US-ZAMBIA BUSINESS

With James Muyanwa
FOR any products or services supplied in one area, there is always demand by potential customers somewhere - sometimes very far-off. The challenge is always how to make the supply party meet the demand side.

Take for instance a bee-keeper somewhere in Chief Mukonchi in Kapiri Mposhi district of Central Province of Zambia, with several litres of already harvested honey. How can he/she ensure that the honey reaches that consumer in the United States of America (USA) whom he/she may not even know exists?

It is precisely for that reason that this column has come up to highlight some of the potential interactions and linkages between the business community of Zambia on one side and that of the US on the other hand, every Wednesday. All this with a courtesy of Kanzam International Inc!

KANZAM INTERNATIONAL

Kanzam International chief executive officer, Ricky Muloweni says that the investments and trade opportunities in the two countries from the two different worlds are massive and need to be exploited by the respective private sectors.

Motivated with the need to link entrepreneurs from the two countries – Zambia and US – Mr. Muloweni, a Zambian and his colleague Stan Grigsby from USA forged a partnership and came up with Kanzam International Inc.

In our telephone interview, Mr Muloweni told me that since inception in 2008; his objective has been to encourage US entrepreneurs’ collaborations with the Zambians to fully make use of the investment potential in the two countries. This can only be possible if the local Zambian entrepreneurs are also in position to embrace the spirit of industrialisation.

Zambia needs to fully industrialise.

Kanzam International has identified potential sectors for Zambia-USA business collaborations. The company which is broadly pro-agriculture is also involved in mining, healthcare technology, manufacturing, education and promotion of art in schools.

Kanzam is a business facilitation and consulting services company for Zambian and US entrepreneurs wishing to do business in Zambia or the USA. Its facilitation services range from cultural education, import-export facilitation, business coaching for rural development projects and international business collaboration for Zambian and US companies.

Its main mission is to serve small to large business clients that are in need of logistical, technical, and business entry strategy services in Zambia and the USA. Kanzam is already working with various agencies such as Ministry on Commerce in Zambia to fully utilize opportunities in the Zambian private sector.

Through its vast business and cultural experience in both the USA and Zambia’s economic environment, Kanzam has set out to objectively provide Zambia’s entrepreneurs a medium through which challenges and inadequacies of doing business with American entrepreneurs will be moderated.

KANZAM AND AGOA

The Africa Growth and opportunity Act (AGOA) remains the most important legislation that defines the commercial relationship between United States and Sub-Sahara Africa. Through this act Zambian entrepreneurs have an opportunity to collaborate with their American counterparts in various businesses through AGOA.

As the result of Kanzam’s efforts under the AGOA arrangement, several restaurants in Washington DC metro area will be able to serve Zambian soup (Zamsoup) which will be exported by Sylva Catering Service while more other people in US will taste the Zambian honey.

Kanzam is also working with the Zambian women in mining for similar opportunities and rural development for Zambia.

As we lead-up to the 10th AGOA forum which will be held here in Zambia in June this year, Kanzam wants to bring more Zambian entreprenuers on board to ensure they take advantage of the opportunities in the USA, and the sub-region.

Equally, more US investors are yearning to come and invest in various sectors of this country which is developing into one of the most preferred investment destinations in the world.

Through this column more opportunities will be unveiled as Kanzam offers a platform to entrepreneurs from US and Zambia to interact and forge links. We hope that more local players will follow Kanzam International Inc. on this column.

Next week we will look at the eligibility of Zambian products in the US and what could be done to enhance their acceptability into the world market.
Kindly send your contributions to: jmuyanwa@gmail.com, call: 0210955-431442 or AGOA@kanzamint.com or call +1(214) 245-4371
Ends…

US-ZAMBIA BUSINESS

With James Muyanwa
FOR any products or services supplied in one area, there is always demand by potential customers somewhere - sometimes very far-off. The challenge is always how to make the supply party meet the demand side.

Take for instance a bee-keeper somewhere in Chief Mukonchi in Kapiri Mposhi district of Central Province of Zambia, with several litres of already harvested honey. How can he/she ensure that the honey reaches that consumer in the United States of America (USA) whom he/she may not even know exists?

It is precisely for that reason that this column has come up to highlight some of the potential interactions and linkages between the business community of Zambia on one side and that of the US on the other hand, every Wednesday. All this with a courtesy of Kanzam International Inc!

KANZAM INTERNATIONAL

Kanzam International chief executive officer, Ricky Muloweni says that the investments and trade opportunities in the two countries from the two different worlds are massive and need to be exploited by the respective private sectors.

Motivated with the need to link entrepreneurs from the two countries – Zambia and US – Mr. Muloweni, a Zambian and his colleague Stan Grigsby from USA forged a partnership and came up with Kanzam International Inc.

