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Tech

A privately held University of Lusaka – UNILUS is currently construction a brand new campus at Chongwe in Lusaka Province. Works at the Chongwe campus have advanced and attracted the tour of ministry of commerce and trade Kayula Siame and the Zambia Development Agency – ZDA team.

During the tour of the construction site, the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) says that with Agriculture been considered one of the 5-priority sector in the country, it lacks the local relevant skills required to establish a vibrant Agro-processing sector.

ZDA Acting Director General Matongo Matamwandi has disclosed that most investors in Agribusiness do not find Local skills in Biotechnology and has since urged The University of Lusaka (UNILUS) to pioneer programmes in the field of Bio- Technology. Matamwandi explained that most investors have had to request for work permit for Bio-Technologists to support the agro processing sector, which in 2018 recorded a projected investment value of US$24 million.

The ZDA director was speaking when he, Ministry of Commerce PS and UNILUS Vice Chancellor professor Pinalo Chifwanakeni toured the construction of University of Lusaka Chongwe Campus, which will cater for over five thousand medical students in the first phase.

Meanwhile Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry Kayula Siame stated that UNILUS is a good case study of Domestic Direct Investment displaying how a whole Zambian Company, financially supported by the Citizen Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) can grow into a regional Business and very soon an international business.

She noted that UNILUS project is a clear testimony that even Zambia investors can succeed and perform competitively across sector including education. “Most Zambians want to be where UNILUS is when they just start their investment forgetting that there is a process to building a successful business. We are looking forward to the completion of phase one of the construction process and hopefully the start of phase two”.

The permanent secretory noted that the University is also providing many business opportunities for Zambia SMEs and that the ministry is looking at how other Zambians can be linked to these opportunities.

She has since called on ZDA to see to it that other Zambian businesses get linked to these business opportunities at various levels.

In addition, UNILUS Vice Chancellor and founder prof Pinalo Chinfwankeni revealed that the new campus is sitting on 40 acres of land and is worth US$19.5 million would focus on providing excellent education standards to stand as a center of excellence in the region.

The professor also requested for extended incentives saying, “Currently it looks like the law does not provide incentive for any re-investment. We got attractive incentives on the first project and we are grateful, but now we even need more help because the project is much bigger and we need to import a lot of equipment and accessories,” he said.

Chifwankeni thanked the permanent Secretory and ZDA for the visit to the construction site of the new Chongwe Campus.

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A privately held University of Lusaka -

Companies

Cavmont Bank has publicly announced that the bank will be restructuring its operations in Zambia that will lead to some branch mergers while other will be closed to streamline its operations. A review of the branches approved by the Bank of Zambia – BOZ for closure is that 3 out of 4 are based in rural areas of Zambia.

The banks Head of Communication and Customer Services Chilunga Puta says the restructuring of the Bank and its centralizing of processes to meet international standards will result in some roles to be cut while some jobs will be moved into the central processing center.

Puta has told the Zambian Business Times (ZBT) in an exclusive interview that the exact number of job losses is not yet known as the Bank is still in consultations with various stakeholders but that the loses are less than what is being projected on some media platforms.

She told ZBT that once the process is finalized, the number will be shared with relevant stakeholders while workers likely to be affected will be compensated accordingly.

“What people do not understand is that Zambia is becoming more digitalized and we are going to witness a lot of back office function becoming more centralized. Cavmont Bank is a Zambian bank that strives to meet international standards, but in order to do that, we have decided to centralize our processes so that things begin to happen a lot faster, make the bank more agile and smoother for our customers,” she said.

The Bank said that it sought approval from the Bank of Zambia to ensure full compliance with statutory regulations and approval was granted for this restructure. The Bank also met with the representative trade unions such as the Zambia Union of Financial Institution and Allied Workers (ZUFIAW) and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security to inform them of the intended restructure and the regrettable impact the process on jobs.

Meanwhile, Bankers’ Association of Zambia has defended the decision by Cavmont Bank to restructure and reposition itself which the association says should not cause panic among people.

BAZ Executive Director Leonard Mwanza says every business needs to restructure itself in order to stay relevant in its business sector despite the negative outcomes that may arise from the process.

