring a developer, but each path presented significant obstacles. I didn’t know how I was going to build it.

While I was writing my dissertation, I interviewed different people who started marketplaces in different countries. One of the interviewees suggested using Webflow, a website builder. Then, lockdown happened, and as I wasn’t going anywhere, I built the first version of Rivuuz myself after teaching myself how to use Webflow.

How do you see your business growing in the next five years?

The first version of Rivuuz was just meant to be a marketplace where you go on and find a plumber, hire them and use their services. But now it is a lot more complex and it has become a construction management service. When I was at Sussex, I couldn't have predicted that this is what Rivuuz would be.

Now we have landed on the model that we are going to grow. Obviously, we want to do what we do at a bigger scale, but I think there is also probably going to be a varied mix of products, both services and digital products, in the same residential construction space to help people at different stages of their construction journey.

Maybe at some point we will expand geographically, but, right now, there's just so much opportunity in Lusaka and we are barely scraping the surface.

If you're not completely in love with what you're doing and intrigued, it's just not going to work.” Michelle Chimuka

What advice would you give to a current student wanting to start their own business?

You need to find a problem that you're obsessed with. If you're not completely in love with what you're doing and intrigued, it's just not going to work.

Resilience is so important. Running a business is very hard. And when you think it's hard, it gets even harder. Because of this, you should build a supportive community around you.

I wanted a co-founder but I never found one who was a good fit. I then replaced that idea with finding people at different stages of Rivuuz who would advise me and be my sounding board. They became my own community.

Being an entrepreneur is fun and rewarding. It’s not for everyone, but I wouldn't want to be doing anything else.

Find out more about MSc Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Sussex Business School. You can also discover Startup Sussex and find out more about funding your business idea with the Elevate Grant.

Explore the work of Rivuuz.

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