In our telephone interview, Mr Muloweni told me that since inception in 2008; his objective has been to encourage US entrepreneurs’ collaborations with the Zambians to fully make use of the investment potential in the two countries. This can only be possible if the local Zambian entrepreneurs are also in position to embrace the spirit of industrialisation.

Zambia needs to fully industrialise.

Kanzam International has identified potential sectors for Zambia-USA business collaborations. The company which is broadly pro-agriculture is also involved in mining, healthcare technology, manufacturing, education and promotion of art in schools.

Kanzam is a business facilitation and consulting services company for Zambian and US entrepreneurs wishing to do business in Zambia or the USA. Its facilitation services range from cultural education, import-export facilitation, business coaching for rural development projects and international business collaboration for Zambian and US companies.

Its main mission is to serve small to large business clients that are in need of logistical, technical, and business entry strategy services in Zambia and the USA. Kanzam is already working with various agencies such as Ministry on Commerce in Zambia to fully utilize opportunities in the Zambian private sector.

Through its vast business and cultural experience in both the USA and Zambia’s economic environment, Kanzam has set out to objectively provide Zambia’s entrepreneurs a medium through which challenges and inadequacies of doing business with American entrepreneurs will be moderated.

KANZAM AND AGOA

The Africa Growth and opportunity Act (AGOA) remains the most important legislation that defines the commercial relationship between United States and Sub-Sahara Africa. Through this act Zambian entrepreneurs have an opportunity to collaborate with their American counterparts in various businesses through AGOA.

As the result of Kanzam’s efforts under the AGOA arrangement, several restaurants in Washington DC metro area will be able to serve Zambian soup (Zamsoup) which will be exported by Sylva Catering Service while more other people in US will taste the Zambian honey.

Kanzam is also working with the Zambian women in mining for similar opportunities and rural development for Zambia.

As we lead-up to the 10th AGOA forum which will be held here in Zambia in June this year, Kanzam wants to bring more Zambian entreprenuers on board to ensure they take advantage of the opportunities in the USA, and the sub-region.

Equally, more US investors are yearning to come and invest in various sectors of this country which is developing into one of the most preferred investment destinations in the world.

Through this column more opportunities will be unveiled as Kanzam offers a platform to entrepreneurs from US and Zambia to interact and forge links. We hope that more local players will follow Kanzam International Inc. on this column.

Next week we will look at the eligibility of Zambian products in the US and what could be done to enhance their acceptability into the world market.
Kindly send your contributions to: jmuyanwa@gmail.com, call: 0210955-431442 or AGOA@kanzamint.com or call +1(214) 245-4371
Ends…

Four RDA top managers dismissed

By James Muyanwa
Road Development Agency (RDA) chief executive officer, Erasmus Chilundika and three other senior managers who were sent on forced leave last month have been fired with immediate effect.
The RDA board of directors has terminated the contracts for Mr Chilundika, manager – construction and maintenance, Stephen Malubila, senior planning an design Daniel Mulonga and manager procurement, Charles Mushota.
RDA board chairperson, Luambe Mondoloka confirmed the termination of the contracts of the quartet in a statement in Lusaka.
Mr Mondoloka said the decision to terminate the contracts was made during a special board meeting held on October 26 2010 during which the board received the recommendations made by the subcommittee which has been sitting since September 21 September 2010.
The subcommittee has been carrying out a review of the Auditor General’s report for the period January 2006 to September 2009.
“The findings of the subcommittee were reviewed and after discussions the board resolved to terminate with immediate effect the contracts of the four senior managers,” he said.
Mr Mondoloka said that Nason Balashi who has been acting as chief executive officer would continue until further notice.
He said that the board was striving to ensure the retention of public confidence in the road sector saying every effort was being applied.
The board sent the four on forced leave to pave way for investigations into allegations of mismanagement of resources following consideration of the Auditor Generals report covering the period 2005 to 2008.
Other reasons cited include the parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) recommendations regarding the disregard for the 2008 Annual Work Plan resulting in over commitment of the Zambian Government K1 trillion, the non observance of Acts governing the sector, procurement irregularities and unsubstantiated payments to contractors.
Ends

Mwanachingwala urges HH to leave Pact

United party for national development (UPND) president Hakainde Hichilema should own up and accept the truth about the demise of the Patriotic front-UPND pact and formally move on to seek a way forward for his political career.

Chief Mwanachingwala of the Tonga speaking people in Mazabuka district has said that Mr Hichilema risks his political career going into extinction if his party does not quickly forget about the pact and look for a way ahead.

The traditional ruler told the Sunday Times during the week that Mr Hichilema should own up and star looking at ways in which her can enhance his chances for his political future.


The Chief said that from inception, he had advised Mr Hichilema that he would be duped by Mr Sata but that Mr Hichilema had decided to disregard his counsel.


