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The Zambia Information Communication Technology Authority – ZICTA – has disclosed that it has switched off or de-activated about 2.1 million mobile phone lines after a clean up exercise following a spike in mobile money scams which the country has been experiencing.

ZICTA acting Corporate affairs manager Hanford Chaaba disclosed in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times -ZBT- that 2.1 million SIM cards have been deactivated with only about 289 users managing to normalized their SIM cards, while about 2, 256 SIM cards were able to be claimed.

Chaaba further revealed that Zambia has 20.2 million of the registered SIM cards as of December 2021, which is about the size of the population. This is mainly due to some users carrying multiple phone lines as well as usage in WiFi gadgets.

ZICTA had in early February 2022 called for all users to regularize their mobile phone numbers registrations and that a timeline was given after which those phone lines that had not complied, the ICT Authority would deregister all non-compliant SIM cards across the country,

ZICTA has since reiterated that the members of the public should at all cost desist from buying already registered SIM cards as such is against the law and anyone found wanting risks being prosecuted.
Chaaba revealed that so far, ZICTA has encountered situations were innocent people have been implicated in investigations due to being in possession of SIM cards that were once used by criminals.

ZICTA confirmed with ZBT that the sim cards or phone lines that will not be claimed within the period of 90 days after deactivation will be allocated to other new users. The Authority has since appealed to members of the public to take time to regularise their SIM card registration to avoid losing their contact numbers and for the country to have a clean data base.

Some have accused ZICTA of being used by politicians to clean up the data base in-order to facilitate location and identification of anonymous social media commentators who are critical of government officials and politicians. Some say this move is an affront on free speech as most people who use anonymous phone lines will stay away from whistle blowing ills in government following this clean up. It remains to be seen how this will eventually pan out.

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The Zambia Information Communication Technology Authority –

Agribusiness

Agribusiness opportunities are set to rebound with Zambia’s most prestigious show – the Agricultural and Commercial Show and exhibition confirming that it will be taking place this year after a two year absence on the back of Covid 19 restrictions.

The Agricultural and Commercial Cooperative Society of Zambia – ACSZ President Duncan Mfula revealed that the 94th Agricultural and Commercial show will be held from 27th July to 1st August 2022 at Lusaka Show grounds under the theme “Innovation through technology” with daily tickets pegged at K30, budges at K70 and those wishing to hire pavilions, the fare will depend on the coverage per square meter.

Mfula stated that this year’s show will after a long time provide the biggest one stop platform for showcasing products and services, innovations and opportunities for information sharing and exchanges of ideas and promote the work of many organizations to the larger audience.

The ACSZ President further confirmed that the show has not been held in the last 2 years due to the covid-19 pandemic in the country with its resultant restrictions and health precautions. Mfula said that the society which is a member of the Royal Agricultural Society of the Commonwealth – RASC, International Association of Events and Exhibitions – IAEE and Exhibition and Event Association of Southern Africa – EXSA is confident that concepts learnt and adopted from these associations will work well for the show to be held this year.

He added that this year’s show will be hosted under the “new normal” with strict adherence to the covid 19 protocols. The society has already witnessed successful shows hosted by other international and regional exhibition bodies such as the Dubai Expo.

Speaking at a media conference covered by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT at the show-ground’s, the society President assured the would attendants and those planning to put up exhibitions that the society is working closely with the Ministry of Health, the Zambia National Public Health Institute and other health authorities to ensure that all health and safety measures are in place to host a successful the show.

On the benefits of participating in the Zambia Agricultural and Commercial Show, both private and public companies or bodies as well as individuals benefit from the shows renowned networking custom that is now almost a decade old.

We will have both individual, SMEs and Corporates from both the local community and from countries across the globe exhibiting. “I am delighted to share that we have already received overwhelming response in terms of requests and confirmation of participation from local and international exhibitors”, Mfula revealed.

The show provides a unique and seasonal trading market place that attracts various economic players, from several countries from around the world. The show attracts numerous companies of varying sizes, Mfula stated.

As per usual tradition, the first three days of the show are trade and business which are intended at promoting business to business interactions among exhibitors and show goers, and the other three days are general show days which are family friendly.

