By Jonathan Mbiriyamveka
HARARE — Carlton N. Mhene‘s business card is not easily summarised.
Mining and minerals. Energy. Real estate. Technology. Aviation. Private security. Across Southern Africa and into the Middle East, the Zimbabwean entrepreneur and business executive has built a career defined by diversification — and by an appetite for sectors that others might consider too complex or too distant to enter.
He serves as Group Chief Executive Officer of Horizon Equity Group, a Zimbabwe-headquartered business group with reported commercial interests in Zimbabwe, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
In that role, Mhene is responsible for strategic leadership, business development and the pursuit of investment opportunities across multiple sectors — a mandate that aligns closely with the breadth of his own professional interests.
Rooted in Mufakose, reaching outward
Mhene was raised in Mufakose, Harare, and his professional journey remains rooted in Zimbabwe even as his commercial engagement extends across the region and beyond.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from the University of South Africa (UNISA) and has undertaken specialist training in gemology — a qualification that sits naturally alongside his interests in mineral resources, infrastructure development, property investment and technology-driven business opportunities.
That combination of formal business education and specialised technical knowledge is relatively unusual among Zimbabwean executives. Gemology is a niche discipline, and its relevance to Mhene‘s mining and minerals interests is direct rather than incidental.
A diversified portfolio
Mhene’s interests span six distinct sectors: mining and minerals, energy, real estate, technology, aviation and private security.
The breadth is deliberate. Diversification across unrelated sectors can insulate a business group from shocks in any single market — a strategy that has particular resonance in Southern Africa, where currency volatility, regulatory shifts and infrastructure constraints can affect industries unevenly.
It also reflects a particular model of entrepreneurship: rather than building depth in one vertical, Mhene has pursued breadth across multiple verticals, with Horizon Equity Group serving as the coordinating structure.
The Mhene Foundation and the scholarship programme
Beyond his commercial interests, Mhene has established the Mhene Foundation, which recently launched its inaugural scholarship bursary programme.
The initiative provides comprehensive support to 15 selected students across different grade levels at Simbarashe Junior School in Chitungwiza, focusing on both academic achievement and sporting development.
The dual focus — academics and sport — is notable. Many scholarship programmes concentrate on academic performance alone, but Mhene’s foundation has chosen to support sporting development alongside classroom achievement, recognising that talent and opportunity do not always follow a single pathway.
The programme reflects what Mhene describes as a broader vision of creating opportunities, nurturing talent and improving livelihoods within communities.
Why education, and why now
For Mhene, philanthropy is increasingly part of how he measures success .
Education has emerged as a key area where he wants to make a lasting difference, and the Mhene Foundation’s investment in disadvantaged children through scholarship support is intended to create impact that extends beyond commercial achievement .
The timing is significant. Zimbabwe’s education sector faces persistent challenges — from funding constraints to access barriers for low-income families — and private philanthropic intervention is increasingly part of the response.
The Mhene Foundation’s focus on a specific school in Chitungwiza, rather than a broad national programme, suggests a targeted approach: concentrated support for a defined group of students, rather than dispersed resources across a wider population.
The road ahead
For now, Mhene’s profile remains that of a businessman whose philanthropic work is still in its early stages. The Mhene Foundation was recently established, and its scholarship programme is its first major initiative.
What happens next — whether the foundation expands its reach, whether Horizon Equity Group’s interests deepen in any particular sector, and whether Mhene’s profile grows beyond Zimbabwe’s borders — will determine how his career is ultimately assessed.
But the outline is clear. A Mufakose-raised executive with a UNISA degree and gemology training. A group CEO with interests on two continents. A philanthropist who has chosen education as his entry point into community development.
Carlton N. Mhene is building something. The question is how far it will reach.
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