From vendor to businessman, philanthropist
Saturday, 13 August 2011 02:00
By Richmore Tera
His life story is a typical rags to riches fairytale. He fought endless battles with municipal police, lost his wares that include laundry soap, needles, threads, combs and hair clippers among many others and would look for money to continue with his small business over and over again.
Each day, he would carry a heavy bag containing his wares and joined many others
going to different work places. He was never ashamed to kneel, spread a cloth and arrange his wares on pavements in Harare's central business district.
For someone who started as a street vendor rising to become one of the success stories of indigenisation and empowerment, many gather to hear him speak of his yester-life with some not believing him. It is his success that makes people wonder if he really was a vendor or he was born holding a golden spoon.
Meet Isaac Chamangira who rose from the dust to become a successful farmer, businessman and philanthropist, all rolled in one.
He is now the proud holder of a two-hectare plot in Nyazura, a chain of hardware stores that supply farmers and a canteen in Harare.
"I started off as soap vendor in Zengeza 3 in Chitungwiza in 1986 after losing my job at Geopa Electrical Sales.
"To make matters worse, ndaida kuchata (I wanted to tie the knot), and this dealt a severe blow to me and vending was the only option I had.
"I however, managed to raise the money for the wedding through vending and wedded my wife Anna the following year.
"I decided to take my business to Harare where I operated along Jason Moyo Avenue selling a variety of goods.
"But the struggle was between vendors and council authorities since street vending was, and still is, against council by-laws," Chamangira said.
He recalls how it was not an easy undertaking working under such conditions trying to scrape together capital to transform his informal business into a formal set-up.
But, he says, he battled through due to vision, determination, focus and hard work.
"It was a difficult time. No one shared the vision that I had and naturally most people even those in the formal business sector were against us. You know how vendors are treated.
"My vision was to own a shop that would cater for new farmers since most people who were in the business complained that the farming sector was no longer viable.
"These were the skeptics who were against the land redistribution programme but I thought otherwise.
"I wanted to set up a business venture that would cater for the needs of the new farmers and I said to myself that I had to grow with them by supplying them with what they needed, and I did exactly that," Chamangira said.
But how did he achieve this, when street vending is one of those fickle businesses in an industry where there is a plethora of formal traders?
"I saved well, every dollar that came to us counted and we utilised it to buy stock which we then used to start a hardware shop. We worked hard for two years, vending and saving and managed to raise the required capital.
"Some people discouraged us saying we were wasting our time day-dreaming but to say the truth we eventually carved a niche for ourselves and we have penetrated the market," said Chamangira, who now runs I and A Farmers Pride from the money he saved from vending.
Chamangira says he derived his passion for business from his father, who was a peasant farmer and was also in the business of selling produce from his small plot, and cattle in Nyanga.
This saw him extending his vision from the street to the hardware store, a take-away and canteen and eventually commercial farming after acquiring a two-hectare plo
t in Nyazura.
"We specialise in growing seedlings because we want to link with our farmers.
"They don't have to have a lot of hassles in wasting their time growing seedlings at a time when they should be growing another crop," he said.
Chamangira however, feels the problem of street vendors having to play hide and seek everyday with council or city authorities can become a thing of the past if the vendors strike a compromise with the city fathers.
He also feels that some of the by-laws have to be revisited in order to make concessions for the vendors.
"Vendors on the streets should try to talk with the council authorities for them to push for the amendment of the by-laws.
"Yes, we agree that vending on the streets is illegal, but I think the city fathers should come up with alternative places for people to do their businesses.
"Also, some of these by-laws need to be revisited because most of them applied to the era of the 1960s and 1970s where the majority of the people who were found in the CBD were whites and as a result the by-laws were crafted to cushion that white population that didn't want to see vendors on the streets.
"There was a population of say about five million people then but the situation is now a different one altogether because the population is now over 13 million people and the majority of them are in informal employment which includes vending.
"So street vendors should appeal to the city authorities to re-look the by-laws," Chamangira said.
Apart from running the business ventures, Chamangira, who is a devout Christian, believes in ploughing back into the society that he owes his success story to.
He is a philanthropist, having assisted many people and supported a number of socially responsible events.
Some of these include popular actor and former radio presenter Lawrence Bhonzo known by his screen name, "Bhonzo".
Chamangira came to Bhonzo's rescue when he was sick and assisted him in footing part of his medical bills.
"I am a Zimbabwean.
"It is our view to assist others," said the father of three.
Labels: ENTREPRENEURS, LAND REFORM
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SUNDAY MAIL EDITORIAL COMMENT: Let’s promote our local brands
Sunday, 17 July 2011 00:27 Opinion
Mazoe orange drink, one of the most successful local brands.SINCE the gazetting of Statutory Instrument 8 of 2009, which essentially allowed the wholesale importation of basic commodities to plug the shortages on the local market, local goods have generally played second fiddle, especially against products imported from South Africa.
Local consumers generally seem to favour the imported goods, maybe justifiably so because most commodities offered from across the border have been tried and tested for both quality and durability. So powerful has been the “Proudly South Africa” label that some local groups will go to any lengths to be identified with it.
This is the power of branding. However, branding is meaningless unless consumers know that they can truly trust the brand and proudly identify with it. Therefore, for Zimbabwe, the “Buy Zimbabwe Campaign’’ is a good platform to strengthen and promote local products, first locally and then regionally and internationally.
The campaign has emerged as a valid initiative that will hopefully correct the anomaly which has seen more consumers opting to be identified more with foreign than local brands.
For Zimbabwean goods to find a place on the global marketplace, they must first make a mark locally.
What seems to lend credence to the initiative is that it has been born out of a lot of introspection, especially after the formation of the inclusive Government in February 2009.
A recent study conducted by the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe indicated that 90 percent of local consumers preferred goods that are of good quality and are also durable irrespective of their origin.
The same number also noted that, all other things being equal, they preferred local to foreign goods. This is a good starting point for local manufacturers.
And with the Buy Zimbabwe initiative — which has pledged to provide a platform where all local goods would be rigorously tested, qualitatively branded and marketed under an insignia to be used to penetrate regional and international markets — then good local brands should be able to make their mark on the global market.
Over the years, Zimbabwe has seen some of its brands like Mazoe orange crush, Econet Wireless and Tanganda tea penetrate the international market. More local brands are capable of doing the same with the necessary support.
Therefore for the Buy Zimbabwe campaign to succeed, it needs to be properly resourced and supported by all players, critically the triad of Government, business and consumers.
Of note is that the South African government, through the department of trade and industry, provided 50 percent of the funds that were needed to drive the “Proudly South African” campaign.