The Bank’s move to restructure has seen the closure of 4 of its branches that include Lusaka’s industrial area branch, Mpulungu, Mwense and Mufumbwe branches which will result in job cuts.

Earlier this year, the Board of Directors of Cavmont Capital Holdings Zambia issued a profit warning to the market stating that that the Earnings Per Share – EPS for the six-month period to 31 December 2018 was expected to be about 5,655% lower as compared to that for the six-month period to 31 December 2017.

In a profit warning note availed to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT signed by company secretary, Rita Mapara-Ndhlovu, Cavmont stated that the decrease in profitability was attributed to increased impairment charges and operating expenses. Impairment charges for the period were higher mainly on account of the implementation of IFRS 9 on 1 July 2018, which increased impairment provisions across the entire in- dustry.

Mapara-Ndhlovu further stated that operating expenses increased by K19.5m (about US$1.6 million) year-on-year on the back of increased investment in infrastructure and in hiring of staff in order to upskill the group’s workforce which included the on-boarding of key new human capital resources as a performance enhancement strategy and to remain relevant within the industry.

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Cavmont Bank has publicly announced that the

Sport

The Association of Sport Performance Centres (ASPC) a Spanish based association has recognised the Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC) as a high performance center and has since accepted OYDC’s membership to the association.

Subsequently, OYDC has been invited to attend the XI ASPC International Forum on Elite Sport 2019 to take place in Barcelona on the 10th and 11th of October 2019. The forum is expected to be attended by many African countries and will see countries being united and strengthened in the development of sport in the region.

“I would like to extend our profound gratitude to the Board of ASPC for recognizing OYDC as one of the “High Performance Centres” in the region. This truly demonstrates our commitment to exemplary service delivery and commitment to creating a true centre of excellence in OYDC,” said OYDC Chief Executive Officer Dr. Fredrick M. Chitangala.

ASPC is composed of high performance centres which have voluntarily joined the ASPC Governing Bodies that support high performance Sport and Individuals who support High Performance Sport/Centres.

The association only accepts membership from any Sport Performance Centre that is recognized by a National Olympic Committee, Paralympic Committee and/or government of that nation or recognized by an International Sports Federation (ISF) or National Sport Federation of a country where the centre is located.

However, the centre must carry out activities focused on elite sport; be able to provide operational, technical and scientific support services to high performance athletes and coaches and be willing to exchange staff personnel with other high performance sport centres to interact and share ideas and work methods. This is exactly what the Board of OYDC has dedicated itself to do in its current strategic plan.

“Since inception, OYDC has been recording success stories ranging from contributing athletes to national teams and various clubs. You may be aware that in 2016, the government launched the National Centre of Excellence for Sport at the OYDC aimed at promoting talent identification and training of high performance athletes, capacity building for coaches and sports administrators in the Country.

Our hope is to see more people coming on board to partner with OYDC if they want to see our facilities remain a pride of Africa which nurtures and inspires young talented sports persons that reign supreme and bring glory to our nation and the continent,” he said

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The Association of Sport Performance Centres (ASPC)

Sport

Sanlam Life Insurance Company is set to sponsor the top three (3) winners of the 21st inter-company relay to be held on Saturday 22nd June 2019 at Heroes stadium in Lusaka.

The top 3 winners will be fully sponsored with an all expensive paid trip to attend the September Cape Town Marathon in South Africa which is the only African IAAF Gold label status marathon.

The winners will range from different categories namely 100 meters Chief Executive Officer CEOs race, 5km healthy walk road race and the high performance for this year’s event.

Speaking at a media briefing, Sanlam Acting Chief Executive Director Tontela Siwale endorsed this initiative saying Sanlam believes that a healthy society brings development that improves the economy. He said that the company is more than delighted to be key driver of the Zambian Economy through health and wellbeing.

In a separate interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, the Director said that two professional athletes will be among those that the company will sponsor so they can draw some inspirations from other professional in countries participating in the IAAF event.

Siwale revealed that the Insurance company and the Zambia Armature Athletics Association (ZAAA) have formed a partnership which will grasp a promotion of health being through sports.

And ZAAA president Alias Mpondela has praised Sanlam for the gesture it has offered in trying to promote a health life through the support of sports in the country.