He said that the UPND on its own would not achieve much politically because it was a regional party just like the PF, hence the need for Mr Hichilema to work with others.

The chief said it would be prudent for Mr. Hichilema to work with president Rupiah Banda to secure his political future and enhance his chances for 2016.


He said Mr Hichilema still had a chance to make it in politics because he was young but that there was need for him to position himself especially for 2016 by which time he would have ripened fully politically.

“There is completely no pact there, Mr Hichilema should work with RB (President Banda) if he wants to have a chance for State House in 2016. For now HH should forget about State House and instead he should support RB,” the outspoken traditional ruler said.

He said that as a traditional leader he had been interacting with the people at the grassroot level all over the country and he knew what they wanted.

He said that politicians should be realistic and identify their weaknesses instead of always pretending to be stronger than they actually were.

Confusion and acrimony has engulfed the PF-UPND pact with officials from both sides issuing statements that are at variance with the originally stated mission for the pact.

Officials from both PF and UPND have asserted that their respective parties were more popular than the other countrywide, this has created doubts as to weather the parties will follow the format where they don’t contest elections in the same constituency but give chance to which ever party appears stronger in a particular area to contest elections.

But Chief Mwanachingwala said that both political parties were not strong enough to match the popularity of the MMD because they did not have a national character.

“We should be sincere when we talk about this, UPND can’t make it alone just like my friend’s party the PF.” he said.

And former Patriotic Front member, Mubanga Chileshe said the intentions of the PF in forming the pact were to destabilizing the UNPD structures in the country.

Mr Chileshe, who was mobilization chairman for the committee of founders of the PF, said PF leader Michael Sata wanted to weaken the UPND structures by claiming to be popular than his counterpart Hakainde Hichilema after the two had been seen to work together.

“This is why you have heard that he is already claiming to be popular in Chilanga constituency where the UPND came second in the 2006 elections.” he said.

Mr. Chileshe said time had come for the UPND leader to immediately pullout from the alliance before he was tossed out at the eleventh hour by Mr Sata.

“In the case of the pact, Mr Sata will do everything to frustrate HH so that he (Mr Hichilema) pulls out of the pact and he remains alone after destroying the UPND party structures.” Mr. Chileshe said.
ends

Matantala is Chona's political launch pad - MP

MOOMBA Member of Parliament (MP) Vitalis Mooya has challenged Matantala rural integrated enterprise (M-RIDE) founder Mark Chona to come out in the open and state what the purpose of the organization was because there were indications that it was being used as a political launch pad for a number of people.
Mr Mooya said in an interview during the week that Mr Chona who is former Taskforce on Corruption executive chairperson, should come out in the open and state whether it was t true that the organization was being used to prop up some people close to him for political positions.
Mr Moomba said that indications on the ground were that Mr. Chona wanted to use the Matantala to prop up some relatives and friends for political positions.
“I am challenging him to state whether Matantala is not being used as a political launch pad for himself, his close relatives or indeed for a political party for his friends. He should tell the nation whether Matantala is not being used to prop up some people politically.” he said.
Mr Mooya said as the area MP for the constituency in which most of the activities were being undertaken by Matantala and where meetings were held with political pronouncements, he was concerned about the operations of Matantala.
He cited the recent political pronouncement by economist Chibamba Kanyama at a workshop at Kasaka in Moomba constituency that Tongas would not produce a president unless they see opportunities in networking with others.
The parliamentarian said the statement, which was published in the September 25 2010 edition of the Post Newspapers was very political and challenged Mr Kanyama to state whether he was misquoted or not.

“Many Tongas like myself were injured,” he said.

Mr Mooya said even if Mr Chona had said he was not involved in politics given the issues raised during Matantala functions it was difficult to believe and it was the reason why he should come out in the open and tell the nation the true position.
He, however, stated that as area MP he was not scared of whoever the project might come up with because he was close to the electorate who would have the final say.
And Commenting on the assertion by Mr Chona on radio Phoenix’s “Let the people talk’ program on Tuesday that his organization had done a lot in the three chiefdoms in which it operates in Mazabuka and Monze, Mr Mooya said the organization was merely supplementing government efforts.
He said that the government had put in place various development projects in the country aimed at meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) saying even if there were no Matantala in the three chiefdoms, the projects could have been undertaken by the government.
Mr Mooya also scoffed at Mr Chona’s assertions that Matantala had managed to significantly bring down poverty levels in the area saying that one organization could not manage to do that.
Matantala operates in Chiefs Chona and Mwanza in Monze as well as in Chief Hanjalika in Mazabuka.
E
Mr. Mooya is the second person to carpet the operations of Matantala Development association in recent months.

In June, chief Chona of Monze announced that he would ban all activities of the association next year if Mr Chona failed to meet him to explain the organisation’s operations.