On the overall, at least R60 million or US$8,5 million (at that time) was dedicated to the growth of the campaign which aimed to change the perception that overseas brands were better than home-grown brands.
Therefore it is also crucial in Zimbabwe that every key member plays their part to ensure that the local initiative becomes a success.
Government, the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe, the Standards Association of Zimbabwe, business and consumers must play their part to ensure that these efforts succeed.
It is in everyone’s interest really.
Emerging economies such as China have for long been using this principle in order to ensure that they promoted domestic-led growth.
Today, Tsingtao Brewery is the biggest in China and has managed to eclipse foreign breweries simply because the Chinese know that there are positive spin-offs in promoting their own brands, which of course are rigorously tested for quality.
The time for Zimbabwe is therefore now. As the country emerges from the decade-old recession, it needs to assert itself and re-establish its dominance locally and regionally.
This is the only way to reverse the de-industrialisation process.
Labels: ENTREPRENEURS, NEOLIBERALISM
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Government as conductor of new enterprises
22/06/2011 00:00:00
by Tafirenyika Makunike
COUNTRIES which have successfully implemented enterprise development programmes tend to focus on the needs of the local entrepreneurs first before trying to please external investors. Our parliamentarians who sit in the august house really need to agree on what should be done to make new enterprises thrive in the Zimbabwean domestic market.
Business and technology incubation which I started discussing in my previous article and continue this week is just but one aspect of enterprise development. A well thought-out enterprise development strategy would assist the country to create quality jobs even as we march towards a common market in Africa in the not too distant future.
They say only five to 10% of the world population are truly entrepreneurial, so we should stop trying to convert every person into an entrepreneur. Those who want to be professionals in their chosen fields should be allowed to do so. What Zimbabwe currently lacks is a critical mass of entrepreneurs to sustain broad base enterprise development. We are still very far off from having our very own 5%, so we should promote borderline cases of entrepreneurship by creating an environment that minimises chances of failure.
I remember back in the late 1980’s there were so many ground-breaking innovations created by researchers at the University of Zimbabwe. The academic mantra then was publish or die, so academics were not concerned with anything outside of publishing their research articles in reputable journals to enhance their professional standing. In fact Professor Phineous Makhurane and his team who initially established the National University of Science and Technology had in mind to work in this space which others have subsequently christened the “innovation chasm”, which links raw research to applied technology that is necessary for the economic advancement of a country.
A few years back, I visited formerly strictly “stiff upper-lip” premier British institutions like Cambridge and Oxford. They were also late comers in commercialising academic research but by the time we visited the bug had really caught on.
Between the technology incubator environments of both Oxford Innovation Centre and Cambridge Enterprise, they have established enterprises worth millions of pounds in sectors ranging from biotechnology to medical engineering. They have also realised that knowledge is not just something to be fascinated with but can also be used to create wealth.
Over the years, I have attended several UKBI incubation events. I noticed in Birmingham, Sheffield, Cardiff, Coventry and Leeds they have taken old industrial buildings in some cases that were virtually derelict and allowed incubators to set up new businesses thereby rejuvenating decaying parts of the city. In places where they are more bold like Swansea, they have built cutting edge science parks which speak the language of innovation.
Zimbabwe has created many excellent centres of learning right across the country over the years since independence. Notwithstanding, what good is education if you acquired it hungry and you still remain hungry many years after graduation with just a footnote in your life of a black gown hanging in your lodging apartment and an extension to your name?
Partnership in setting up an incubator project does not need to be limited to just the universities; it can cut across chambers of commerce, government municipalities, youth organisations and even NGOs.
NUST can jointly set up a science and technology incubator with the Bulawayo City Council and the local chamber.
The City of Mutare can set up an agro-processing and timber industry incubator with Africa University and Timber Industry Federation.
The City of Harare jointly with CZI, ZNCC, the University of Zimbabwe, Catholic University and Women’s University in Africa can set up multiple site incubators promoting various causes.
Great Zimbabwe University and Masvingo Municipality can create an incubator focusing on tourism related products.
Lupane University and Lupane Rural District Council can create and incubator that assist entrepreneurs adding value to the teak and other hard woods logged in the area.
Chinhoyi Municipality and Chinhoyi University of Technology could focus on new companies providing value addition along the agricultural continuum from social scientists to post-harvest specialists.
When the government set up the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre (SIRDC), it had its heart in the right place but the process was not thought through properly. While the place is staffed with highly-qualified researchers doing wonderful work, the missing link are the entrepreneurs who will convert the wonderfully researched ideas into opportunities which will make money and create jobs.
Key to establishing incubators is the management you put in place. The incubation centre manager must be an experienced business professional, preferably with an entrepreneurial track record. We do not want someone who has never set up even a tuck shop in Zengeza advising people how to establish and run a business. Even with all the qualifications, all they would give you is imported bookish information which has no relevance in the Zimbabwean matrix.
It is the incubator manager who should play the role of hand-holding the entrepreneurs, whether to funding sources, business linkages with bigger companies or even to Standards Association of Zimbabwe to ensure that products are produced to the right standard. The manager would also ensure there is an appropriate balance of businesses and not everyone is trying to do the same thing.
The incubator can also be a medium of providing on-going training and development keeping these new businesses up to date with various changes in the business and specific industry or the Zimbabwean economy as a whole.
Last time the government just rushed to build factory shells which were left empty for long as there were not always takers. A business incubator goes beyond the factory shell model, it combines buildings, people, ideas and market opportunities to create viable enterprises that will sustain themselves beyond one generation. To make it really sustainable, it is important that companies created and incubated must pay for the service as soon as they start generating income.
The free seed and fertiliser mentality that started at independence created a dependency syndrome that we are still suffering under even today. There is a mindset that everything which comes from the government is free. We even see this mindset in our members of parliament. They think they should get all those double cabs for free.
You would expect at that level that they would understand that there is no endless supply of money sitting somewhere particularly in a country where we still pay our teachers and nurses less than $500, but then probably that is too much to expect from our honorable members?
Tafirenyika L. Makunike is the chairman and founder of Napachem cc (www.nepachem.co.za), an enterprise development and consulting company. He writes in his personal capacity
Labels: BUSINESS, ENTREPRENEURS
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Sinazongwe DC bemoans rise in bogus businesspersons
By Brina Manenga in Sinazongwe
Sat 04 June 2011, 04:00 CAT
SINAZONGWE district commissioner Oliver Pelete says the increasing number of fraudulent business people in the area is depriving the local farmers of development.
In an interview on Thursday, Pelete said it was unfortunate that the unsuspecting local farmers were talked into selling their maize at cheap prices due to lack of market.
