Zambians are not utilising their talent, says L/stone DC

Zambians are not utilising their talent, says L/stone DC
By Edwin Mbulo in Livingstone
Tue 19 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT

LIVINGSTONE District Commissioner Francis Chika says that Zambians have not utilised their talents to earn a living and sustain their future, despite being highly talented.

During the opening ceremony for the Business Skills Training workshop for Southern Province based artists at Chapa Classic Lodge; Chika said that Zambians lacked exposure in vital skills such as starting a business.

"Zambia is one country which is endowed with rich talented cadre of people in various arts. However, it is a pity that not all of them have utilised this talent not only to earn a living but to sustain their entire future. This is due to lack of exposure in vital skills such as starting a business, developing a business plan, costing and pricing and indeed marketing," he said.

He thanked the Finnish government for making available 52,500 Euros (about K357 million) to cater for the countrywide training workshops.

" Countries that appreciate and invest in their own culture also advance in development. I would like to assure you that Zambia is not lagging behind in far as this concept is concerned. The Fifth National Development Plan FNDP has also prioritised investment in arts and culture. It is for this reason that here in Livingstone, government is constructing Maramba Cultural Village specifically to be the venue for production and marketing the arts with a view for sustainable human development and preservation of our cultural heritage," said Chika.

And International Labour Organisation (ILO) Broad Based Wealth and Job Creation senior technical advisor, Jealous Chirove said the ILO through a project - Strengthening Creative Industries in Zambia - is looking at turning the arts into an industry, which could create job and generate foreign exchange.
He said the project would train about 180 artists.

"We look at artists and creative arts as an industry which can lead to the creation of jobs and foreign exchange earnings. Our target is to train 20 artists from each province with the support of the Finnish government," he said.

Chirove added that the project would also endeavour to link artists to other programmes such as financing programmes such as the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC).

"Any business expansion needs financing, so we need to link our trainees to other on going programmes in the country so that they can access financing such as the CEEC," said Chirove.

And National Arts Council (NAC) assistant director Adrian Chipindi said the training programme had caused chaos among the artists and there was need to train more.
"We have a lot of artists so when we train 20 like in Lusaka, we create chaos because there are many more who need training," said Chipindi.