ACSZ has since thanked both local and foreign exhibitors who have shown interest and committed to participating in this year’s show for their continued support to the society. Various stands and packages are now available and exhibitors are encouraged to immediately sign up for spaces and start preparing their stands in order to secure the best spots and give the stands that attractive and outstanding look during the show

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Agribusiness opportunities are set to rebound with

Agribusiness

The Poultry Association of Zambia (PAZ) has disclosed that government has not yet reached a decision concerning the export of day old chicks despite the sector drowning over a million birds this year due to reduced demand on the local market.

Association Executive Director Dominic Chanda said the association has written to the Ministry of Agriculture in order to be allowed to export day old chicks and hatched eggs but there has been no concrete response despite holding various meetings with the ministry.

Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Chanda said the association has stated their position concerning the matter and are now just waiting for government to make the final decision noting that they do not know why its taking so long for government to reach a conclusion.

“We haven’t heard anything from them, we have been having meetings but nothing is coming out from there.We don’t know what is happening but from our end we are still pushing that the export of day old chicks and hatching eggs be allowed”,he said.

The Poultry Association revealed that the cumulative number of day old chicks that the hatcheries had drowned because of the reduced demand for the birds on the market was 1.1 million in January 2022.

Drowning of chicks in the poultry industry means killing the chicks, by drowning or gassing them to avoid spending on feed and running out of space. The process is also applied to chicks with deformities and those deemed unfit for rearing.

Chanda said the hatcheries cannot reduce production, as there is no guarantee that the demand will remain low therefore if demand goes up while production has gone down, there would be a shortage of chicks on the market.

He said from the total number of day old chicks produced by the hatcheries, only 30% is guaranteed to be sold because commercial and large-scale businesses give hatcheries a plan for the whole year.

Chanda said 70% of what is produced is meant for customers who simply walk in to buy the chicks without long-term prior arrangements, which is a challenge especially in instances where the demand is low. The export of chics is expected to bring in the much needed forex.

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The Poultry Association of Zambia (PAZ) has

Agribusiness

The Dairy Association of Zambia (DAZ) has called on government to increase the import duty on milk powder and concentrates from the current 15% to 25% in order to completely discourage the importation of milk powder as it is hurting and impeding the growth of the dairy sector.

DAZ says local diary farmers are now capable of producing enough to satisfy the national demand and then start exporting the excess to earn the country the much needed foreign exchange.

Association Public Relations Manager Christopher Chipemba said the move would increase demand for raw milk produced by local farmers adding that according to the recent Ministry of Agriculture’s estimates, over 600 million litres of milk is produced in the country, which is enough to cater for the country’s total milk consumption and make Zambia self sufficient.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Chipemba said five years ago, due to the low demand for raw milk and because of the influx of imported milk powder and milk concentrates, few farmers were investing in the dairy sector. The price of raw milk was as low as K3-K4 per litre, which was not profitable, and most farmers opted out of dairy farming. Zambia was basically exporting jobs and losing forex.

He explained that it was much more cheaper for processors to buy milk powder and mix it with water therefore many processors opted to import milk powder but after government introduced import duty on milk powder in 2021, the amount of imported milk powder reduced because processors found that locally processing milk was much more cost effective and profitable.

Chipemba added that the demand for locally produced milk by small-scale dairy farmers then increased and the price improved to K11 per litre adding that many local and commercial farmers now want to invest in the dairy sector including those who had earlier opted out. This is creating more jobs in the diary farming sector.

He said this interest in the dairy sector also increased demand for diary cattle and the association is now buying pure dairy breeds from South Africa on behalf of the farmers who come together to buy the animals as it is cheaper to buy cattle as a group than as an individual.

“Government cannot completely ban the importation of milk powder because some products such as maheu require milk powder to make, therefore government just regulates so that it does not distort the market”, he said.

Chipemba mentioned that the association is investigating reports that farmers in Namwala and Copperbelt are losing over 20,000 and 5,000 litres of milk per day respectively as it is not being collected due to the market being flooded by imported milk powder.