“Lately, we have had an increase in the number of briefcase business people. These people go deep into the areas within the districts. So because our farmers find it difficult to move their maize to the central district to sell their maize they easily sell their produce to these (briefcase business) people,” Pelete said.
“These people tell our farmers to give them their maize produce and the payment
would be done later. However, they take long to pay the farmers and at very low
prices. Some come with commodities like salaula (second-hand clothes) or cooking oil and they exchange that with the maize.”
He said the commissioner’s office had been working with the farmers to ensure that such cases were dealt with.
“Based on such cases, I have appealed and sensitised the farmers to ensure that their maize is kept properly. We have told them to be cautious. That way, they will be able to sell at good prices when government starts buying from them,” Pelete said.
He appealed to the government to increase the farmers’ input in the district form the farmers to produce enough food to last them the whole year.
Pelete also said the poor road network was another challenge that farmers in
the district were facing.
Labels: ENTREPRENEURS, FARMERS, OLIVER PELETE
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Writing a Winning Business Plan—Ten Tips
Tuesday, March 29, 2011, 9:56
By Wesley Ngwenya
Tip #1: Excellent Executive Summary
An Executive Summary can be a combination of both the background and introduction. You must write an effective and compelling Executive Summary. It will ensure that you and whomever reads your plan can instantly grasp what your overall projected business picture will look like. This is an overview. It addresses the who, what, where, when, why and how. It must be strong and fabulous.
Tip #2: Assess Your Skills, Abilities and Experience
It is very important to know what your skills, abilities and hobbies are. Your business is likely to be successful if you can transform these skills into ventures that can earn you money. This helps you focus on your strengths and not weaknesses. In your business plan, you need to clearly outline what your skills are and what other partners are also bringing whether it is in the form of skill or experience. Address the three Es. These are experience, expertise and examples. What is your experience in doing this kind of business? What exactly is your expertise and how will you be tapping into the expertise of others? Do you have any successful examples of how you the best person to run this business venture?
Tip #3: Realize the Risk of Business
Getting involved into business is also risk business. Remember that your business will need your undivided attention. This means you will risk money, you will risk time, you will risk personal resources, and you will risk your energy. Remember there is no sweet before you sweat. You clearly need to determine how you will ensure that your vision is sustained and your morale is high as you get into writing abusiness plan and implementing it.
Tip #4: Know your Competitors
Know your competitors by name. Where they are located, who are their managers, the varieties of products they offer, their prices, their discounts, their strengths, their weaknesses, and any other relevant information. Research, research and do more research!
Tip #5: Know your Customers
Know what kind of people are going to buy your product and service. Are you going to get the same customers as those of your competitors? Or are you entirely creating a new customer base? Do you know the demographics of your customers—their age, income, where they live, lifestyle, etc? I am often disappointed when I help clients writing business plans because they seem never to have a target customer base in mind. I often encourage them to have a target market and design their products to meet the needs of that market.
Tip #6: Have a Marketing Strategy
It is important to develop a step-by-step plan on how you are going to enter the market. Put up a plan on how you are going to compete favorably on the market. Are you going to be price-driven or service-driven? Marketing strategy is the pillar of thebusiness plan . Many small businesses in Zambia have failed because our entrepreneurs lack the skills of marketing and the spirit of resilience.
Tip #7: Have a Start-Up Budget
Ensure that you have put aside a specific amount of money for the business. Whether this money is borrowed or is from your pocket. The start-up budget should clearly be reflected in thebusiness plan.
Tip #8: Put up a Strong Management Team
The people that are going to run your business are very important. They are like builders. The blueprint is already done and all the materials are already gathered. Now the huge task to making all these materials transformed into a lovely building remains on the shoulders of the builders. The management team needs to know what to do every time. Ensure that your management team knows what your expectations are. Give them goals to meet. Do not tolerate any slackers.
Tip #9: Do a Cash-flow Analysis
This is perhaps the most important part of your business plan. If you are borrowing money or looking for potential investors or business partners, this is where they will first look at. A cash-flow analysis determines what your revenues will be, what your costs will be and what profits you will be making over a predetermined period. Cash-flows are the blueprints of thebusiness plan.
Tip #10: Utilize Professional Services
In order to come up with a compelling business plan it is important that you use professional help. Consult a professional business plan writer, a banker and a lawyer so that they can help you put all the loose ends together. It will cost you but it is worth every Kwacha spent. Remember cheap is expensive.
This weekend 2nd April, 2011 we are hosting a workshop on “Creating Investment Opportunities for Entrepreneurs”. This is a great opportunity for those in Lusaka to network with other businesspeople. During this time, I will be helping those who would like to write abusiness plan in order to raise capital. My other colleagues will also be sharing on other topics. Feel free to contact me for more information. Wes_ngwenya AT yahoo DOT com
Labels: BUSINESS PROPOSALS, ENTREPRENEURS
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Chiyangwa book promises to make billionaires
by Staff Reporter
01/03/2011 00:00:00
For close to three decades, Phillip Chiyangwa has sold everything from tomatoes, shoes through to property, in the process amassing a fortune which has positioned him as one of Zimbabwe’s richest people.
Showy and unashamedly immodest, the property tycoon speaks the language of money. Now he says he wants to turn more Zimbabweans into millionaires and billionaires through a new book, ‘Common Sense To Become A Billionaire$’, which is released later this year.
The book, Chiyangwa says, will be released in four stages, the first exploring his early life and later series delving into his business with concrete steps young entrepreneurs can follow to make it in business:
The following is an excerpt from the new book:
“The name Phillip Chiyangwa has become a household name among the young and the old, business and non-business people, and it is synonymous with affluence and money. Whether you love him or hate him, you cannot help but admire him – he is an entrepreneur ordinaire.
Phillip was born in 1959 in Chegutu of poor parents. The eighth born in a family of fourteen, Phillip claims that the manner and ways in which he grew up taught him to be street smart – never to sleep and never to give anybody a chance.
“The first chance is mine”. This is a thought process that has underpinned Phillip’s approach to business over the years. He thinks of himself as a shrewd businessman. Speaking as guest of honour at the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce business awards in Gweru in 2008, Phillip said, “I have got a doctorate in common sense – I start where professionals and professors stop”.
Phillip thinks himself as always the first and ahead of the pack, and that is what he has become because according to the Secret, we become what we think – “thoughts become things”.
By this thought process, he asks or commands the universe to make him first, and he believes and lives it. His focus is on being first, and that is what preoccupies his mind. He carries around a mental picture of a man who is smart and ahead of his peers, and he speaks and acts accordingly.
