Jonah Mungoshi

Jonah Mungoshi (born April 2, 1968) is a Zimbabwean life coach, self-help author and motivational speaker who provides management consultancy and success coaching services. He became well known after becoming the 1st person from Zimbabwe and Africa to achieve a top 3 place in the World Championships of Public Speaking and when he attempted to break the Guinness world record for public speaking.^[1] He is the author of the book Success Unlimited. Mungoshi has previously hosted a radio show on the then ZBC Radio One (2002 – 2003) and is a regular speaker on radio programs, mostly on Star FM’s The Breeze show. In his work Mungoshi talks about achieving extraordinary success saying "Success is not a privilege to be enjoyed by a few. It is more than a God-given right for every human being".

Bio

Mungoshi attended Thornhill High School in Gweru, Zimbabwe.^[2] He earned a Bachelor of Business Studies Honours degree from the University of Zimbabwe. He has served as the Head of IT and as the Deputy Executive Director for Marketing and Sales at CBZ Bank and TD Holdings. Currently he serves as a Non-Executive Director for Steward Bank^[3] and is also serves on the Advisory Board of ITOCA.

Toastmasters

As a toastmaster Jonah Mungoshi became the first person from Zimbabwe and Africa to achieve a top 3 place in the World Championships of Public speaking in August, 2002 in San Antonio, Texas. First position was taken by Dwayne Smith from Decatur, Georgia with Jim Key of Rowlett, Texas in second place.^[4] Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organization that teaches public speaking skills through a worldwide network of clubs. The organization currently has nearly 185,000 members in 9,000 clubs in 70 countries. Toastmasters was founded in October 1924.

World Speech Record

Mungoshi attempted to break the Guinness World record for the longest continuous speech when he spoke for 36 hours in 2003. This was longer than the previous record of 26 hours set by South African, George Trevor Walker.^[5] According to the Guinness World Records website the current record holder is Rob Moore from the United Kingdom who spoke for 46 hr 21 min on 27 April 2014.^[6] Guinness separately recognises record lectures in a different speaking category namely Longest Marathon Lecture currently held by Arvind Mishra (India) at Graphic Era University, in Dehradun, India, from 1 to 7 March 2014. The lecture topic was on Scientific Computation.^[7] Another Zimbabwean Errol E.T Muzawazi has on occasion held the longest lecture record on two occasions, the last one set in March 2005 when he spoke for 88 hours 4 minutes. Muzawazi was recognised by the JCI in 2010 as one of the “10 Outstanding Young Persons of Zimbabwe”.^[8]

Coaching and Motivational Speaking in Zimbabwe

Mungoshi is part of a trend that has seem a group of Zimbabwean motivational speakers including Arthur Marara, Milton Kamwendo, Douglas Mamvura and Rabison Shumba that have risen to prominence in a country that has suffered economic meltdown characterised by hyperinflation and chronic shortages of fuel and foodstuffs.^[9] While many Zimbabweans welcome the teachings shared by these motivational speakers there are some who are critical (see Section Criticism)

Criticism

One of the criticisms against Mungoshi is that his teachings and principles seem to apply mostly to individuals who already possess a positive disposition. In this regard he has received some criticism for being too steeped in positive thinking and in extreme cases has been branded a modern-day Pollyanna. His critics believe that many people cannot relate to or identify with this excessively optimistic outlook on live

Spirituality

Mungoshi has been a member of the Bahá'í Faith since 1985. As a Bahá'í he believes in the authenticity of the major religions including Christianity and Islam and he sums up his spiritual beliefs by referring to the Golden Rule ‘Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you’.

Personal

Mungoshi comes from a family renowned for its artistic prowess. His cousin Charles Mungsohi is a multi award winning author who has achieved legendary status in Zimbabwe and Charles’ wife Jesese Mungoshi is a seasoned actress and film producer whose most prominent performance was in her role in the 1993 social commentary feature film Neria. His other cousin David Mungoshi has also achieved noteworthy success by winning national awards for his fictional works.

Other Awards

In 2007 Mungoshi was recognised by the Junior Chamber International (JCI ) Zimbabwe as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Zimbabwe. Each year JCI recognises 10 Outstanding Young Persons of Zimbabwe.^[10] Mungoshi was honoured together with cricket journalist Dean du Plessis, medical doctor and politician Paul Chimedza, Olympians Kirsty Coventry, Elliot Mujaji and footballer Peter Ndlovu. Past winners include businessmen Strive Masiyiwa, Shingi Munyeza, Nigel Chanakira.^[11]

References