He added that the association has engaged the Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS) to start testing milk on the shelves and find out whether it was made from milk powder or raw milk, and that it is clearly labeled to enable consumer make the right choices.

“The last one year, farmers have been buying pregnant animals, by rainy season they give birth so there is a lot of milk being processed now, but processors have a lot of imported powdered milk present, so they have a backlog of processed milk which has not been sold yet. So they are not able to buy abundant raw milk on the market. They are refusing to buy from farmers as they have enough; Finta has pushed their processing plant to the Copperbelt to help address the issue of uncollected milk”, he said.

“Countries like Holland produce a lot of milk, excess raw milk is processed into powder and exported to other countries, Zambian Processors should therefore invest in technology where excess milk is processed into powder and exported”, he said.

Chipemba noted that the association is working with government to increase Milk Collection Centres (MCCs) in order to reduce milk wastage, as the available 72 official MCCs are not adequate to mop up all the milk, which is produced in the country.

He added that MCCs are only along the line of rail and for the last four years, government has been trying to put up more MCCs in order to have a total of 200 countrywide because a lot of milk does not go through formal market due to inadequate storage and refrigeration facility.

“The association has formal and informal markets and what is considered milk from the formal market is milk, which goes through Milk Collection Centres (MCCs), and milk from the informal market is any milk which does not go through MCCs and is considered wasted milk”, he clarified.

“In 2017 for instance, 74 million litres of milk went through the formal market and 27 million litres went through the informal market and in 2018, 23 million litres went through the formal market and 544 million litres went through the informal market. In 2019, over 65 million litres of milk went through the formal market and over 435 million went through the informal market”, he said.

Chipemba said the association is trying to engage other stakeholders in order to establish the litres of milk that went through the formal and informal market from 2020 to date.

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The Dairy Association of Zambia (DAZ) has

Markets

The Lusaka Securities Exchange (LuSE) has confirmed that the trading suspension of First Quantum Minerals (FQM) Limited on the Zambia Depository Receipts (ZDRs) of the Lusaka Securities Exchange (LuSE) has been lifted.

A ZDR is a security that represents an interest in underlying common shares of the company. A custodian on behalf of the depositary in the company’s home market holds the underlying common shares. FQM is a company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada and only issued a Zambian Depositary Receipt (ZDR) on LuSE on 12 July 2011. The ZDRs upon being listed on LuSE were able to trade on LuSE like any other listed security.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, LuSE Business Development Officer Lina Lungu said a halt is a normal and standard process on a stock exchange and FQM has since resumed trading.

According to information made available to the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, LuSE clarified that the halt in the FQM ZDRs was effected pursuant to the LuSE Trading Procedures in the interest of maintaining an orderly, fair, efficient and transparent market, adding that this is not the first time LuSE has conducted a trading halt in a listed security.

LuSE has clarified that FQM was not suspended from LuSE but rather trading in the ZDRs was halted pursuant to a LuSE trading procedure and communicated to the LuSE brokers on 3 March 2022. This effectively meant that trading in ZDRs could not be executed on 3 March 2022. Moreover, FQM is not listed on LuSE and therefore cannot be suspended by LuSE.

The Lusaka Securities Exchange has refuted claims by various media platforms and newspapers, that First Quantum Minerals Limited (the parent company to Kansanshi and Kalumbila – Trident Mines of Zambia) has been suspended from LuSE.

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The Lusaka Securities Exchange (LuSE) has confirmed

Markets

ECOBANK Women has joined the rest of the world in commemorating the international Wome’s day by donating K50 000 to Great North Road Academy Rehab Center.

The international day of Women will this year be observed on Tuesday 8th March, 2022. Under the theme, “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow.”

Speaking during the donation attended by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, ECOBANK Zambia Head of Communications, Marketing and Media Glenda Masebe Kamalata, who spoke on behalf of ECOBANK women, disclosed that ECOBANK women are committed to initiatives that are progressive in positioning women in a much more equitable position.

She noted that the Center has helped a number of women who were at the stage of committing suicide by bringing them at the rehabilitation center and gave them psychosocial counseling which cannot be underestimated.