According to the Secret, that is the creative process and the universe obeys. As a result of this, Phillip has scored many firsts in his life. At one time he had a stint at promoting boxing where he raised the likes of the late Proud Chinembiri “Kilimanjaro”, the man mountain who became the All Africa Heavy Weight boxing champion and almost challenged for the World Heavy Weight Championship.
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Phillip scored yet another first when he successfully brought the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to a packed sports stadium in Harare. An American who was in the entourage said about him: “Phillip is so sharp and smart that even if he were to come to America or the United Kingdom, he will make it big time.”
It was another first for Phillip when he brought Kanda Bongo man to Harare, and as it were, officially introduced rhumba and kwasa kwasa dance to Zimbabwe. Phillip scored yet another sensational first when he brought Michael Jackson, the late King of Pop, to Zimbabwe and hosted him.
From a very tender age, Phillip always believed in outsmarting others to make money. The family survived on selling farm produce in Chegutu, and as a small boy, they had to be at the market early in the morning to offload farm produce from the buses – the first one to get up the bus selected the best produce.
Phillip thought of ways to outsmart the competition, believed, visualised and acted accordingly. He made arrangements with the bus driver that every day he would intercept the bus as it approaches Chegutu; buy all the produce so that by the time the bus ranks, they will announce that all the produce belonged to the Chiyangwa family. They immediately became wholesalers.
Out of poor vendors, he created renowned vegetable wholesalers. Asked where he draws his inspiration from, Phillip referred to Jimmy Cliff’s song, “you can get it if you really want it”.
“Only if you really want it, and if you try and try again – he succeeded and so can you,” Phillip adds. This is in line with the Secret – you attract to you the predominant thoughts you are holding.
In 1978, as a teenager, Phillip moved to Bulawayo to take up a job as a junior clerk at a conglomerate. He had no money and no clues as to what he would do to get rich. But he was very clear on what he wanted – to get rich. That clarity of what he wanted becomes a command to the universe. Believing, according to the Secret, means knowing what you want and knowing it is going to happen, and when you feel good about it as Phillip feels good about being rich, that’s the receiving according to the Secret.
Carrying a mental picture and acting accordingly as Phillip did in the streets of Bulawayo and continues to do today, complete the creative process. According to the Secret, you have, or can be, or can become anything you want.
Today Phillip is not ashamed to declare that he is very rich because when you focus on the things that you want, the law of attraction gives you what you want.
After his short-lived stint in politics as Zanu PF’s chairman for Mashonaland West Province and then as Member of Parliament for Chinhoyi, before being wrongfully arrested for hiding vehicles of ENG bosses and thereafter for allegedly leaking state secrets, Phillip was asked why he had now gone quiet and why we were no longer hearing much from him.
His response was forthright, “These days I am no longer into politics – ndave kuita zvebuck.” (I am now focusing on making money). Phillip does not believe in sleeping – he says others will be making money while he sleeps. He is always thinking about making money and as a result, he is always creating money. According to the Secret, creation is always happening because you are always thinking – the law of attraction gives you whatever you will be thinking. The Secret says, “Like attracts like” and therefore your thoughts must be of the things you want. Phillip wants money, riches and affluence and he is always thinking about it.
Phillip has always had a penchant for affluence, and that is what he attracts. Having worked as a junior clerk in Bulawayo, he moved to Dunlop as a work study trainee in the Industrial Engineering Department, then joined Willowvale Motor Industry as an Administration Assistant then moved on to Van Leer (Zim) now Grief as a management trainee.
He created Native Investments Africa Group in 1983, and over the years through the creative process has created and attracted to his group various companies, including Pinnacle Property Holdings (PPH). In PPH where Phillip claims “we innovate, the rest imitate”, he has taken the creative process to dizzy heights by out-of-this-world artist impressions of the various hotels, architectural design houses and industrial parks he wants to develop across the country.
Slowly, these structures are unfolding because according to the Secret when you visualise, you materialise. When you visualise or conceptualise, that feeling or inner seeing will be an open door through which the power of the universe will begin to express itself.
The Sunday Mail described the completed Aristotle Crowhill Boutique Hotel as ‘sheer opulence’ – one could almost define it as a ‘state of mind’. (Sunday Mail Business, October 11-17, 2009). Indeed that is what it is – a state of Phillip’s mind! Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions. (Einstein 1879- 1983).
Labels: ENTREPRENEURS, PHILLIP CHIYANGWA
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Lewanika calls for support to young entrepreneurs
By Darious Kapembwa in Kitwe
Thu 02 Sep. 2010, 14:40 CAT
ZAMBIA’S Ambassador to Belgium Dr Inonge Mbikusita Lewanika has said there is need to support young entrepreneurs with untapped but vital potential to contribute to economic development.
During the business awards ceremony on Wednesday night in Kitwe where YAPYA Youth Investment Trust Zambia disbursed K8 billion to 17 youth entrepreneurs on the Copperbelt, Dr Lewanika said young people were a productive and progressive force in addressing the pressing challenges of economic development.
Dr Lewanika, who is also YAPYA Youth Investment Trust Zambia board chairperson, said her organisation believed that young people had the answers not only for today but also the vision for the future.
“Young people should not be objects of answers to be provided for by others today for some mythical tomorrow that never comes, as YAPYA we believe that the sooner we recognize this challenge, the quicker the development path will be laid because YAPYA Youth Investment Trust Zambia believes that young people can drive the nation forward through their innovativeness in managing their businesses,” said Dr Lewanika.
“It in this spirit and reason that the organization is promoting large scale investment in young people to accord them opportunities to engage in employment and wealth generating enterprises and during my tenure and service as Ambassador to the USA, none of my contributions and none of the secured assistance has given me greater pride and pleasure than this and I hope to continue to seek support for youths as Ambassador to Brussels where I am also accredited to European Union , Netherlands and Luxembourg.”
And YAPYA chief executive officer Likando Mukumbuta said some of the objectives of the organization were to create employment opportunities for young people by providing enterprise development support, industrial intermediation and technical and vocational training.
Mukumbuta said the organization was established in 2007 and had an important goal of transforming young people into a driving force to reach the country’s vision of becoming a middle income nation.
Some of the financiers of YAPYA include Friends of Zambia, Imagine Nations Group, the African Development Foundation and the Nike Foundation, all based in the USA.
Labels: AMBASSADOR, ENTREPRENEURS, INONGE MBIKUSITA-LEWANIKA, SMEs, YAPYA YOUTH INVESTMENT TRUST
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Govt abolishes minimum capital requirement
By Mutale Kapekele
Fri 14 May 2010, 04:00 CAT
THE government has abolished with immediate effect the minimum capital requirement to start a business as part of the ongoing legislative changes aimed at reducing the cost of doing business.
