WHERE MY HEART MEETS YOUR SHELF!

How LugenZim Tech Got Its Name

Naming a company is easy. Naming the right company takes 5 tries. Read how “Lurie Signs and Decor,” “Lugege,” and a few identity crises led me to LugenZim Tech.

Nephi Mupombwa Moses Lurie

6/12/20267 min lees

I Named My Company 5 Times Before It Stopped Laughing At Me

Yes, five times.

If changing company names was an Olympic sport, I’d have a gold medal and a sprained tongue from saying “Lurie Generation General Dealers T/A” too fast.

Today I’m telling you the full comedy, drama, and miracle of how LugenZim Tech got its name. Because if you’re still searching for your name, your brand, your purpose… this story will make you laugh, then make you keep going.

Pull up a chair. This is gonna be fun.

Act 1: Lurie Signs and Decor Pvt Ltd — The “Menu Name” Era

This was baby number one. My first company name.I was young. I was hungry. I was doing signs. I was doing decor. I thought, “Every good business must tell you what it sells right in the name.” Like a shop menu. So I wrote “Lurie Signs and Decor Pvt Ltd” in big letters and felt very professional.

Problem number 1: My hand. Every time I filled a form, my wrist would start praying by the time I reached “Decor.” Problem number 2: Clients. They would say, “Oh, so you only do signs?” Meanwhile I was already dreaming of websites, books, platforms, tech. Signs were just the door. I wanted the whole house, the garden, and the neighbor’s house too.

But you start somewhere. You start messy. You start specific. You start with what you know today, not what you’ll know tomorrow.

“Lurie Signs and Decor Pvt Ltd” taught me lesson number 1: A name that’s too specific is like tight shoes. It fits today, but it will hurt you when you grow.

Act 2: Lurie Private Limited Company — The “Human Being” Era

Then I got smart. Or so I thought.I said, “Let’s be general. Let’s be professional. Let’s remove ‘Signs and Decor’.” So I became “Lurie Private Limited Company.

”Sounds clean, right? Sounds serious, right? Sounds like a company that wears a suit and drinks tea with its pinky up.But it had zero personality. Zero story. Zero flavor.

It was like naming your child “Human Being.” Technically correct. Legally perfect. Emotionally… empty.

Every meeting started the same way: “So what does Lurie Private Limited Company do?” And I would spend 10 minutes explaining. That’s not how names work. A good name should do half the selling for you. This one was making me do overtime.

Lesson number 2: Being too general is just as dangerous as being too specific. If your name says nothing, people will remember nothing.

Act 3: Lurie Technology — The “I Wear Glasses Now” Era

Then tech entered my life. And tech was love at first code.

I started building websites. I started dreaming of platforms. I started believing that Zimbabwean stories deserved Zimbabwean tools. So I became “Lurie Technology.

”Now I sounded smart. Now I sounded like I knew Python. Now I sounded like I stayed up at 2AM fixing bugs while drinking coffee.

But deep down, it still didn’t feel like home. Because it was still “Lurie.” My surname. And something was shifting in my heart. I didn’t want to hide behind my surname anymore. I didn’t want to be just “Lurie’s company.” I wanted a name that carried me. My first name. My country. My generation. My future.

Lesson number 3: Your name must fit who you’re becoming, not just who you were when you started. If your name can’t grow with you, it will become a cage.

Act 4: Lurie Generation General Dealers T/A — The “I Wrote My CV As A Name” Era

Yes. I actually did this.

“Lurie Generation General Dealers T/A.

”Say it out loud. Try it. Go on. “Lurie Generation General Dealers Trading As.” By the time you finish, you’ll need water and a neck massage.

I basically pasted my whole business plan into the company name. I wanted everyone to know: We are a generation. We are dealers. We are general. We trade. We are private. We are limited. We are everything!

The government loved it. My tongue hated it. My clients just called me “Lurie… that long name guy.”

But during this time, the real idea was growing. The idea that I didn’t want “Lurie” in the name anymore. I wanted something new. Something that started with me, not just my father’s surname. Something that could carry more than one person’s dream. Something that could carry a whole generation.

So in early 2023, I sat down and said, “Nephi, enough. Give this thing a real name. A short name. A name that fits on a t-shirt.

”The First Miracle: “Lugege” Is BornI was staring at “Lurie Generation General Dealers” like it was a puzzle. Then my brain did something stupid and brilliant at the same time. It said: “Take 2 letters from each word. Keep it short. Keep it simple.”

LURIE → LU

GENERATION → GE

GENERAL → GE

Put them together. Lugege.

I burst out laughing. Alone in my room. “Lugege!” It sounded like a sound effect. Like when a cartoon character slips on a banana peel. “Lugege!”

Was it short? Yes. Was it easy to spell? Yes. Did it sound like a tech company that would change lives? Absolutely not.

