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Financial inclusion in Zambia remains relatively low at 59.3% (about 60%), with the government calling on financial providers to collaborate with key stakeholders in its quest to increase financial inclusion. Financial inclusion is considered key to economic productivity of the population.

Permanent Secretary in the ministry of finance (Economic Management) Mukuli Chikuba says to attain significant financial inclusivity in the years to come, financial service providers must invest in financial technologies which will facilitate access for the excluded population to Digital platform.

‘‘Digitalization is already the future of financing, therefore, the advancement and adoption of technology and digitalized business models will enable financial service providers to achieve greater scale, reduce operating costs, penetrate new markets more swiftly and better understand the needs of customers’’. the PS said.

Chikuba added that digital financial services should be suited to customers’ needs and delivered appropriately, at an affordable cost to customers and service providers. The PS was speaking at the 5th Banking and Finance Conference held from 9th to 10th October 2019, under the theme; Financial Inclusion in an Era of Digital Disruptions- Enhancing Sector Transformation attended by Zambian Business Times – ZBT in Lusaka.

‘‘I wish to reiterate that the theme for the conference is appropriate as it is in line with government’s agenda of increasing overall financial inclusion to 80% by 2022’’, said Chikuba. Chikuba further reminded financial institutions to pass on the benefits that come with digitalization to the consumers of financial services as well.

And Zambia Institute Banking and Financial Services – ZIBFS President Moses Shuko says the conference provides a good platform on which stakeholders can network and learn on topics affecting the local and global financial sectors. He says as Zambia aspire to become a middle income country by 2030, this can only be achieved if the financial system becomes more inclusive so as to promote a broad based financial intermediate platform which will foster economic development.

‘‘The 2019 conference will not only create awareness of the major challenges in developing or strengthening digital financial markets, but will also focus on solutions and resolutions of these challenges by highlighting innovations, new ideas and global experiences in the sector’’, said Shuko.

Meanwhile speaking at the same event, Bankers Association of Zambia chairman Kola Adeleke added that the convergence of technology and financial services is key to completion the vision of financial inclusions. He stated that while tradition banking of financial institutions continue catering to wide distribution network across the country, the dynamics are changing rapidly.

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Financial inclusion in Zambia remains relatively low

Companies

The latest Africa’s Pulse report presented by the World Bank Group for the year 2019 has indicated that in order to eradicate poverty and archive sustainable economic growth in Africa, the equal contributions of Women and Men is crucial.

According to the World Bank’s 20th edition of Africa’s pulse, the Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic performance has remained sluggish due to persistent uncertainty in the global economy and the slow pace of reforms to enhance domestic resilience.

Women empowerment is a programme that African countries have been advocating for as it a pursuit of national development. Zambia has in the same line vowed to invest in women economic empowerment through facilitation of access to and control of land and other resources and enhance credit to small and medium size businesses.

Experts in gender analysis issues have stipulated that despite Zambian women being offered empowerment schemes, there is less effort in facilitating skill development and capacity building. With Zambia signing up to the African Continental Free Trade Area – AfCFTA, Financial experts have indicated that despite the agreement being beneficial to Zambian traders and entrepreneurs, less engagements have been made with SME’s to ensure they are adequately equipped with what they agreement offers or what will need to be offered.

The 20th edition World bank Report presented by Chief Economist for Africa Albert Zeufack further indicates that African women contribute a large share of 40% of agriculture labor across the continent while Africa’s success story of women’s representation in the labor force is stifled by large gender disparities in earnings.

Zeufack has since stated that to seize the greatest benefits from African Women’s participation at work, policy makers must confront the constraints that women excessively face and enact policies to help them boost growth.

Women’s economic empowerment is fundamental to strengthening Women’s rights and it is a powerful way to accelerate development in a country. Investing in women is another way of accelerating poverty reduction in the country because women contribute to a large share of agriculture labor across the continent. However, the focus on work and earnings should not undermine the other dimensions of empowerment.

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The latest Africa’s Pulse report presented by

Lifestyle

Retirees from various companies which were erstwhile managed under the local authorities across the country have protested to the Local Authority Superannuation Fund – LASF over delayed pension payments by the Authority. This follows Minister of Local Government Charles Banda announcement about two weeks ago that the Ministry of Finance had released K251 million to be disbursed to over 3,600 retirees across the counrty.