“Identifying ourselves with Sanlam and Sanlam identifying its self with Zambian athletics which is what they have promoted in South Africa is a very great gesture for us, we are very delighted for the commitment which has been made to sponsor top three winners in various categories and this to us signifies the commitment in which Sanlam is putting up to promote athletics in the country,” he said.

Mpondela added that this year’s intercompany relay has witnessed a growing response and participation following a call by president Lungu for all Zambians to take up physical exercise in order to prevent non communicable diseases.

“So far we have 65 companies that have entered the competition out of 100 that where projected while 450 walkers have already registered from 500 projected walkers. 250 individual walkers from 200 projected have already registered while 150 participants have already registered for the 10km power race when only 10 projected,” he said.

The ZAAA president added that the ICR in which Sanlam is participating is an event that focuses on rising funds for the promotion and development of athletics in the country while promoting an integrated approach to health response.

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Sanlam Life Insurance Company is set to

Tech

Zambia has advanced plans to upgrade the Copperbelt University – CBU, the University of Zambia – UNZA and Northern Technical College – NORTEC in order to offer training in Nuclear Science.

Energy Minister Mathew Nkhuwa stated that this follows an assessment that was carried out to ascertain the readiness of the country in introducing nuclear energy. He added that the nuclear programme will see Zambian Students being trained before the country can decide to put up a nuclear plant .

Nkhuwa added that Zambia had invested in renewable energy projects such as solar, wind and hydro.
The Energy Minister further mentioned that Zambia’s plans to diversify power generation were advanced and that the nuclear project implementation had made headway’s. Government is finalizing a legislation that will allow the private sector to participate in off grid solutions by powering entities with renewable energy.

In a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT by press secretary Inutu Mwanza, Nkhuwa said Zambia achieved one of the best tariffs in Africa of 6 cents per kilo watts per hour from the Ngonye and Bangweulu projects, stating that this was achieved with the technical help from Renewable Energy for Africa Solutions.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Ethiopia Investment Conference organized by Renewable Energy for Africa Solutions, Energy Minister Matthews Nkhuwa said the documentation for the new legislation is already with the Ministry of Justice and government is hopeful that it could be tabled in parliament soon.

He said Zambia has an opportunity to demonstrate that generating power by the private sector can be done at low tariffs. This in effect will lift a lid on the monopoly that Zesco currently enjoys through off grid solutions.

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Zambia has advanced plans to upgrade the

Companies

Ditec Engineering Limited, a Zambian engineering company has pledged to invest US$3.5 million (about K42 million) to build a mixed use shopping mall and business park and renovate a three-star hotel in Mansa district of Luapula Province.

Ditec Engineering Executive Director Mark Luchembe told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT in an interview that the company is in the course of signing a Memorandum of Understanding – MoU with Mansa Municipal Council and that tremendous progress has so far been recorded hence confident the actual implementation of the project is expected to commence at the beginning of the 3rd quarter of this year 2019.

He added the project is expected to be completed in a period of 18 months and that it will provide employment to the province during and after completion of the project. Luchembe said the upgrade of Mansa Civic hotel will attract more customers and tourists in the district at it will be modernized.

He added that the construction of the new shopping mall and business park will also attract investors in the province as it will have different retail shops and office space at the business center, which is expected to contribute to job creation.

He further indicated that the company has plans of extending the development to other provinces in country and that once the Mansa project is completed, the engineering firm will then focus on other towns in Zambia, a move that will contribute to the development of the country.

And in a follow up interview by ZBT with the Mansa Municipal Council, town Clerk Sombo Kaela said the project to be undertaken by Ditec Engineering is a milestone to the people of Mansa and has since commended the company for its decision to invest and contribute to development in the district.

She told ZBT that the project will bring development closer to people with social and business amenities which will be provided as the mall will consist of different shops and office space hence easy and close proximity to goods and services.

 

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Ditec Engineering Limited, a Zambian engineering company

Agribusiness

Mansa Chili Managing Director Robinson Mwansa told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT in an exclusive interview that the company in partnership with small scale farmers located in

the Northen Region of Zambia is committed to produce chili pepper in compliance to global standard.

