PARTNER WITH ZAMBIA COMPANIES – SICHINGA URGES US BUSINESSES

By Ben Kangwa in Boston, Massachusetts

Monday 25^th June, 2012

Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry on Monday invited American Industries to actively participate and enter into business ventures with their Zambian counterparts.

Making a presentation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship in Boston, a privately owned research university dedicated to advancing knowledge and educating students in science and technology, Mr. Sichinga said Zambia needed investment in all sectors including technology, science and communication.

He said, “We hope that through our visit here we will strengthen economic and commercial ties in all sectors and we look forward to building up our contacts with reputable and experienced businesses

The Minister noted that sectors that had vast potential for foreign investment in Zambia included mining, tourism, manufacturing, agriculture and financial services just to mention a few.

Mr. Sichinga and his delegation comprising government officials and the private sector is in the United States of America with the objective to capitalize on the interest generated about Zambia’s potential for investment.

At the same forum, Coordinator-Private Sector Development Reform Program (PSDRP) Kayula Siame said Zambia strongly believes that the private sector participation in the economy is key to economic growth and that through the private sector, jobs can be created.

She told the audience that Zambia was recognized as one of the top 10 global reformers, in Africa as 7^th and in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) at number 3 position in the ‘Way of Doing Business’ according to the 2011 World Bank Report.

Ms Siame observed that Zambia had introduced policy legal regulatory and institutional reforms that govern business one way or the other. She added that the Public Private Partnership (PPP) policy frame works were in place for private sector investment in public infrastructure and service providers.

She said through business reforms Zambia had continued focus on ensuring that the business environmental obstacles and impediments were addressed and that the “business environment remains conducive and the cost of doing business reduced.”

On his part, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Zambia Mr. Greg Marchand observed that Sub-Saharan Africa was an investment destination that could no longer be ignored by the United States of America regardless of the sector in question.

He said the challenge was to operationalize the opportunities that Africa afforded, to develop specific strategies and instruments to promote US business engagement throughout Africa or “risk being left behind.”

Marchand  added,” We should encourage the US and African governments to pursue policies that foster foreign direct investment, facilitate US trade with African countries and expose US and African companies to vast economic opportunities.”

Specifically referring to Zambia, Marchand said he invested in the country 7 years ago with the full understanding of the risks involved noting that he did not seek what he termed as “episodic and short term investment”, but instead a shared vision and in working in long term partnership to contribute to the building of the economy of Zambia.

Founder and Director of the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Professor Iqbal Quadir invited would be students from Zambia to “sign up” for seed grants for enterprises in their country.

He said his organization administers programs and convenes events that promote and shape discourse on bottom-up development.

Professor Quadir noted that the Center awarded more than 100 Legatum seed grants to assist students in developing profit enterprises in countries such as Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya.

Other speakers on the platform included Florence Mumba who is Director at the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA), Abel Ng’andu Managing Director of Ng’andu Consulting and Warren Bacon who is Project Director, Minority Business Development Agency.

Later, Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry and his delegation made a presentation at EMC Consulting, a company that provides information infrastructure technology and solutions before departing for Houston, Texas for the next leg of the trade promotion.

The writer is Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of the Republic of Zambia in Washington DC.