Chief Chona who had called on donors that support Matantala to thoroughly audit the operations of the organization said Mr Chona was operating illegally in the area because he had sidelined chief who was supposed to be a co-signatory to the contract for the organization to work in the chiefdom.

The traditional ruler accused Mr Chona of refusing to recognize his authority by dealing directly with some of the village headpersons in the area.

The chief said he had been waiting for Mr Chona to sit down with him and explain why Matantala operates in secrecy since 2007 and he had now, therefore, run out of patience hence the ultimatum which ends in December 2010.

He said Mr. Chona was leaving a lot of room for all sorts of speculation because of the secrecy with which he was operating the Matantala.


Mr Mooya said he did not want to come in and air his observations then as he thought the two should resolve their differences saying, however, that he had been keenly watching the operations of Matantala and thought it was now time to speak out.
ends

Focus on real issues - Hikaumba

By James Muyanwa

ZAMBIA Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) president Leonard Hikaumba has advised Zambians to focus on positive aspects of their political activities for the country to forge ahead in its development process.

Mr Hikaumba said it is important for all Zambians to concentrate on building peace in the nation because it was the basis for all endevours including development, democracy and social cohesion.

Mr. Hikaumba said in an interview that some of the trends in Zambia’s political and social arenas were not conducive to national development because they were diverting people’s attention from the real issues to triviality.


“Democracy , national unity and development can suffer in such an environment, the sooner people realized that what was happening has a negative bearing on all these, the better, so that they can change the approach,” he said.

He said that the labour movement was worried about the current situation in the country where people could not speak to each in a brotherly manner and appealed to Zambians to work hard to change the current culture.


He said it was strange that the culture of confrontation and acrimony had now even spilt to the non political arena to include churches, labour movements and sport.


Mr Hikaumba said holding different of opinion was allowed in a democracy and all citizens should realize that so that they could respect each other’s views no matter how divergent adding that every Zambian should strive to make peace and co-existence the foundations of national stability.
ends

Kahenya speaks out on Pact.

FORMER United Party for National Development (UPND) general secretary Tiens Kahenya has said the Patriotic Front(PF)-UPND pact was ill-fated from inception because it was wrongly conceived and the two political parties lack national character.

And Mr Kahenya, who was expelled from the party in 2008 called for civilized and issue-based politics among the opposition instead of continuing to insult President Rupiah Banda and his leadership.

Mr Kahenya said in Lusaka that the two major oppositions political parties do not offer a sound alternative to the ruling MMD.

Breaking a two-year silence since his expulsion in an exclusive interview with in Lusaka during the week, Mr Kahenya said PF and UPND were not ready for an alliance with each other when they rushed into the pact.

“It really matters how you come together as a pact, alliance or merger. The current pact unfortunately was not well conceived from the start and the leaders have not bothered to put things in order,” he said.

He said from inception, everything about the pact was wrong as there was no consultation among the cadres and the grassroots leaders hence only the two party presidents knew what was happening.

Mr Kahenya said the situation was compounded by the two leaders’ failure to come up with deliberate measures to harmonise their respective programs into a pact agenda.

He advised them to return to the drawing-board and relook at their positions instead of continuing with their current fantasies adding that the two leaders also exhibited a lot of selfishness which was not good for any alliance.

Mr Kahenya was expelled from the UPND on December 4, 2008 by the party’s national management committee for alleged gross misconduct, insubordination and behaviour detrimental to the party interests.

He said, however, that his comments were not as the result of his expulsion but because he was a nationalist and Christian who believed in a bigger picture of the nation.

He said he was privileged to have been part of the leaders who charted the short-lived United Democratic Alliance (UDA) whose negotiations he said took about two years from 2004-2006,unlike the current pact which he said was hastily announced before the leaders could even work out the modalities.

On the lack of national character by both parties Mr. Kahenya sdaid this is exhibited by just looking at the composition of the national leadership which he said tended to incline to one region or another.

He said it would prudent for the parties to bear a national character as opposed to just one region or tribe.


“Political parties should have national character. But these two parties do not have the national presence. You find that most of the members of the national leadership come from one area and could even be related to their president.

That is not how politics should be. We should endeavour to be inclusive to reflect the countrywide presence,” he said.

Mr Kahenya said the quality of opposition politics being practiced by both UPND and PF had sunk very low as the leaders have resorted to insults at the expense of issue-based politics which aims at addressing the plight of the people.

He said he did not believe that since the day he was elected President Banda has only been making mistakes and nothing else.

He called on the opposition to give president Banda a chance saying people should learn to give praise where it was due as opposed to criticizing all that the government has done.

Mr Kahenya said that he would unreservedly defend President Banda for as long as he remained Republican President because elected leaders should be given a chance to carry out their mandate.

He called for peaceful co-existence in the country to foster national development.