This means that
greenfield businesses do not have to show proof that they have the capital to venture in a business before registration. Announcing the development in Lusaka yesterday, commerce minister Felix Mutati said
170 of the 517 business licences will be eliminated.
Mutati also announced that 57 licences would be reclassified and 99 amalgamated into 21 as part of the reforms.
“Currently, the licences we have are too many and the requirements to get them are cumbersome, time-consuming and do not assist businesses to go ahead,” Mutati said.
“Some of them are as old as 1935 and we took a decision to eliminate all the unnecessary licences and so far 23 have already been eliminated, one has been reclassified, and 40 Bills have been drafted to incorporate business licensing reform recommendations.”
He said the licensing reforms were just a beginning of programmes aimed at reducing the cost of business which he said was increased by K2 trillion per year as a result of licensing and time wasted in trying to acquire them.
“We don’t want people to spend too much time in corridors pushing for licences that are a burden; that robs them of time that they could use for economic activities,” Mutati said.
He also announced that a team from the World Bank would at the end of this month tour Zambia to assess its business environment.
Mutati hoped that at the end of the World Bank ‘inspection,’ the country would rank better than the 90 slot it currently occupies on the bank’s doing business ladder.
Labels: BUSINESS, ENTREPRENEURS, FELIX MUTATI, LICENSES, SMEs
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Support entrepreneurship
By NANCY MWAPE
BANK OF Zambia (BoZ) Governor Caleb Fundanga says there is need to stimulate entrepreneurship as it forms the engine of economic and social development that generates employment.
Dr Fundanga said it is important to realise that individual entrepreneurs as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs) form the engine of economic growth and social development for Zambia.
He said this in Lusaka on Tuesday night when officiating at the launch of the K100 million VentureCompetition by Intermarket Bank and Intermarket Securities in partnership with the Lusaka Stock Exchange.
Dr Fundanga said the banking sector has over the years witnessed significant growth in consumer lending.
“As a matter of fact, on a sector basis the personal loan category has been the largest recipient of total credit in the recent years and accounted for 22 percent in November 2009,” he said.
He said SMEs have also significantly benefited from credit expansion.
He said credit expansion has no doubt brought significant benefits to the economy as resources are increasingly channelled to the lower end of the market.
Dr Fundanga said the small number of educated Zambians engaging in entrepreneurial activities limits the scale of indigenous businesses as evidenced by the non-participation of Zambians in major sectors of the economy like mining or manufacturing.
He said the central bank will continue to spearhead financial sector development to strengthen the financial sector as well as guide efforts to realise the vision of a stable, sound and market-based financial system that supports efficient mobilisation and allocation of resources.
Dr Fundanga commended Intermarket Banking Corporation for its commitment to providing innovative products and services on the market.
He said the bank has brought an array of products and services that specifically target the SMEs and in some cases business start-ups.
“It’s interesting to note that VentureComp 2010 is a business plan competition for students in all universities, colleges and other institutions of higher learning. The spirit of competition is to foster entrepreneurship amongst our young people,” he said.
And speaking at the same function, Intermarket Bank and Intermarket Securities managing director Subhrendu Chatterji said the competition is a further signal of the innovative way that the financial sector is contributing to Zambia’s economic development.
Mr Chatterji said the financial sector in Zambia was evolving rapidly, spurred by increasing competition, stable economy and supportive policies.
He said the competition will be vying to start or build a real business.
Labels: CALEB FUNDANGA, ENTREPRENEURS, SMEs, VENTURECOMP 2010
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COMESA recommends dynamic enterprise sector against crunch
By Florence Bupe
Wed 18 Nov. 2009, 04:00 CAT
COMMON Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) assistant secretary general Nagla El-Hussainy has called for a dynamic enterprise sector in order to beat the effects of the global economic recession.
Speaking at the launch of the 2009 Global Entrepreneurship week on Monday, El- Hussainy said one of the world’s most pressing problems was the global recession which has had a devastating effect on the general economic outlook of many countries.
“Today, one of the most pressing problems is the global recession which has had a devastating effect on individuals, communities, companies and entire countries,” She said. “Those who have been least affected know how to build financial reserves to draw up on and how to move with less.”
El-Hussainy expressed concern that most individuals and businesses were reluctant to build up their financial reserves.
She said entrepreneurship was critical to the development of any nation and was a vital element to the attainment of various millennium development goals.
El-Hussainy observed that having a dynamic entrepreneurial environment would also contribute significantly to the success of the COMESA Customs Union.
And in an interview after the launch, International Labour Organisation (ILO) country director Gerry Finnegan said business growth was still a challenge as the effects of the global economic recession were still being felt.
He said the recession had given rise to the level of unemployment, especially among youths, prompting an increase in informal sector participation.
However, Finnegan noted that establishing and growing informal sector businesses had continued to be challenging.
He called on the corporate world and other stakeholders to assist upcoming entrepreneurs for the greater benefit of the national economy.
Meanwhile, programme coordinator Edwin Zulu said it was critical to introduce the culture of entrepreneurship among youths.
“We want to mentor these young people because they will tomorrow be looking for employment, it is also an opportunity for them to network on how to become their own employer,” said Zulu.
Labels: COMESA, ENTREPRENEURS
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Ngoma urges incentives for local entrepreneurs
Written by Kabanda Chulu
GOVERNMENT should create deliberate policies to enhance the growth and survival of local entrepreneurs in the face of the global financial and economic challenges, Strong Technologies Zambia chief executive Lloyd Ngoma has said.
Announcing two additional channels to the My TV satellite television bouquet, Ngoma yesterday said indigenous businesses were capable of making huge contributions to the country’s economic growth and development.
“Local entrepreneurs are not asking for incentives but just a conducive environment to allow them an opportunity to do business and move forward and consequently survive the current challenges. And while big corporations are folding and others going into liquidation, we have remained steadfast and somehow manage to weather the global recession,” Ngoma said.
“We believe in no shortcuts in business because all businesses built on elusion such as ‘get rich quick’ ultimately crash but our company is built on strong principals, focused team and working within our means. And in the midst of the recession, we have managed to buy two channels, that is Fox Entertainment and Silverbird, which are both globally acclaimed.”
My TV is a wholly Zambian-owned satellite channel operated by Strong Technologies and has been in operation since 2006, with a current subscriber base of over 8,000.
Labels: ENTREPRENEURS, LLOYD NGOMA, MY TV, STRONG TECHNOLOGIES
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Be enterprising
Written by Dr. Moses Simuyemba
Monday, May 04, 2009 12:18:33 AM
Are you utilising your knowledge and skills for optimum benefit or are you wasting them away? The answer to achieving your dreams could be in your possession already. But how do you turn your knowledge and skills into stuff your dreams are made of?
