Cathrene Tarukwasha's job is a little bit weird - from organizing functions and parties to producing plays and watching dogs. But the diminutive, effervescent Zimbabwean loves it, writes Jenny Hammond.
It's usually assumed that locals know the most about Shanghai. But that is not always the case. For one Zimbabwean expat, it's her job to know the city inside out in order to save time for others.
Cathrene Tarukwasha, founder of Timesavers Shanghai, has organized everything from shipping 20 terracotta warriors to Italy to producing a Christmas play with Chinese actors, finding a hypnotist and even flying to Mozambique to check on a car purchase.
"I provide a unique service for expats and locals alike in Shanghai," she explains.
Comparing what she does with the likes of Quintessentially, the exclusive Shanghai concierge service, she says: "We are much cheaper, not exclusive, and we go way beyond just organizing personalized travel itineraries. We are there for anyone and everyone who needs to save time."
At first glance it may seem odd that an African expat has become the expert on getting things done in China, but with her adventurous background it comes as no surprise.
Born in Marondera, Zimbabwe, Tarukwasha not only speaks four languages (English,Shona, Chinese and French), but also wrote a book at the age of 12 and is listed in the Zimbabwe National Museum for discovering ancient ruins.
"In the mid-1980s, historians were still documenting and discovering ruins in Zimbabwe and still are because there is a lot of uninhabited land there," she says.
At the time she lived on a farm surrounded by veldts - grassy plains dotted with trees and rocks.
"One day my brothers and I were wandering through a veldt when we decided to climb a small hill," she says. "Well hidden from ground view on top of the hill was another rock.
"Under and around that rock were some African bushmen paintings, bits of pottery and a constructed fire place. Historians believe it must have been an ancient lookout point."
Tarukwasha says she was always adventurous. "Growing up in Zimbabwe, I used to run around collecting backpackers to take home for a traditional cooked meal - although my parents were not pleased with my hobby."
In 1999 she visited China for the first time as a volunteer teacher and it was hardly love at first sight.
"I came for a summer and absolutely hated it. I was sick every day, lost my voice for seven days after a Sichuan hotpot in Chengdu and people stared and poked," she says.
But after two years of living and teaching in the north (Shenyang and Changchun) and enjoying an extended holiday, she decided to take the country seriously as a home.
"I was in a taxi, the driver was talking, I understood him but could not speak to him, so I packed my bags and forced myself to move to small town (Wenzhou) where every day I only spoke Mandarin or Wenzhou dialect. Six months later I researched online what marketing and sales entailed, got my first job and went on from there," she says.
After a variety of jobs she didn't like, she finally landed her dream job with Asiaxpat. "I was paid to host lavish parties, attend and sponsor chamber balls and high fashion events and travel to six-star resorts in Thailand."
It was fun for two years, but then "on a wing and a prayer" she decided to start Timesavers early last year.
Now the 29-year-old runs a business that helps simplify busy people's lives by allowing them to buy her time to complete tasks they otherwise would not have time to do.
"Sometimes they just need me to find 100 balloons, blow them up and insert candy in them. Sometimes they want me to plan their husband's surprise birthday party while they are on business in Tokyo," she says. "I also do tours of little-known Shanghai as well as shopping tours.
"Once I had to go to the airport to pick up four complete strangers who mostly spoke Swedish and take them on an 18-hour shopping spree and then promptly return them and their luggage to Pudong to catch their connecting flight."
Explaining how she became such an expert on Shanghai, the Zimbabwean says her first job here involved writing articles about new places, new restaurants, etc.
"With Asiaxpat, I spent most of my time in the forums trying to answer people's
questions," she says.
Tarukwasha slowly built a database, wrote a business plan, and with a little help from investors launched Timesavers Shanghai.
While it has gone from strength to strength, she admits it has had its hiccups. "I have to be very careful when I write proposals," she says. "Once I agreed to watch a dog for eight hours a day for a week when what I meant to write was that we would visit the dog twice in an eight-hour period for an hour at a time."
While excited about her business, Tarukwasha says she is not looking too far into the future. "But I am banking on new and great, fun adventures," she says.
(Shanghai Daily February 26, 2008)