By Ben Kangwa
The
2015 Zambia International Trade Fair was held in Ndola between the 1st
to the 7th of July, 2015. The theme for the 51st Fair was
“Prosperity
through Business Reforms and Linkages”. Sixteen foreign countries had
confirmed their participation in the show. The countries included China,
the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Japan, Kenya,
Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, the United Kingdom, the United States of
America, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. The Trade Fair was officiated by President
of the Republic of Zambia, His Excellency Edgar C. Lungu and his Kenyan
counterpart His Excellency, President Uhuru Kenyatta on 4th
July, 2015.
On the
sidelines, the Zambia International Trade Fair partnered with the Zambia
Development Agency (ZDA) to host the second Business Forum, the first of which
was held in 2014. The Forum was highly interactive and dynamic whose plenary
sessions were enriched with presentations, inputs from government, private
sector and expert perspectives.
The Forum brought together policy makers,
business Chief Executive Officers, diplomats and participants from
Non-Governmental Organizations to interact and debate issues and in so doing
create a business networking environment. Topics and discussions anchored by
this writer included marketing, banking, business, investment,
infrastructure, energy and education. Segments of discussion were
sponsored and supported by Stanbic Bank, the Energy Regulation Board and the
Zambia State Insurance Corporation and other Cooperating partners.
At a panel discussion session themed “National
Prosperity Through a Transformed Public Private Relationship: Moving Zambia
Forward”, on 2nd July, 2015, at which Minister of Commerce,
Trade and Industry, Margaret Mwanakatwe officiated, she said, “This Forum provides me and colleagues
from Government with an opportunity to interact and exchange views with you the
business community at large. You will agree with me that it is through such
valuable platforms that networks are created among the business community,
regulators and service providers.”
She
told her audience that the Government was making strides in providing an
enabling business environment and that it had embarked on programmes aimed at
reducing the costs of doing business through the implementation of various
business reforms. Notable was the “Industrialization and Job Creation
Strategy” which, she said,
“is aimed at transforming the industrial sector and would create more than one
million formal jobs in the next five years. Further, she revealed that her
Ministry was in the process of reviewing the Commercial, Trade and Industrial
Policy in order to come up with two separate policy documents namely the Industrial
Policy and the Commercial and Trade Policy in line with international
best practices that will ensure that industry and trade issues are
comprehensively addressed.
“In
this regard, my Ministry has since developed a zero draft Industrial Policy
that has since been subjected to stakeholder consultation before finalization.
The review of the Trade Policy is ongoing and will be completed soon,” she
added.
Indeed,
the conference also provided a platform for experience sharing by international
speakers such as Professor Kenneth Mwenda who is Program Manager and Executive
Head of the Voice Secondment Program at the World Bank in Washington DC. In his
paper “Public-Private Partnerships: The Case Of Zambia”, Professor Mwenda
observed that PPPs are typically medium to long term arrangements between the
public and private sectors whereby some of the service obligations of the
public sector are provided by the private sector, with clear agreement on
shared objectives for delivery of public infrastructure or public services.
He
further observed that since the PPP Act of 2009 was enacted, according to the
Zambia Development Agency on its website dated January 2014, “there has only
been one PPP Agreement signed between Government and the private sector.” And
that the agreement was for the Redevelopment of Long Acres Lodge into a
Five-Star Hotel, a shopping Mall, Conference centre, Office Complex and related
infrastructure. The agreement was signed with Thuthuka Group International of
South Africa.
In his
presentation, Professor Mwenda also said although the political leadership in
Zambia had made pronouncements and expressed desire and optimism to use the PPP
arrangement to deliver public infrastructure and services, the country required
political champions to drive the PPP agenda.
The
Professor also gave examples of PPPs in Zambia in the Health Sector citing the
Ultra-modern Center of Excellency Hospital in Lusaka and the three Diagnostic
Health Facilities in Lusaka, Livingstone and on the Copperbelt.
The
Transport Sector included the E-Governance programme, the
Chingola-Solwezi-Lumwana-Jimbe Railway line, the Kazungula-Livingstone railway
spur, the Nseluka-Mpulungu railway spur and the Tazara line in Chipata. Others
mentioned were the Solwezi via Kasempa-Kaoma-Mongu to Katima Mulilo road,
Njanji commuter, operation of train services between Chipata and Mchinji and
the Kafue Lions Den.
In the
Agriculture Sector, he mentioned the development of Kalumwanga Farming Block as well
as the development of the Luena Farming Block while in the Energy Sector was
the development of Kabompo mini-hydro, Kalungwishi and Mombututu mini-hydros.
