WHAT better way to celebrate one’s birthday than to throw a party at the business premises that Shepherd ‘Shepiro’ Mpofu helped establish nine years ago to financially empower himself after years of working as a nightclub bouncer.
Shepiro is a figure known to many nightclub patrons having worked in the industry for decades; providing security at night clubs such as at the Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC), Cosmo Metropolitan Club and many other joints that have since folded over the years as well as at music shows featuring local and international acts.
It’s not a job for the faint-hearted. On many occasions Shepiro and his colleagues come face to face with aggressive and intoxicated patrons who cause havoc in and outside nightclubs and for good measure haul insults at bouncers when reprimanded and asked to behave themselves or leave.
Like every other employee Shepiro had plans for life after retirement and to secure his future and that of his family, he tried his hand in the same business that he has been part of – the entertainment business -, but no longer as a bouncer.
Today, he co-owns a bottle store in Nguboyenja suburb, a business that he and his business partner ventured into nine years ago. He will be celebrating his birthday today (Friday) with friends and industry colleagues.
“Only the people who will come to the birthday celebrations will know my age. I have been in the entertainment industry for a long time and about nine years ago I decided it was time for me to also try going into business. I run the bottle store with a business partner.
“We work hard to make the business a success. Nothing in life comes for free,” said Shepiro.
He is also the chief security officer for Premier Soccer League club Chicken Inn FC, a job that requires him to travel a lot for away games during the football season.
He says he balances running the business and the job at Chicken Inn FC perfectly well by dedicating maximum time and responsibility to each role, one at a time. -_ BMetro