Ms. Kamalata applauded Great North Academy Rehab center for doing tremendous work in ensuring mental health is achieved across all genders and hoped that the donation of k50 000 by ECOBANK women will be put to good use.

She said the donation is aimed at ensuring that women have genuinely equal opportunities to men in achieving promotion, developing their careers and reaching their full potential adding that their aim is to achieve 50/50 equality by 2030.

“We hope to see a world that is diverse, equitable and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. We the women of the ECOBANK Zambia came together to contribute an amount of K50 000 which is being donated to the Great North Academy Rehab Center,” she added.

Ms. Kamalata said ECOBANK has made tremendous progress over recent years in ensuring that there is quality between its men and women employees.

She hoped that the little contribution will go a long way to support the great works that the Center is doing adding that ECOBANK women looks forward to working with GNRARC on other great assignments that the Bank will be embarking on.

“We are looking for a relationship that will allow our ECOBANK women who could be undergoing stress to visit the Great North Academy Rehab Center – GNRARC and get helped.” She said.

And Great North Road Academy Rehab Center Manager, Precious Posta thanked ECOBANK women for the gesture and assured them that the donation will be put to good use.

Ms. Posta said ECOBANK Women have broken the barrier in this case for making the first donation to Great North Road Academy Rehab center.

She also encouraged women facing challenges, drug addiction and alcohol abuse or having suicidal thoughts to visit the center and get helped adding that there is healing in talking to someone.

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ECOBANK Women has joined the rest of

Lifestyle

Evelyn Hone college of Lusaka is to be upgraded into a University college of Technology, Cephus Chabu the college principal has disclosed.

Chabu said that the college has already started offering degree programs in business, health sciences,  Music and Art which are being offered under or in partnership with other colleges with a plan of a degree in journalism to start next year.

He added that the Irish government already launched the partnership of sponsorship in Music and Audio program whose program has started and the department is awaiting equipment and machines which are being shipped to support the said program.

In an interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Chabu said that Public Private Partnership is what they also looking forward to. He added that the transformation of the college into a university is part of the five years strategic plan and government might later join in.

The principal said that the plan is that in the next three years, the now college to be transformed into a university and should be able to function and have its own senate without other programs being offered under other partner universities.

As the college transforms, its student and staff requirements will also evolve. The current programs will continue to be offered but there will be need for the current staff to upgrade their qualifications as University status comes with both higher academic and other support requirements.

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Evelyn Hone college of Lusaka is to

Lifestyle

Despite Zambia investing over US$1 billion in upgrading its airport infrastructure, the timing of the completion of these projects coincided with the outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic, making it difficult to immediately start making a return on this investment.

Come 2022, living with the Covid pandemic is turning into the new normal, and the prospects of international travel is looking brighter. The Livingstone Tourism Association of Zambia – LTA chairperson Hillary Kashempe is hopeful that the sector will start its recovery.

Kashempe disclosed that the year 2022 will work more like a test for the tourism sector, and the industry is very hopeful that they will start recovery because the industry lost a huge chunk of future bookings.

The tourism industry is basing it’s recovery and hope on the low covid numbers being recorded from both source and our destination countries. The industry hopes to begin to recover in the next few months. He added that full recovery from the COVID effects might even take two to three years.

In an exclusive interview with Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Kashempe said that covid restrictions and quarantine requirements were the biggest contributors to the dampening of the tourism industry, among others.

The LTA Chairman further added that it’s also very possible to continue adhering to covid guidelines while running business respectively, he added that this can be done by encouraging travel and being stable as a sector.

Kashempe alluded to the fact that in the last two years when covid hit the most, alot of people lost jobs and had companies reducing operation by almost 50% and or more. So, the industry customers lost jobs which also affected the revenues our members could generate.

He added that the industry was also determined and made sacrificial moves and worked on the basis of hope by returning employees but then still productivity was to the bare minimum.

Our approach this year is more hopeful and this has brought more of expectations and less job loses. The industry has however learnt some lessons but can not run away from maintainance and operational costs if at all the pandemic became worse, Kashempe told ZBT.

He has since encouraged tourism industry players to make the most out of arising business opportunity such as local tourism in order to cover up for the lost revenues from international tourism.