From his perspective, the Director in charge of
PPP at the Zambia Development Agency, Henry Sakala first gave a historical background of the
previous PPPs as in Zambia Railways which was concessioned to Railway Systems of Zambia,
the Mpulungu
Harbour which was concessioned to Agro-Fuel and the Lubarma
Market which was concession by the Lusaka City Council. He also
informed the audience that the current PPP Projects include the Itezhi
Tezhi Hydro Power between Tata and Zesco which is expected to
produce 120 MW of power, the Kafue Gorge Lower being promoted by Zesco and is
expected to produce 750 MW of power. Other projects include Major
Trunk Roads, for instance Livingstone-Kafue, the Chirundu-Kafue-Lusaka
Road and the Lusaka Ndola road which have been advertised by the Road
Development Agency (RDA) to make dual carriage ways and then be tolled. He also
mentioned that the Zambia International trade Fair would be turned into an
ultra- modern facility to allow continuous year round activities.
During the question and answer segment as to what the benefits of Public Private
Partnerships are in infrastructure development, the PPP Director said PPPs
could help create more jobs in infrastructure and related services, adding,
“Infrastructure investments has the potential to create more jobs quickly while
providing a foundation for future economic growth and employment. He further
said PPPs could also help develop local private sector capabilities through
joint ownership and that they could create
sub-contracting opportunities for local firms in areas such as civil
works. The Stanbic Bank CEO Charles Mudiwa explained all about Risk Management
Process in banking and how the economic climate and markets can be affected by
exchange rates and interest rates. He mentioned that banks such as Stanbic Bank
were willing to engage with business partners where possible.
As for
Rob Stokes, a leading South African entrepreneur who is a founder and group
Chief Executive Officer of Quirk SA who was also a speaker on a topic
specifically titled “Marketing”, he confidently spoke
about the role of Digital Marketing Strategy, Market Research, Content Market Strategy,
Social Media, On-line Advertising in promoting business. Earlier, he
gave a background of how he started his business into one of the largest
Marketing Services Groups on the African continent.
Much
later, Marius Krige, a South African expert involved with Information
Technology and Finance Services for more than 20 years, also gave a talk entitled “Harnessing the changes in the
Financial Services: the Good, the Great and the Ugly of Technology
Integration.” He focused on the impact and role of IT in shaping and
changing various payment strategies and products.
On the
panel was the Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA)
Director of Technology and Engineering Patrick Mutimushi, Fabian Hara Regional
Manager at the Bank of Zambia based in Ndola and Leonard Mwanza from the
Bankers Association of Zambia. Following this discussion was yet a presentation
by the Bank of Zambia Deputy Governor in charge of Operations Dr. Bwalya Ngándu
on the topic “Are Banks Meeting the needs of Corporate Zambia?” The two
discussions were timely and drew a lot of questions from the audience during
the question and answer segments.
The presentations were later followed by an
interesting discussion on Energy. The title was, “Transforming the Energy Sector”.
In his submission, Zesco Senior Manager- Patrick Mwila submitted that the
current load shedding in the country was as a result of the lower water levels
at the Kariba Dam and Itezhi- Tezhi that were affecting power generation.
Energy expert Andrew Kamanga on the same
discussion empathized with Zesco on the water level situation but stated that
it was time to look at non-hydro- power investments to enhance the security
supply of power that would enable the country have a fall- back position. He
said renewable energy would address some of the energy challenges the country
was facing.
“With only three percent of the rural
population and less than half of the urban population connected to the national
power grid, we are seriously facing enormous energy challenges as a country
that are in turn making us back track in development, “he said.
Director
Economic Regulation at the Energy Regulation Board Alfred Mwila who first gave
an overview of the Energy Regulation in Africa, in the SADC Region and finally
in Zambia. He also noted that Zambia and neighbouring countries had for some
time been facing challenges in meeting energy requirements thereby implementing
load shedding.
The
Business Forum also hosted discussions on the “Role of Education in Economic
Development” whose session was addressed by the Permanent Secretary
Education, Science, Technology Vocational Training and Early Education, Dr.
Patrick Nkanza. The discussants included Zambia Chamber of Mines Industry
Training Manager, Francis Mulimbika, Zambia Qualifications Authority (ZQA)
Chief Executive Officer, Miriam Chiyaba, Director General of the Technical
Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Authority (TEVETA), David
Chakonta and Higher Education Authoritry (HEA) Interim Director General,
Emmanuel Lutelo.
All
said and done, the ZITF Business Forum was quite informative and educative as
it provided a platform for policy makers, business executives, academicians,
NGOs and diplomats to share ideas and experiences in a manner that encouraged
networking. As Patrick Chisanga,the Board Member of the ZITF as well as
Director-General of the Zambia Development Agency put it, “The Forum has been
successful and it is our intention to make it much better next year.”
The
writer is a Broadcast Journalist/Media Consultant
I havent any word to appreciate this post.....Really i am impressed from this post....the person who create this post it was a great human..thanks for shared this with us.
ReplyDeleterole of digital marketing
Great post I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this interesting and knowledgeable article. IT services in baton rouge
ReplyDeleteThanks for the blog post buddy! Keep them coming... escorts en zaragoza
ReplyDelete