Among those who gathered at LASF on October 8 2019, include retirees from Councils, ZESCO and Water Resource Companies across Zambia which had pension contributions going to LASF. Retirees have charged that despite government releasing K251 million to be disbursed, none of them have received their payments, which they said is against the agreement that the Authority had earlier made after the release of the funds.

A retiree from Lusaka City Council talked to by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT but asked for his name to be with held for fear of victimization accused the authority of deliberately delaying the disbursement and wanting to accrue bank interests from the retiree’s pension monies so that they make some extra income, at the expense of the retirees, some of whom have been waiting from 2012 (about 8 years).

“We had agreed that LASF will start paying at least 30 of us per day but what we are now seeing is them rescheduling our day of payments where others have been told to collect next year in January and April, we were called that money is already in and that the process of collecting commences now, so what is causing the delays could be because they want to get some profits from our money, all we want is our money” he said.

However, James Chipulu, a representative from the retirees group has defended LASF over the matter stating that the authority is following the First-in-First-Out system which inquires that retires collect their money according the period they retired in. He added that individuals that retired as early as 2012 will be the first to collect their money while those that retired later say 2018 will be last to receive hence following that order.

And LASF Public Relations Manager, Chishimba Milonga told ZBT in a separate interview that the authority has commenced payment of pension dues following the Fist-in-First- Out system and has projected to finish the process of payment by March 2020.

Milonga further disclosed that while the authority is on course with the pension payments, it is having challenges in processing payments due to missing documentation in some files. He added that the authority requires that its members provide correct documents to ensure that money is paid to the correct beneficiaries and not paid elsewhere, adding that this helps to avoid fraudulent activities.

The ministry of finance and the government has had a perpetual problem of not remitting monthly contributions to pension funds thereby creating this problem, if the ministry of finance released funds monthly, this problem would not arise in the first place and former government employees would not be subjected to this ill-treatment after saving the country for years.

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Retirees from various companies which were erstwhile managed

Markets

Barclays Bank, a member of the Absa group Managing Director Mizinga Melu has hailed the initiative of Kongola loan service that the Bank offers through a partnership with MTN Mobile money saying a number of small businesses have been able to find capital through accessing the service of Kongola.

Melu stated that the Kongola service has been designed in a way that is very convenient to every MTN subscriber requiring no security and collateral and that the loan goes up to K4,000. “So Kongola is quite interesting because if you’ve got your phone you can simply dial *303# and it will ask you how much you need to borrow, and the thing about Kongola is that it doesn’t ask you for security and the turnaround is very quick and you can actually get money just like that’’. Melu said.

She added that through the partnership between Barclays Bank and MTN mobile network provider and JUMO a Fintech from cape town, they have been able to provide about K1.8 million to customers who have access to the MTN mobile money service.

She further stated that it is interesting to note that over 50% of borrowers are women which is a plus in the fight for gender parity in finance.  “It goes without saying that poverty alleviation will be difficult if women are not well represented in the financial sector and when I talk about financial sector, am not talking about leaders in financial sectors alone, but am talking about also in terms of our clients and how do we provide economic development in those sectors’’, she said.

The Barclays MD said this during her presentation at the 5th Banking and Finance Conference attended by the Zambian Business Times- ZBT in Lusaka. She commended the Village banking initiative locally known as Chilimba for providing the access to capital investment among the Small Scale Entrepreneurs.

She added that without capital it is very difficult to start business, “the Village banking concept in Zambia is encouraging group saving and there’s a lot of money that is actually within the Village banking system, known as Chilimba, so it great that the central bank has supported this and it is something that promotes women to actually save informally.

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Barclays Bank, a member of the Absa

Agribusiness

Local farmers have struggled to break into the lucrative US$10 million barley ready market provided by Zambia’s largest brewer and AB InBev owned Zambian Breweries – ZB, due to among other reasons the heavy capital investment and technical know how needed to successfully grow the grain.