Firstly, you need to have one thing settled in your mind: that like most people, you probably have enough basic knowledge and skills to accomplish great things already.
The problem is that, knowledge and skill on its own will not make you successful or wealthy. They are simply the building blocks upon which you must build. The fact that there are a lot of people with countless degrees and qualifications who are far from successful or living their lives to full potential is evidence enough of this. Actually, for some it would seem that too much knowledge and skill is the problem, not the lack of it.
It is very interesting that so many are misled by the notion that in order to have more money they need more qualifications. The pressure is on to get through college and get that diploma, then the first degree, then the masters degree, and for some even the PhD. But, as many find after years of labouring and struggling with books, the money is still just not enough. The effort and the rewards do not match in most cases, with few exceptions. Then they massage our egos with the thought that we are highly educated and respected by society and their peers.
There is nothing so wrong with that I suppose, but why not be highly educated, respected by your peers and wealthy and fulfilled at the same time? Why not turn that knowledge into something more tangible? Like money.
The thing that is missing is often enterprise. Enterprise is the willingness to undertake new ventures. It can also be described as initiative or as a purposeful or industrious undertaking, especially one that requires effort or boldness. Henry David Thoreau recognised the benefits of enterprise as he said that “Through want of enterprise and faith men are where they are, buying and selling, and spending their lives like serfs.” A serf, as I found out, is a person who is bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord. This was a common thing in the middle ages.
Therefore the person who has knowledge and skills, but is not enterprising, will not use that knowledge and skill well. Getting a job and being in “secure” employment will be enough for such a person. Actually, after some years of it most of the very skill and knowledge that got them the job will be forgotten as they settle into a routine of doing what is minimally acceptable to keep their job. Sun Tzu, Author of the ancient military strategy book The Art of War, wrote: “Unhappy is the fate of one who tries to win his battles and succeed in his attacks without cultivating the spirit of enterprise, for the result is waste of time and general stagnation.”
The enterprising person or entrepreneur is one that realises that knowledge alone is not enough. That knowledge has to be converted into resources or money. So they start thinking about how to do this. Over time ideas are developed, and some form of business is undertaken. This could take any form, perhaps a good example is the person who is a consultant, selling their time and knowledge to help others in their businesses and organisations.
Which brings me to the most important point that you should remember from this: The basic rule of free enterprise: “You must give in order to get.” What could you do with your knowledge and skills that would help others? That is the secret of turning your knowledge and skill into wealth. No man ever made an honest fortune by being selfish or by keeping their knowledge and skills to themselves. Only by sharing it does it return rewards to you.
No one will give you real money because they like you or feel sorry for you. It’s mind-boggling how some people actually expect that to happen. People will give you money in return for something they need or want. What need or want could you satisfy with your knowledge and skills? Are you the answer to someone’s problem? If you can become the answer to their problems, they will become the answer to achieving your dreams and becoming successful and wealthy. But you have to give and serve first.
Whereas society has classed only a certain group of people as entrepreneurs I take the view that anyone, and everyone, should be an entrepreneur. It is the one basic truth of things that the wealthiest people in the world are those that are enterprising. They have found the connection between knowledge and wealth because “no man that does not see visions will ever realise any high hope or undertake any high enterprise” according to Woodrow T. Wilson.
Another quality that such people have is faith in themselves, their ability and their future. They are not blind gamblers taking uncalculated risks everywhere they can. As Johann Kaspar noted: “The prudent see only the difficulties, the bold only the advantages, of a great enterprise; the hero sees both; diminishes the former and makes the latter preponderate, and so conquers.”
Be enterprising and be innovative, inventive and creative. These are all different facets of enterprise. Most of all, be willing to try new things and take calculated risks. Enterprise is the one thing everybody needs, no matter what their profession or background. It is the missing link between your knowledge and skills and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
“The method of the enterprising is to plan with audacity and execute with vigor; to sketch out a map of possibilities, and then to treat them as probabilities.”
www.executive-and-life-coaching.com
Labels: ENTREPRENEURS, MOSES SIMUYEMBA
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Maureen urges technology in stone crushing business
Written by Masuzyo Chakwe
Monday, January 26, 2009 5:39:03 AM
FORMER first lady Maureen Mwanawasa on Saturday said she sees a business opportunity in the women crushing stones at roadsides. And National Arts Council (NAC) chairperson Mulenga Kapwepwe said there was life after divorce.
During the women business and corporate world luncheon organised by the Prime Innovators team, an entity under the My Own Boss TV reality show, Maureen said unlike people that usually see poverty when they see women crushing stones at roadside, she sees a business opportunity.
“What is lacking is the structure to change their lives. What they need is technology to improve on that business because if we just leave it like that, investors will come with technology and take the business away from the women. So we should see crushing of stones as a business and not a poverty thing,” she said.
Maureen said women had been involved in commerce and trade and there had been barriers and obstacles all along.
She attributed the problem partly to the women’s mindset as well as the fact that they limit their business operations to “safe areas.”
“We need a paradigm shift in our scope of business. It is not only about women owning businesses but also about encouraging more women to enter the labour force in order to give a big boost to the success of the labour force,” she said.
Maureen said women should stop feeling that they had to be like men to succeed.
She also advised women not to seek to develop male strengths but to remain themselves.
She asked women to be open-mined and ready to learn and develop a reading culture, which she said was generally poor among women.
Maureen advised women not to feed in rumours and asked how many women had been to the Citizen Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) office to find out how to access funds.
She urged women to demand what was due to them like the 30 per cent land the government had allocated to women.
Maureen observed that women were growing their business in an environment, which was hostile to real issues affecting them, and proposed that they should have access to micro-credit with poverty and trust as collateral.
And Kapwepwe said when she left work in the mines, it was a time she was going through a divorce and only had her brains to use.
Kapwepwe advised women to use their brains and be disciplined.
And women filmmaker Catherine Kasekete said she was proud to be a woman with disabilities who had achieved her dream.
Lucy Sichone from the banking industry urged women not to give up if they had a dream.
Zambia Centre for Communication executive director Grace Chipanta, who first trained as a nurse and is also a widow, advised nurses and women to think ahead as the future held many things.
Labels: ENTREPRENEURS, MAUREEN, MULENGA KAPWEPWE, WOMEN
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Zimbabweans at home more astute in business
Morris Mapisaunga – Opinion
Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:01:00 +0000
DEAR EDITOR – As a Zimbabwean living in the country, I should be the first one to point out the current challenges being faced here. I have lived here through the turmoil this country has seen and I am witnessing all the challenges being faced in the country.