Mwansa further disclosed that the company is currently on course in setting up a factory in Chembe district of Luapula province adding that the move will stimulate economic activity and is result in reduction of poverty levels in rural areas through job creation.

He further revealed that the chili production line equipment was purchased by Musika Development Initiative Ltd with grant funds provided by SIDA and UK Aid and that the installation date of the equipment by the manufactures in Chembe district will be communicated on a later date.

The Mansa Chili Managing Director further told ZBT that the company recently signed an agreement with Shoprite, the largest consumer retail supermarket in Zambia to engage Mansa Chili in its supply chain and that the retail store is willing to offer shelf space on conditions that the chili powder was of high quality and met food safety and hygiene standards, an objective which the company is working towards.

“In this vein, should our products succeed on the Zambian market, Shoprite Zambia is prepared to try our chili powder products in their retail outlets in other countries where they operate, such as South Africa and Nigeria. This is why we have started conducting trails for the chili pepper varieties suitable for the South African and Nigerian markets,” he said.

Mansa Chili Limited is a Start-up export-oriented Rural Enterprise based in Mansa, Luapula province, the company was established in 2014 and it has pioneered into chili pepper production, processing and packaging, centered on Out-Grower Scheme model of agriculture and operates from an out-grower’s satellite farm center in Chembe district.

The out-grower scheme has about 15 000 farmers in Luapula, Muchinga and Northern Province who have been engaged in the project providing rural farmers with farming inputs to grow Chili. The project which is aimed at providing input and support to small scale farmers in rural areas currently has a team of farmers in the three provinces producing chili on which some of it is later sold to the company.

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Mansa Chili Managing Director Robinson Mwansa told

Markets

Bank of Zambia – BOZ Deputy Governor Dr. Bwalya Ng’andu has formally announce the going live of the National Financial Switch (NFS) on which the automated teller machine (ATM) transactions have migrated from the Visa platform to the local platform being referring to as the NFS.

The National Financial Switch – NFS is the first ever local nationwide shared platform which will facilitate for interoperability of digital payments through-out the Country. The switch will also save the country forex which was previously paid out by the different banks to Visa for clearing/switching local transactions and other financial services.

This will reduce the dependency on cash and its associated risks by providing stakeholders with shared infrastructure, it will also reduce acquisition and ownership costs for the service providers which should ultimately benefit customers through reduced fees and charges for the services that they get.

And when asked by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT what benefit the switch will have to the Nation, Zambia Electronic Clearing House Limited (ZECHL) Executive Director Francis Lwanga said that when fully implemented, the NFS will bring about a wide range of benefits which will include among others reduced transaction fees and charges to customers because of the removal of international switching fees.

Other benefits to the Zambian economy include convenient, easy access and usage of electronic payment systems (ATM, POS, Mobile) through multiple access points countrywide. Luanga further stated that the local switch will increase innovation by creating a common payments loop for ATM, POS, Internet Banking, Mobile Banking, Agency Banking and other customer driven e-commerce products and services that might be introduced into market as well as reduced dependency on cash as people will have greater access to digital financial services.

Prior to this migration, all domestic card transactions were switched outside the country and treated as international transactions and were accordingly priced as such. This will be a major cost and forex save for the country.

This means that debit or credit card holders can now transact on any of the 14 registered banks’ ATMs countrywide and their transactions will be switched locally through our National Financial Switch while four other banks have not migrated due to various reasons.

The National Financial Switch project itself is being been implemented as a two-phase project. Phase one involves switching ATM and Point of Sale (POS) transactions from the VISA platform to the local Switch and phase two will involve switching mobile payments transactions.

While the switching of ATM transactions has gone live as already, the go-live date for the point of sale transactions is scheduled for the third quarter of 2019 which will effectively complete the implementation of phase one.

“With its completion, customers will be able to send money or make payments using their phone or other mobile devices such as tablets to any other recipient regardless of which mobile network they subscribe to”.

Further, “since the switch will interconnect with banks, non-bank financial institutions and other payment system service providers, customers will be able to transact from a mobile money wallet to any other mobile money wallet; from a mobile money wallet to a bank account and vice versa,” he added.