Production of barley in Zambia has become an economically viable activity following Zambian Breweries setting up Malting Plant commissioned in March 2017. ZB confirmed that they have increased production of Malt owing to the high quality barley being grown locally. Malt production increased from 7,075 metric tons (MT) in 2017 to 14,158MT in 2018. The brewers latest estimate for 2019 is that we will close the year at approx. 16,000MT.

Responding to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT query following reports that Zambian Breweries – ZB has sidelined and failed to engaged local Zambian farmers to become major suppliers of barley grain used in the malting process of the brewing production chain, ZB said that “ Zambian Breweries is open for business with any local farmer who has the capacity to produce good quality barley”

She further stated that “ ZB interacts with the smallholders [farmers] under two co-operative groups.  These are Chanyanya and Kaleya.  Due to the high cost of irrigation investment required to be able to produce barley there are very few opportunities for a smallholder to produce barley unless they can formalise a business or cooperative”.

ZB further stated that “for a smallholder [mostly local farmers], the return on investment is better aligned farming perishable cropping like tomatoes etc.  We view our opportunities for the smallholders are aligned with cassava production and sorghum.  These two programmes are totally aligned with emerging farmers and thus our focus is at programs that support these farmers”.

ZB further elaborated that “barley in Zambia is complex to farm. This is primarily because barley is a winter crop grown under strict irrigation specifications. This means that to sustain the growing of barley, a substantial amount of investment must be made into the irrigation infrastructure. Not many small-scale farmers can commit to an investment of that magnitude. Zambian Breweries want more [local] farmers to come through to increase the yields on the crop as demand for the crop is expected to increase over the coming years.

Zambian breweries further confirmed that currently, only 35 barley farmers have been contracted. They stated that the number for barley farmers include out grower schemes farmers operating through cooperatives. In 2017 ZB had contracted about 27 local barley farmers creating up to 4,000 direct jobs from Mkushi to Kalomo.

When asked what process and criteria is applied when selecting barley farmers and how can local Zambian farmers could hope to join the list of selected? the brewer stated that “we are open to do business with any local farmers who have the capacity to grow, offer employment and produce good quality barley to enable us to produce the finest malt to produce our premium local beers”.

However, ZB further clarified that “there is a big difference between the ordinary barley and barley used to create malt, malting barley.  Malt(ing) Barley has a very specific quality that influences all the processing from grain to beer.  Thus the need to ensure our farmer has the correct ability to grow the crop to the standard that we requireas Zambian Breweries”.

They stated that “there is a common sentiment heard amongst farmers that want to explore malting barley production is “I’ve grown small grains for years; it can’t be that different. Unfortunately, that’s just not the case. Although experience in growing small grains such as wheat, oats or feed barley is beneficial, barley grown for malt is managed differently”.

ZB further  stated that “managing the crude protein levels in barley is important and one of the biggest challenges for farmers who are familiar with growing grain for livestock where a high crude protein is optimal. To produce quality malt, it is preferred that protein is at or below 12 percent. For this reason, fertiliser, primarily nitrogen, must be closely managed to avoid over-application. The quality of the crop is very important to Zambian Breweries as it helps make quality malt efficiently to brew the finest beers of global standards”.

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Local farmers have struggled to break into

Companies

The Board of the Sustainable Development Goals – SDG Centre for Africa co-chaired by President of Rwanda Paul Kagame and billionaire Aliko Dangote has commended the Zambian Government for the support rendered to the continental entity and for hosting the sub-regional Centre for Southern Africa.

During the 8th Board of Directors Meeting held on the sidelines of the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York, SDG Centre for Africa Director General Dr. Belay Begashaw presented an activity report in which the organisations expressed gratitude to the Government of Zambia for the generous and timely support that led to the launch of the Southern African Centre in Lusaka, which is now operational with six flagship projects in the sub-region.

The report states that some activities being undertaken in Zambia include Transforming Zambia’s agriculture and institutional assessment of Development Bank of Zambia – DBZ. And reacting to the activity report, Mr. Dangote, President Kagame and other board members commended Zambia for the commitment to the success of the SDGs Centre for Africa, especially the promotion of the sustainable wellbeing of the people.

In a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT by the Ministry of National Development Planning Spokesperson Chibaula Silwamba, Honourable Alexander Chiteme, who represented President Lungu at the meeting, thanked the board members for the commendation and assured them of the Zambian Government’s unwavering support to the sub-regional centre and the drive to ensure Africa attains SDGs.