It is not a secret that the economy has deteriorated and many areas have been affected. The infrastructure in the country is crumbling and things are not as they were 10-15 years ago.
But when I read news reports especially from reporters in the Diaspora, sometimes I wonder which Zimbabwe they are reporting on.
I shall not name names of these people or organisations, but I need to tell some of these reporters that there are sectors here that are progressing within that turmoil.
This country still functions despite all the negativity in the press.
I am not necessarily one of those in a privileged position, but I can tell you that many Zimbabweans have become smarter businessmen than many of these reporters who are living on handouts in the Diaspora.
One day they will be shocked when they come home expecting to see a run down environment only to find out that their age groups have progressed and advanced much further than them.
Owning property here is no longer a dream, but a possibility. Many young people now understand business much better than these so-called journalists who spread lies and exaggerate the situation in a country they have been away from for years.
One day they will turn up at our doorstep with their PhDs from the Diaspora and find out that the rest of Zimbabwe has moved on from their ancient ideas.
Then we will see who will have the last laugh.
Morris Mapisaunga
Greendale, Harare
Labels: ENTREPRENEURS
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Internet business success stories
By Dr Moses Simuyemba
Monday August 18, 2008 [04:00]
Having written about building your own internet business last week, I have received a lot of questions and comments from people wanting to learn more about it and the ‘Building a Successful Business Using the Internet’ course that is being offered in Zambia commencing on 20th September. So, I thought I should share a few enlightening real life success stories to illustrate the power of this course and internet business in general.
Elad Shippony was a marketing communications manager in Israel, Michelle Schill was a hairstylist in Canada and Nori Evoy was a 14-year-old school kid also in Canada. But these three now have something amazing in common. They found something that changed their lives in a way they would never have thought possible. They found a system that helped them to build successful online businesses and that liberated them forever.
Elad Shippony's story is a life-liberating inspiration. Elad is an excellent example of an infopreneur, creating fun and entertaining content from his website to drive traffic from the search engines, and then monetising, or making money from that traffic without selling a product or service.
If you do not have time to manage customers (or do not want to), low-maintenance monetisation models like Google's AdSense ads, affiliate programmes, finder's fees and others can build to thousands of dollars per month.
Elad’s daughter, Maya, was born in June 2001. At the time, he was working as a marketing communications manager at a large high tech company in Israel. The job was demanding, the pay was ok, he wasn't much at home, and family time was reduced to a few hours on the weekends. Ugrh!!!
He would often catch himself daydreaming of how great it would be to work from home, be his own boss, be able to shut the computer whenever he wanted and play with Maya or go out to the café with his wife in the middle of the day.
some months later, he did manage to leave his day job much earlier than he had expected thanks to the success of his website www.coolest-kid-birthday-parties.com.
He now works from home and has built even more websites over the years. He is also performing his passion for music in front of audiences quite a bit now that he has some free time on his hands. In the process, he has developed a rule that he close his computer (with lock and bolt) every day between 4-8 pm to be his family.
Spending quality time with them is now possible thanks to his new found freedom. “And I'm achieving my dreams and enjoying every moment of life,” he says.
Michelle Schill of style-hair-magazine.com is a wonderful example of how a mother is using the web to build a life for her family, herself, and their future.
Michelle is a hairstylist and for a long time was employed as such. Her desire to succeed all started with a pompous young guy who sat in her hair styling chair long ago and foolishly announced: "You're just a hair cutter."
This while, she was still holding her scissors up against his head if you can imagine... lucky he left with both ears attached.
That comment never left her. Sometime later, she later attended a weekend seminar where she first heard two critical phrases that would shape her future- ‘Passive Income’and ‘Internet Marketing’
From then on, having done some research, she found the perfect solution to help her build that passive income and become an effective internet marketer.
Now, she works when she wants, anytime of day or night. “That's the beauty of working on your own time. A meal and a quick story, then some time for mummy to work, then a snack and clean-up, and then a nap-time for the youngest, a movie for the oldest, throw in some laundry, and set to work for a few solid hours,” she says
"I no longer work from home in the evenings and my income is constantly growing. Right now, it's double what I was making when I was standing behind a chair... I do what needs to be done the most at any given time and the nature of website building is such that I can stop or take a break at any point and carry on when time allows. I can work in my pyjamas and fuzzy slippers and switch from work mode to mommy/caretaker to silly dance partner whenever the mood strikes."
Nori Evoy, at 14 years old, was an unlikely internet business success story. She built a website called anguilla-beaches.com and says, "I now have a business that I can grow over the years. A business that is fun. I'll never do a 9 to 5. I'll always own my own life.
That, more than money, more than learning about the web, more than anguilla-beaches, more than learning how to write well, is the most important thing I've learned from SBI!. Own your own life. If you don't, what's the point?"
Nori’s web site does better than many big budget travel sites on Anguilla and she emphasises that the vast majority of offline small businesses still don't have a clue, let alone a web site. If they do have a site, it's likely the proverbial "far away tree in that faraway forest." Does it even make a sound when it falls? Well, does a site even exist if it does not get traffic?
She earns money from her website by referring traffic from her site to some of these no-clue websites. She gets paid on a pay-per-click or pay-per-lead basis and earns referrer or finder's fee for finding a customer (or a ‘lead’) for them. Sometimes she negotiates per-month advertising arrangements.
Now 18 years old, her income is in the thousands of dollars and even college seems to be an unnecessary chore with the success her website is having. But she is doing it anyway. Her website is a wonderful safety-net for her.
What is to be learnt from all this? Internet business success is achievable no matter what your background and level of technical knowledge are. All three examples I have given had no technical knowledge of how the internet works before they started their businesses.
Another important lesson is that the internet has opportunities for everyone from the housewife to the small business owner. You just have to know how to use it. ‘Building a Successful Business Using the Internet’ will show you how. Go to the
website below to find out more.
You are all you can be. Go on and be it.
www.motivation-for-dreamers.com
Labels: ENTREPRENEURS
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Youths urged to learn entrepreneurship skills
Posted on August 7th, 2008
The Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) has assured youths in the country that it has provided seed money in order to mitigate the difficulty that youths face in accessing empowerment funds from the commission. CEEC Chairperson Jacob Sikazwe reiterated that the commission has K150 billion which will be used to support broad based economic empowerment programmes for targeted citizens such as youths, women and the disabled.
Mr. Sikazwe urged youths to get close to successful business persons in the country in order to learn the best practices of managing an entrepreneurship. He said this in Lusaka today at a youth sensitization workshop on the operations of CEEC and funding guidelines organized by the Youth Association of Zambia.
And YAZ Executive Director Evans Musonda said his organized stands ready to partner with the CEEC in the area of sensitization in order to ensure that all young people access the empowerment funds.
