I hate “Tawanda”, and “Tendai” and “John Smith”. No, not Tawanda Nyambirai from TN Holdings or Tendai X from wherever – not the people, the names.
I’d bet there isn’t a more common name in Zimbabwe than Tawanda except maybe Tendai. They’re just too common, and common means average and average means boring and boring means easily forgotten. ‘Tawanda’ might be a great guy (all one million of them), but Tawanda is exactly the opposite of what you want for our business.
Boring is easily forgotten. It’s expensive to build a brand around boring…it’ll take a lot more time and money to be remembered, to stand out, to be remarkable.
Think about it
Too many Zimbabwean entrepreneurs right now starting Tawanda businesses, selling Tawanda products and creating Tawanda marketing. I hope you’re not one of them. I’m busy going through everything around me now getting rid of anything that’s ‘Tawandarish’. You should too.
Oh. and if you’re name is Tawanda, no offense! I mean it’s a lot better than being a Lucifer.
Oh and could have chosen any common name for this purpose – for example “Max” is one of the all time most popular dog names in the world, not flattering! However – “Tawanda” for those who don’t speak Shona, actually means “there’s a heck of a lot of us”. When it comes to your business, you want to be able to say “There’s no one like us”.
Max Soutter 
Say something!