“The Government of Zambia has set aside resources in our 2020 budget to support the sub-regional Centre’s programmes and activities, including the restructuring of the Development Bank of Zambia.” he said.

Also in attendance were Prof. Jeffrey Sacha, African Development Bank – AfDB president Akinwumi Adesina, Chief Executive Officer of NEPAD Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki and Vice-President of Ivory Coast Daniel Kablan Duncan among others.

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The Board of the Sustainable Development Goals

Lifestyle

The University of Zambia – UNZA Vice Chancellor, Professor Luke Mumba says the Private Public Partnership – PPP between the university and East Park Mall is one of the most profitable undertakings that the university has ever engaged in.

The UNZA Vice Chancellor said this in a congratulatory note to East Park Mall, which is managed by Graduare Property Development Zambia Limited, for winning the first prize in the Best Retail Development category at the 3rd Annual Africa Property Investment Summit – API-Summit which took place at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa from 2nd to 3rd October, 2019.

In a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT by UNZA Spokesperson Brenda Bukowa, East Park Mall emerged winner after competing with Landmark Retail Boulevard from Nigeria and Cosmos Yopougon from Ivory Coast.

According to the Africa Property Investment Events (API-Events), who are the summit organisers, the API awards are established to recognise and promote excellence in Africa’s rising real estate sector and are a critical benchmark for measuring success for the industry.

The East Park Mall is a University of Zambia (UNZA) undertaking under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) that has seen UNZA lease out part of its land to Graduare Property Development Zambia Limited in exchange for a percentage of the gross revenue per month arising from the occupancy of the various outlets at the shopping mall.

The PPP terms specify that when the lease period stipulated in the agreement expires, the mall will be transferred in full to the University of Zambia. And the university has so far invested heavily in projects and income generating activities from proceeds of the partnership aimed at expanding its opportunities to attaining self-sustainability.

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The University of Zambia - UNZA Vice

Lifestyle

The University of Zambia – UNZA lecturer and researcher, Dr. Simbarashe Chitanga has been award a US$2.4 million grant to conduct research on ticks and tick – borne Rickettsial pathogens.

According to information availed to  the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, by UNZA spokesperson Brenda Bukowa, the grant that is jointly funded by the National Institute of Health – NIH in the United States of America – USA and the National Science Foundation – NSF through the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases Program, will see Dr. Chitanga collaborate with researchers from five (5) other Universities from USA and South Africa to study the tick distribution as well as prevalence of Rickettsial pathogens.

Dr. Chitanga who is a Lecturer and Researcher in the School of Health Sciences, Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Zambia’s Ridgeway Campus, says his research focuses on understanding factors that influence the tick distribution and the epidemiology of Rickettsia infection in ticks which are crucial to the control and mitigation of these bacteria that are passed through the bite of an infected tick. The bacteria which infects both humans and animals, causes clinical signs that resemble those of malaria – fever and body weakness.

And, according to Dr Chitanga, in a previous study conducted in eastern, northern and western parts of Zambia, about 16% of the people tested in the sample had evidence of previously being infected by Rickettsia. Despite the findings from the study however, human cases of fever are never tested for Rickettsia in Zambia’s health centers. As such, findings from his study are crucial to influencing policy on diagnostic steps for cases of this fever.

Meanwhile,UNZA Vice Chancellor, Prof. Luke Evuta Mumba has congratulated Dr. Chitanga for winning the $2.4m grant and embarking on research that has potential to save lives in Zambia and the Sub-Saharan region.

Prof. Mumba says, “UNZA Management is optimistic that through this multi-disciplinary study, humanity will have answers to how influences of environmental, physiological, and microbial factors on determination of human risk of tick-borne rickettsial infection can be established”

He adds that “tick-borne Rickettsial needs urgent control measures because it is a disease that is often mistaken for malaria but does not respond to malarial treatment. Your research is commendable. UNZA is proud to call you one of its own scholars” Prof. Mumba says.

Dr. Chitanga’s research will span over a period of five years involving collection of ticks from animals and vegetation every month for a period of 60 months in search of the tick-borne Rickettsial pathogen. The research will also involve testing humans for presence of the pathogens in human blood.