It sounded like a nickname your uncle gives you after you eat too much sadza. It sounded like something a dog would be called. “Come here, Lugege!”

I registered it in my mind, tried it for two days, and realized… this is not it. Short is good. But short without meaning is just… short. Like an SMS that says “k.”

Lesson number 4: Short is power. But meaning is everything. Don’t sacrifice soul for size.

Then The Real Miracle Happened: LugenZim Dropped From The Sky

A few days later, I wasn’t even thinking about names. I was just living. Drinking tea. Watching ZESA play hide and seek. Then boom. The name fell into my mind like someone dropped it from heaven.

LU from Lurie.

GEN from Generation.

ZIM from Zimbabwe.

= LugenZim.

I stopped mid-step. I said it out loud three times. “LugenZim. LugenZim. LugenZim.”And this time, my heart didn’t laugh. My heart didn’t cringe. My heart said, “Stand up straight. That’s your name.”

Why did it hit different? Because it carried everything I am:

LU = Me

The first two letters of my first name part. Nephi Mupombwa Moses Lurie. For years I was hiding behind “Lurie” my surname. But “Lu” is me stepping forward. It’s personal. It’s mine. It says “a person is behind this, not just a company.”

GEN = Generation

Because this is for my generation. For the kids who grew up with load shedding. For the students who do assignments on phones. For the hustlers who build businesses with data bundles. For the writers who type poems during blackouts. We are a generation that refuses to wait for “someday.” We are the “we’ll build it now” generation.

ZIM = Zimbabwe

Because I am Zimbabwean. Because the soil raised me. Because the stories I want to tell smell like Harare dust, Bulawayo wind, Mbare energy, and country rain. This platform is not foreign. This is home. This is us.

LugenZim = “The Next Generation of Zimbabwe.”

When I said it, I saw it. I saw writers uploading books. I saw students reading poems. I saw us building without permission. All under one name.I registered it as LugenZim Pvt Ltd. I was happy. 90% happy. But after a short time, something still felt missing. People would ask, “So what do you do?” And I’d have to explain again.

The Final Piece: TECH

Then one morning I added one word. One small word that made everything click.

TECH.

LugenZim Tech.

And the whole room in my mind went quiet. That was it. That was the name. The name that stuck. The name that felt like coming home after a long trip.Why “Tech”? Because we’re not just writers. We’re builders. We’re coders. We’re problem solvers. We’re creating Zimbabwean solutions for Zimbabwean problems. We’re not waiting for Silicon Valley to discover us. We’re discovering ourselves in Harare. We’re building during load shedding. We’re building with 2GB data. We’re building with hope.

LugenZim Tech now means: The next generation of Zimbabwe, building with technology, telling our stories, owning our platforms.

So What Did 5 Names Teach Me? Let Me Make It Practical For You

  1. Your first name will probably be bad. Mine was. “Lurie Signs and Decor” was baby talk. Start anyway. Bad names teach you what you don’t want.

  2. Your name must grow with you. “Lurie Technology” was too small for the dream I had later. Pick a name with room to stretch.

  3. Put meaning in it. “Lugege” was short but empty. “LugenZim” is short AND full. LU + GEN + ZIM = story in 3 syllables.

  4. Wait for the “heart yes.” I knew “LugenZim Tech” was right because my chest felt calm when I said it. If your name makes you nervous every time you say it, keep searching.

  5. Don’t be afraid to change. I changed 5 times. Nobody died. The government didn’t arrest me. I just got closer to the truth each time. Changing is not failing. Changing is learning.

The Funniest Part

Today when I tell people, “My company is LugenZim Tech,” they smile and say, “That’s a beautiful name.”Nobody knows about “Lugege.” Nobody knows about “Lurie Generation General Dealers T/A.” They only see the final version. The clean version. The confident version.

That’s how life works. People see your final name and think it came easy. They don’t see the 5 names you killed to get there. They don’t see the nights you doubted. They don’t see the “Lugege” phase.

But you know. And that’s enough.

Your Turn: The Name Challenge

Now I want to hear from you.

What’s one name you tried before that makes you laugh today? A business name. A username. A nickname your friends gave you in high school. Something like “Dj_Smokie_2009” or “PrettyGirlBoss_247.”

Drop it in the comments. Let’s laugh together. Because the journey to your real name is always messy before it’s beautiful.

And if you’re still searching for your company name, your brand name, your thing… don’t stop at “Lugege.” Keep going until you reach “LugenZim Tech.” Keep going until your heart says “yes, this is home.”I’m LugenZim Tech now. Forever, I guess. Because this name is not just letters. It’s me. It’s my generation. It’s my country. It’s my promise.

And your name? It’s waiting too. Go find it.

With laughter, gratitude, and a name I finally love,

Nephi Mupombwa Moses Lurie

Founder, Chief Dreamer, Former “Lugege” CEO

LugenZim Tech

lugenzim.tech | contact.nephilurie@lugenzim.tech