Use professional marketers, ZIM advises govt

Use professional marketers, ZIM advises govt
By Kabanda Chulu in Kitwe
Tue 26 July 2011, 13:59 CAT

ZAMBIA Institute of Marketing (ZIM) has advised the government to utilise the professional expertise of marketers in the quest to market and brand the country as a good and stable investment destination.

And ZDA director Glyne Michelo has challenged marketers to increase their marketing activities because the designation of the country as lower middle income will result in increased trade and investment for Zambia.

During the Copperbelt regional marketing conference in Ndola, ZIM president David Kombe said marketers were major stakeholders in all developmental programmes.

“It is for this reason that as marketers, we have been and will always be ready to take up the challenge when called upon to offer professional advice on the marketing and branding of Zambia,” said Kombe.

“We must admit that the opportunity to work with government has always eluded us due to various unknown reasons but we hope that this can be a starting point for collaboration between government and ZIM. We know that there are numerous developmental projects in government that are marketing related and ZIM can take up and offer professional advice and direction for effective results.”

Presenting a paper titled ‘Business and investment opportunities on the Copperbelt: role of marketing’, Michelo said marketing and trade play a vital role in the economic growth and overall development of a nation.

“Marketing creates a platform for Zambia to undertake export promotion in areas where it has a comparative advantage. Marketing creates the platform to undertake market research on viable markets for Zambian produced goods,” Michelo said.

“With Zambia now being designated a lower middle income country, it is envisaged that the marketing activities will increase since it is visualised that Zambia will record an increase in investments which will lead to an increase in trade and therefore this will require an increase in marketing activities.”

He said government was putting in place measures to enhance investment promotion on the Copperbelt.

“There is need to introduce a one-stop shop on the Copperbelt by ZDA to assist business houses bring down the cost of doing business in the short-term and reduce gaps in policy implementation thereby assisting local manufacturing sector respond to overcome challenges on the ground,” said Michelo.