Mr. Musonda also disclosed that his organisation has since January this year spent over K1 billion in giving loans to young people in seven provinces.
He said YAZ which works in partnership with the Copperbelt Forum will by September this year cover all districts in all the nine provinces in a bid to supplement government efforts in youth empowerment.
The two-day workshop has drawn about 30 youths from all the nine provinces and is being held at the Commonwealth Youth Programme office at the University of Zambia great east road campus.
ZANIS/BK/AM/ENDS
Labels: CEEC, ENTREPRENEURS, EVANS MUSONDA, JACOB SIKAZWE, MENTORING, MICRO-FINANCE, WORKSHOPS, YAZ, YOUTHS
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It's unacceptable that big businesses are foreign owned, says Fundanga
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe
Monday May 05, 2008 [04:00]
BANK of Zambia (BoZ) governor Dr Caleb Fundanga yesterday said it is unacceptable that the biggest business establishments in the country are foreign owned. Briefing the press over the Junior Achievement (JA) Zambia programme at Pamodzi Hotel yesterday, Dr Fundanga said there was need to instill the entrepreneurship mind in most Zambian people at an early age. He also said JA Zambia was this year targeting to capture about 500 young Zambians from different schools, universities and colleges in its activities.
"We need to inculcate a spirit of entrepreneurship at an early stage in the children so that they start understanding business and economic issues when they are still young," said Dr Fundanga who was speaking in his capacity as board chairman of the JA Zambia. "We should move away from the current situation where all the children are being trained to be workers.
We should start teaching them how to create wealth for themselves and contribute to economic growth of the country. Our children need to have a strong conviction at an early stage in their lives that Zambians have the potential to develop this country and not just waiting for foreign investors... Are you telling me that we have no local investors?
"At JA, that is what we want to do. To work with other stakeholders to ensure that whether it is engineering, banking or any other field, our young people realise at an early stage that they can make money for themselves and contribute to development of this country."
And Dr Fundanga called on Zambians to support each other to make money.
"Let us encourage each other to make money. I don't see anything wrong with supporting a fellow Zambian who is making money, so long that money is not through illicit activities," said Dr Fundanga.
And JA vice president for Africa region Lamech Mbise said the surest way to grow the economy of the continent and reduce criminal activities was to invest in young people through giving them good education. Earlier, Barclays Bank Zambia (BBZ) managing director Zafar Masud said although JA had achieved some of its objectives, a lot needed to be done.
Masud also said BBZ would continue to support activities of JA which he said was a reservoir of the bank's future customers and workers. The JA is a worldwide mentorship programme aimed at developing business and work skills among young people in primary, secondary and tertiary education.
The JA programme has been running in Zambia for the last four years and it is implemented in 117 countries.
Labels: BOZ, BUSINESS, CALEB FUNDANGA, ENTREPRENEURS, JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT ZAMBIA
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Meet Microentrepreneurs from Africa
Anna Leone Mushi
Mango, Tanzania
Client of ACCION partner Akiba Commercial Bank
In the small town of Mango at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Anna works tirelessly selling rice, oil, sugar and other food products out of her tiny storefront. Before owning her store, “life was miserable,” Anna explains. There was no work, and she resorted to asking for money in the street to take care of her parents and her daughter, Irene.
With a small loan from a relative, Anna began selling mangos and vegetables at the local market, but she struggled to support her family. Desperation was never far from reality—until she heard about ACCION’s partner in Tanzania, Akiba Commercial Bank.
After forming a solidarity group with several other women, Anna received her first loan of $32 and used it to buy sweets and other small retail items, quickly making a $10 profit.
With three more loans, Anna was able to buy four pigs. She now has 8 piglets and has added meat to her array of products. She is also buying in bulk at wholesale prices, and with a consistent supply of products, she is able to maintain a loyal client base.
The family’s living conditions have improved dramatically. No one is hungry and Irene goes to school. Anna laughs as she says, “the store is now so full that it’s hard to walk in it.” She looks ahead full of hope, with plans of further education for her daughter, and continued growth of her business.
Labels: ENTREPRENEURS, MICRO-FINANCE, TANZANIA
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ACCA launches youth entrepreneurship
By NKOLE CHITALA
THE Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has set aside K45 million as youth fund to help facilitate entrepreneur skills training. Deputy Minister of Sports, Youth and Child Development, Angela Cifire, said the fund was set aside this years and would run over a period of three years.
Ms Cifire said Government was happy with the organisation on the efforts made to assist youths in the country. She said Government would continue to encourage initiatives aimed at uplifting the living standards of youths.
She was speaking at the trainees meeting held at Mulungushi conference centre in Lusaka recently.
She said that with the fund set aside, the association would soon enter into partnership with a youth club, Junior’s Achievement Zambia Chapter, to help facilitate entrepreneur skills training which would run as a replica of real businesses in industry.
Ms Cifire said Government had revised the national youth policy to bring it in line with the ever-changing global and national trends.
She said the revised policy took into account the need to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through partnerships and networking among others.
The policy has outlined the vision objectives and strategies and has provided the implementation framework for various youth development programme.
She said funding for the education sector had been increasing steadily over the past couple of years, which was not the case in more than two decades. And Ms Cifire urged youths to adhere to global standards in terms of professional conduct, underpinned by a code of ethics.
“Please embrace this expertise as you establish a reputation for integrity and professional standards that are transparent, responsible and in the public interests,” she said.
ACCA has 122,426 members and global students while affiliates figures stand at over 325,606.
Labels: ACCA, ANGELA CIFIRE, ENTREPRENEURS
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Current economic growth not tangible - Dr Chigunta
By Kabanda Chulu
Monday September 24, 2007 [04:00]
Dr Chigunta said there was mass poverty in the country but the government has not put in place mitigation measures. He said the Zambian government should aim at attaining a gross domestic product (GDP) of more than 10 per cent.
“It is true that various sectors of the economy are showing signs of growth but this is not tangible and since we are struggling to attain six per cent of GDP, these current growth rates will not help us to attain the MDGs especially that of reducing poverty by half,” Dr Chigunta said. “And also there is need for the government to develop sustainable measures that will help translate economic growth into ways of reducing the mass poverty currently prevailing in the country.”
He also said Zambia would continue being a poor country since the culture of entrepreneurship was very low.
“We are not aggressive enough to transform our ideas into something useful and there has been no structural transformation in the way we do things. We are just relaxed and happy to have raw materials for export instead of adding value to those items and this is why intended benefits of international trade will continue bypassing us,” said Dr Chigunta.
Labels: ECONOMY, ENTREPRENEURS, POVERTY
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