Dr. Simbarashe Chitanga holds a PhD in Veterinary Medicine from Ghent University in Belgium and also completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the University of KwaZulu- Natal in Durban, South Africa. His research interests include Parasitic zoonoses, Vector & Rodents borne zoonoses and Vector Ecology.

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The University of Zambia - UNZA lecturer

Tech

Huawei Technologies Zambia Ltd has for the second time introduced the Information Communications Technology – ICT competition to Zambian Universities, an initiative aimed at sensitizing the digital skill and encourage ICT studies among youths.

The initiative is a global event which provides a platform to students to showcase their abilities, compete, communicate and drive the growth of a robust ICT talent ecosystem for innovation-driven growth and inclusive development.

Speaking at the lunch of the second 2019/2020 Huawel ICT competition in Lusaka on October 4th 2019, Huawel Country Manager Antony Yu revealed that the event has this year’s attract over 2,000 students from universities across the country to participate in the contest with subjects including Network, Cloud computing, artificial intellengince and big data.

Yu added that winners of the contests in Zambia will be privileged to participate in the regional finals in South Africa and global finals at Huawei’s headquarters in Shenzhen, China. “This event sees 10 Zambian students from 7 universities across the country departing on a trip to China for hands-on experience. Huawei Zambia has so far signed up 12 universities across Zambia in establishing ICT academies, where students can access to industrially-recognized certification courses,” he Said.

And the Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Li Jie said ICT is one of the key areas of economic and trade cooperation between China and Zambia hence Huawei’s outstanding contributions to the development of Zambia’s ICT industry and the economy at large.

Jie added that the competition will strongly promote the cultivation of Zambia’s ICT industry and provide a steady source of manpower for the comprehensive development of Zambia’s economy and society.

At the same event, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Communications Misheck Lungu said government recognizes the critical role ICT’s play in the development process hence its massive investments in the ICT sector through the construction of mobile communications towers across the country and the contraction of an ICT Talent Training Center among others.

Meanwhile, the World Bank’s latest report points out that Southern Africa’s demand for digital skills in 2030 is as high. And according to the Zambia Information Communications Technology Authority – ZICTA, there is general shortage of ICT skills in both public and private sector in Zambia.

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Huawei Technologies Zambia Ltd has for the

Markets

The Bank of Zambia – BOZ has welcomed Barclays Bank’s transition to Absa with emphasis that its rebranding should be a reflection of the bank’s renewed strategy for growth, transformation and commitment to deliver unique and quality services to its customers.

BOZ Governor Dr. Denny Kalyalya has stressed that it is the Central Banks’s hope that part of Barclays renewed strategy will involve exploring ways in which the bank can assist in addressing some challenges facing the country such as Load shedding and Food production as they have potential to further positively impact the country’s economic growth and wealth creation efforts.

Speaking at the lunch of the new Absa branch in Lusaka at Kabulonga Centro Mall, attended by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Dr Kalyalya added that the renewed strategy should be underpinned by innovation, robust technology and customer delivery models that seek to meet customer needs at a fair cost.

He said BOZ expects Absa Bank Zambia to continue and enhance its support to the SME sector in Zambia, as it is key for sustainable economic growth and development of the country adding that SMEs have potential to create many productive jobs and contribute significantly to the economy, if well supported.

“The launch of the first Absa branch here in Lusaka is an outcome of detailed and rigorous consultations and complex planning processes which began in 2016. We are therefore delighted that the bank has finally achieved this milestone among many others and it is therefore, our expectation that Absa Group Limited will build on the foundation and heritage established over the last century by Barclays Bank Group,” he said.

The Central Bank has since appreciated the Absa group for its initiative and that it will remain vigilant to ensure that Bank of Zambia is effectively monitoring any emerging risks as a result of the rebranding exercise.

At the same event, Absa Zambia Managing Director Mizinga Melu said the adoption of the Absa name will enable the bank leverage its rich heritage and drive relevant initiatives that can further unlock Zambia’s potential and support its accelerated growth.

She added that the bank has over the few months invested heavily in technology and that it is yet to rebrand all the 37 branches and 202 ATM’s across the country.

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The Bank of Zambia – BOZ has