Analysts say Zambia has enough tourist attractions across its ten provinces that could be leveraged to become a major contributor to bringing in forex into the country and provide an alternative to the current over dependance on copper exports. This could help to stabilize and stem the perpetual depreciation of the local unit – the Kwacha.

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Despite Zambia investing over US$1 billion in

Lifestyle

Concerns that PrEP – Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis and PEP – Post-Exposure Prophylaxis which are currently being administered in Zambia as a treatment plan to prevent HIV before a person is exposed and after a person is exposed to be contributing to increased cases of infertility has been denied.

Pharmaceutical expert and ruling UPND member Jerome Kanyika stated that a law should be enacted to persecute anyone giving misconceptions on drugs. Kanyika said this while responding to ongoing concerns  by some members of the public that taking PrEP and PEP is causing infertility.

The Pharmaceutical expert stated that the these drugs have nothing to do with conception. He added that there is such issue in the media fraternity, he added that PREP and PEP is very important and so anyone miss-informing people should be brought to book. The former Pharmaceutical Society of Zambia president has since urged members of the public to join in the dissemination of  accurate information and data on such issues.

In an interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, the pharmaceutical expert stated that there should be more sensitization on the use of such drugs from all the members of the public from different fraternities. Kanyika further added that if not handled well, such misconceptions can lead to the country posting high Numbers of HIV/AIDS infections.

According to global Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and many expert guidelines recommend PrEP for those at high risk for HIV, including men who have sex with men, heterosexual men and women who have high-risk exposure (such as having a partner with known HIV infection, exchanging sex for drugs or money, or having sex with a person at high risk for HIV), people who inject drugs and transgender women.

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Concerns that PrEP - Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis and PEP

Companies

The new dawn administration have been urged strike the delicate balance between the promotion of foreign direct investments – FDI and domestic investment. This is because domestic investment leads to the creation of more jobs with the resulting profits or foreign exchange generated more likely to be reinvested locally.

It is also widely accepted and known that only Zambians themselves can develop Zambia, you can not outsource development to foreign entities and institutions, hence the need to visibly support local entrepreneurship and business. This can then be complimented by foreign investments or financing were more advanced skills and technology is needed.

The country needs to now move to a situation were some of the biggest companies are locally owned and managed. There has always been ambitions that some of the copper mines be run by Zambians. Mopani and Konkola Copper Mines were talked about as the best candidates, but these ambitions are slowly being muted. Are Zambians not capable of running Copper Mines 50 plus years after independence? Aren’t these Mines just lacking finance which the government working with the respective management teams can source?

When the Zambian Business Times – ZBT spoke to some of the local entrepreneurs and business owners, there is a general complaint that there is “no money in the economy”, that the demand for products and services has been dampened. These indications need to be fully investigated and solutions found to support local enterprise.

On the promotion of domestic investments, ZBT contacted Economist Chibamba Kanyama who stated that the availability of the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission-CEEC is not just for the purpose of giving loans, he stated the local businesses should take advantage of it because it is deliberately discriminative in favor of zambian entrepreneurs when it comes to procurement.

He stated that some of the reported happenings of foreign companies being prioritised over local companies is simply an abuse of the CEEC act and called it indiscipline. Kanyama stated that people should be made answerable for breaching the what the act states.

During an interview with the Zambian Business Times newspaper-ZBT, Kanyama encouraged the citizenry to support each other and to understand the power of local enterprise because when a local company wins a tender, the forex remains in the country and contributes to the growth of the Zambian economy through various ways among others is creation of employment.

CEEC has now been put under the newly created Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises. This is a sector were the majority of local businesses operate. A check in the yellow book shows that this ministry is not among the highest funded, a situation that eventually leads to questions of weather domestic investment is really viewed as a strategic tool for Zambia’s future development.

There is also need to review the payments patterns in government from the treasury to key spending agencies. Are there more payments made to foreign entities against those made to local entities? Is the government itself the biggest externalizer of forex from Zambia? Are Zambia’s largest exporters, the foreign owned copper mines bringing back enough forex? Answering some of these questions would help explain why the local currency is perpetually depreciating or unstable.

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The new dawn administration have been urged