A Zimbabwean visionary whose business reaches across continents, and whose heart belongs to those who have nothing
By Amb. Dr Iris Zemza Nozizwe Mhlanga
Every so often, Africa produces a builder whose ambition is matched only by his generosity. Professor Clemence Jaricha is one of them. Born in Bikita, Masvingo, he has become one of Zimbabwe’s most celebrated sons abroad: a scholar, an industrialist, a devoted father and a philanthropist whose name now stands on property in Chicago, London and across Southern Africa.
By God’s grace, he is the Owner and Founder of CJ Global Express Group Unlimited, a group spanning logistics, supply and business development, with a footprint stretching from Southern Africa to Dubai and beyond. Today he divides his time between South Africa and Dubai, for business and for family. And at every step of his remarkable climb, he has carried one conviction: business must lift people, not just profits.
| 1999
year founded |
9
business divisions |
US$890m
Zimbabwe & Botswana programme |
3
children raised as a single father |
Strength forged early
His story did not begin with privilege. As a boy he was very close to his mother, helping her at home and with her small business to put food on the table. Those days taught him hard work, respect and compassion. Then came a loss no child should face: he lost both his parents while still very young, and had to learn to stand on his own and build his life from scratch through education.
“It was painful, but it made me the man I am today — a man who values family, education, hard work and God.”
A scholar who chose to build
Professor Jaricha holds a PhD in Finance from Manchester University in the United Kingdom. With that expertise he could have taken a comfortable seat in any boardroom. Instead, he chose the harder and bolder path of building something of his own.
In 1999 he founded CJ Global Express as a logistics and transport company. Within a decade he had grown it into a respected enterprise, steering it through one of the most turbulent economic periods in Zimbabwe’s history. From his base in South Africa, the company’s growth became extraordinary.
An empire built division by division
Today CJ Global operates across nine divisions, a portfolio few African-owned groups can match. Among them:
- CJ Global Construction: infrastructure development, civil engineering, and commercial and residential building projects
- CJ Global Mining: mineral exploration and sustainable resource extraction
- CGEG Unl. Logistics: comprehensive supply chain, freight and transportation solutions
- CJ Global Properties: commercial and residential real estate investments and property portfolio management
- CJ Global Mall: premier retail shopping centres and commercial spaces, with malls in Hyde Park, Zimbabwe, the Durban CBD, South Africa, and in Botswana and other countries
- CJ Global Saloons & Spas: luxury wellness, beauty and health sanctuary services
- CJ Global Foundation & Global Footprint Holding Management: the humanitarian charity division and the group’s overarching corporate and international strategic coordination arm
Taking African enterprise to the world
Beyond Africa, the group has steadily built an international presence, with property holdings in the United States and Europe. In London, it has acquired prime commercial property, its official entry into the European market, with plans for restaurants and a spa. The goal is unmistakable: a truly global African brand.
“We are not just expanding geographically. We are expanding our vision.”
Investing in Zimbabwe
For all his global success, Professor Jaricha has turned his energy decisively toward Zimbabwe. A US$890 million programme is now funding shopping malls, service stations and road infrastructure across the country, alongside a five-star hotel on the corridor to Gaborone in neighbouring Botswana. Recruitment for more than 300 jobs opened in August 2026.
At Hyde Park, his group is developing CJ Global Mall, a two-storey centre with shops, offices and a service station, projected to create thousands of jobs. Further malls are planned along Mutare Road and in Masvingo, with a deliberate focus on rural areas and townships that big investors too often overlook. He has described the work as his way of reintegrating into the Zimbabwean economy, and of encouraging other investors to follow.
He has also brought his passion to Zimbabwean football, taking a 51 percent stake in CJ Mposa Football Club in Bulawayo. His vision for the club, still a proposed plan under consideration, is ambitious: upgraded stadium facilities, a youth academy to nurture local talent, exchange programmes linking young Zimbabwean players with European academies, and, in time, a club capable of competing regularly in the CAF Champions League.
His greatest achievement
Ask Professor Jaricha about his proudest accomplishment, and he will not name a mall, a building or a balance sheet. He will speak of his children.
When his wife passed away in 2019, he took on the role of single father to their three children. Determined that they would never know the hardship he had known, he poured himself into their education. Today his two eldest are both doctors, and his youngest, his little princess, is growing up surrounded by that same love and ambition. In a career full of milestones, this is the one he holds closest to his heart.
The humanitarian at the heart of the empire
What sets Professor Jaricha apart is not the size of his balance sheet, but the reach of his compassion. He is guided by ubuntu, the African truth that I am because we are, and he has said plainly that his company does not believe in simply chasing the dollar, but in improving the lives of people and communities.
Humanitarian work is now his passion: giving back to orphans and vulnerable families, because he knows their pain. That philosophy lives through the CJ Global Foundation, a dedicated division of the group, which he leads as president. For a man who was himself orphaned young, its work is deeply personal. The foundation provides life insurance for orphans, so that children who have already lost so much are not left unprotected. It donates computers and school supplies, opening the digital world to learners who would otherwise be left behind. Its work reaches communities in Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia.
As a humanitarian who has spent years serving vulnerable families, I can say this with conviction: wealth is common, but wealth with a conscience is rare. When a business leader insures an orphan’s future, equips a classroom and creates thousands of jobs, he is not just building an empire. He is building a nation.
A legacy still being written
Looking ahead, Professor Jaricha’s plans are as generous as they are ambitious: to expand CJ Global Express into more countries, to mentor young people from humble backgrounds, and to do even more charitable work. His rise has already earned growing recognition, including a nomination for Zimbabwe’s Men of the Year Awards in 2025.
Yet his true legacy is measured in the young Zimbabwean who receives a first payslip, the learner who opens a donated laptop, and the orphaned child whose future is protected by someone who once stood exactly where they stand.
Zimbabwe has given the world a builder. The world is now watching what he builds next. I, for one, believe the best chapters of this story are still to come.
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