Magande bemoans diaspora's ignorance
Magande bemoans diaspora's ignoranceBy Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Thursday June 12, 2008 [04:00]
ZAMBIANS living in the diaspora are failing to come and invest back home because they are ignorant of the economic improvements the country has scored in recent years, finance minister Ng’andu Magande has observed. And commerce minister Felix Mutati has said most of Zambians in diaspora were only remitting ‘little money’ home for consumption, rather than for investment purposes.
Responding to a question during the press briefing on the sidelines of the Euromoney Zambia Investment Conference on Tuesday, Magande also said some investors who were interested in investing in the country through joint venture partnerships were reluctant to do so as there were no local entrepreneurs to partner with.
“We have a few Zambians out there and many of them left about 10 years ago and don’t know that things have changed in Zambia. Just read the articles they write in newspapers from Australia, Europe…they are all negative. They need to know the environment has improved,” Magande said. “In fact, the problem that me and Felix (Mutati) face when we are courting investors, whether it’s in Bonn, Tokyo, UK, the question they ask us is:
where are the Zambians that we can partner with? And we have told these Zambians to say ‘come home’, we will direct you to Zambia Development Agency, and if they are not satisfied, we will send them to banks like Barclays who will explain to them the investment opportunities that we have.”
Mutati also said there was need for a change of attitudes among the Zambian nationals in diaspora.
“Zambia has the highest frequency of remittance in the southern African region. But in terms of volume, we are fourth. So what that means is that the money that is being remitted is small and only for pocket money, not for capital investments,” he said.
Mutati said people’s attitudes needed to change.
“There is a lot of misinformation about the environment back here. The only information that Zambians living in the diaspora get is that this country is a risk area even when we have told them that they can invest in here and take out 100 per cent of their profits.”
Labels: DIASPORA, INVESTMENT, MAGANDE
posted by MrK @ 3:27 AM
1 Comments:
The obvious question to minister Magande of course would be: why aren't there Zambian entrepreneurs in Zambia that they could partner with? Why would these Zambians have to come from abroad? What has or is the government doing to build the Zambian entrepreneurial and professional classes? What is the government doing to get entrepreneurs and students into contact with banks, markets or suppliers?
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