Brighton Bako
| Brighton "Bucks" Bako | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Brighton Bako Harare |
| Residence | Harare |
| Education | Zimphos Primary School |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Organization | Prolific Boreholes |
| Known for | Being the father and manager of Zimbabwe's rising motorcross rider, Emmanuel Bako. |
| Children | Emmanuel Bako, Nyasha |
Brighton "Bucks" Bako is a Zimbabwean entrepreneur, father and manager of one of the country's top junior motorcross riders Emmanuel Bako. He is the owner of Prolific Boreholes, Bako Blue Mining Company and Blackinx Investments which specialises in mining and borehole drilling. He is also a member of a Zimbabwe Entrepreneur Youth Action (Zeya), a group which focuses on empowering youths to overcome economic barriers.[1]
Background
Brighton Bako was born and bred in Harare and attended Zimphos Primary School and several secondary schools and went on to play for Davchem Football Club when he was doing his Lower Six and played alongside former Dynamos Football Club striker Norman Maroto.
He started off as a gold buyer but today he is all smiles as he has managed to establish various companies, namely Prolific Boreholes, Bako Blue Mining Company and Blackinx Investments which specialises in mining and borehole drilling.
Career
Upon passing his A’ Levels in 2002, Bako wanted to pursue further studies and hopefully get a comfortably paying job with the view of changing his family’s fortunes. But that was at the peak of economic challenges in Zimbabwe and as fate would have it, the desire suffered a stillbirth, as he found himself being a second-hand cell-phone dealer in the capital Harare.
However, the entrepreneurial drive in Bako would not see him confined forever to the streets. Bako, who grew up in Harare, would during holidays go to his rural home in Zhombe, where he would assist his late grandmother in alluvial gold panning. “It was during the school holidays that I would help my late grandmother in Zhombe who was a gold panner and would find myself at such a tender age helping in panning. As I grew up, I had an interest in gold mining and armed with that experience, I registered with Fidelity to be a gold buyer in my rural area and started buying and selling gold and registering mine claims and sponsoring small-scale miners going to the mills, up to the time that I opened up my own milling centre in 2013 and then started exploration of minerals,” he said.
Business
Brighton did not find it easy to have what he owns today because he had to work hard. From helping his granny in her alluvial mining and also having to work at his friend's borehole drilling company in South Africa to gain the experience he wanted. He spent three months and after having done practicals Bako founded his borehole drilling company — Prolific Boreholes — with one of the most notable achivements being a Sentosa borehole, which supports close to 90% of the surburb’s population and drilling of the former First Lady Grace Mugabe Children’s Home boreholes in Mazowe.
Mourning Ginimbi
Businessman and one of Genius Kadungure's popularly known Ginimbi close friends, Brighton “Bucks” Bako, described Ginimbi as a larger-than-life character. “I’m totally devastated by Ginimbi’s death. I’m in pain right now as I just can’t believe that he is gone. Ginimbi was a just a man of the people… a larger-than-life character who was always there for everybody in good or bad times. Go well my good friend and May Your Soul Rest in Eternal Peace,” Bako said.[2]