The establishment of the National Financial switch started in 2014 as a project under the auspices of the Zambia Electronic Clearing House Limited. This is a company co-owned by the Bank of Zambia and Commercial Banks but operates as an independent entity. It was established with the objective of providing interbank clearing and payment services in the country.

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Bank of Zambia - BOZ Deputy Governor

Markets

The Economic Intelligent Unit (EIU) report has indicated that Zambia will continue to deepen its relations with its main bilateral creditor China, and in exchange, Chinese state-owned lenders will probably agree to a debt restructuring preventing a sovereign default.

However, the EIU projects that the restructuring will be on the proviso that the government borrows more (albeit at a lower rate) for a string of Chinese-contracted infrastructure projects and potentially allows debt-for-equity swaps on state-owned enterprises.

As a consequence, the government’s dependence on China will be a double-edged sword providing some financial relief in the short term, but compromising relations with Western donors and investors as well as jeopardizing long-term debt sustainability.

The EIU report further stated that an IMF loan deal is not expected to be reached in the medium term given planned public borrowing by government slowing down economic growth in the country.

The report states that economic policy will remain erratic with sudden changes to the regulatory environment as the government attempts to meet its spending needs. Without external support, policy will be erratic.

The IMF has warned that unless there is a slowdown in new borrowing, debt management will become difficult and has since recommended that government avoid contracting any new non-concessional debt and has proposed stepping up the raising of revenue and halting the build-up of new arrears as well as aligning the pace of spending on well-targeted public investment projects.

The IMF is not expected to agree a deal with Zambia within the forecast period and traditional donors will also stay away amid concerns about corruption, authoritarianism and uncontrolled borrowing.

Meanwhile, the country’s economic growth in 2019 is projected to be at 3.0% with monetary conditions expected to be tight and a combination of factors hampering agriculture and mining.

The Agricultural output has been struck by drought and a below-average harvest causing the government to ban food exports while dry weather has likewise affected power generation at the Kariba hydroelectric dam raising the prospect of power supply gaps affecting industry.

President Lungu is on record to have asked Zambia’s bilateral and multilateral partners to allow the country chose its own friends. Zambia has had a history of being non aligned. Zambia attends both the US-Africa and China-Africa summits to network and maintain relations with the the two world’s largest economies.

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The Economic Intelligent Unit (EIU) report has

Mining

The Center for Trade Policy and Development – CTPD has noted the need by government to create a policy framework and conducive environment for small scale miners and energy sector players to thrive as they play a critical role in contributing to the overall national economic development.

CTPD Executive Director Isaac Mwaipopo says small scale miners play a critical role to the country’s development hence the need to help revamp their businesses in the mining sector by creating strong linkages.

Speaking at the close of the Zambia International Mining and Energy Forum – ZIMEF in Lusaka on June 14th, 2019, Mwaipopo said most of the challenges that the country is facing including the creation of jobs and widening of the tax base can be realized through effective linkages and the contribution of [local businesses such as] small scale miners, suppliers and contractors.

He revealed that through surveys undertaken by the center, small scale miners are lacking information on how the sector operates and take advantage of existing support hence the need to improve the flow of information to enable them benefit from already existing financial support.

Speaking at the same event, an expert in oil and gas T Chikwanda also noted the need to strengthen the bond between bigger mining players and small scale miners. Chikwanda said there is a weak linkage between the bigger and multinational mining players and local SME’s hence the need create capacity development and skill transfer.

And Ministry of Trade Director for Industry John Mulongoti said the local businesses which is the majority of SME sector is important in contributing to the country’s economy as it has the majority of entrepreneurs. He said government has invested in SME’s by forming corporatives to support them in services delivery, trainings and skill enhancement and in improving their businesses.

‘Government has been working with SME’s by improving their business and work culture and through the trainings that they undergo, some of them have started getting contracts from the mining houses’ he said. He however did not name the ones that had gotten contracts.

Zambia’s Mining, oil and gas sectors are dominated by big multinational players with no clear policy on local companies and SME’s linkages to ensure that some values and skills transfers are attained. This remains a challenge as there is no regulatory requirements for local content or even guidance for say x% of the procurement to be done by local Zambian businesses.

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The Center for Trade Policy and Development