Kick Your Own

Zambia is a country that has spent the last 44 years grappling with the challenge of empowering her people to not only have political independence, but also economic independence too.

The nationalisation era and the parastatal era were all well intentioned initiatives to empower Zambians over time. In addition, Lima Bank, Namboard, Indeco, Zamhort, and so on were all part of a macro program to develop wealth and economic activity in Zambia. Some of these initiatives were successful and others did not do so well and eventually collapsed.

Many Zambians found themselves without too many options for business except to trade across the borders and offer their physical capacity as labour. Even at the consultancy level many Zambians become assistants to foreign consultants in order to get a piece of the consulting cake. The assistant did all the leg work and burned the late night oil while the principal consultant provided credibility and consumed the lion’s share of the fee. A good example of intellectual labour!

44 years down the road we have not moved too far from where we started. We may have more Zambians participating in the economy, but what equity do they hold in the scheme of things? Successful Zambian consultants are predominantly those that bow to the desires of the pay master at the expense of a professional and quality piece of work. Successful businessmen are usually those that shout loudest for the benefit of their funders. These are people that don’t want to rock the boat to enable many more Zambians to prosper, because doing so would sever their links with a foreign based financier or multinational.

There are some Zambians that have challenged the status quo and fought for local empowerment in the shadows while the rest of us run seminars on the subject and pick sitting allowances.

A case in point is Andrew Kachibe of Andrew Kurt Limited. This man of the soil Zambian has seen it all. Andrew has jumped the hoops of business in Zambia for several decades and always landed on his back because of lack of access to finance, lack of support from larger corporations, and so on.

After some in depth research Andrew decided to go into the cement business and export the commodity to Burundi as many Burundians and other investors were doing.

When he tried to register for an export quota of cement he was told that there was no provision for Zambians to be given export quotas. After much negotiations and debates with the supplier Andrew finally gave up and decided to go to Burundi and become an investor there so that he could come back home as a Burundian company wanting to purchase cement for export as other investors were doing.

After successfully launching Andrew Kurt International in Burundi, Andrew was back in Zambia knocking at the suppliers’ door with supporting documentation to be given a quota for export. Again he was denied. What started off as a business negotiation finally evolved into a quarrel that bordered on discrimination. If you are a Zambian then there are no quotas for you – period. Andrew made sure that if he could be allowed to purchase the commodity as Burundian registered company then no Burundian company should be given any quota and that is how the saga ended.

Andrew Kurt International now sources its cement form Tanzania, tranships it via Nakonde and Mpulungu in Zambia, and onward over Lake Tanganyika to Burundi.

A Zambian with his heart in Zambia is forced to do his business in Tanzania and Burundi for the benefit of these two countries, but at the expense of his mother country.

School fees, rentals, taxes, fuels, food, and so on are all paid for outside our economy because we choose not to support our own people.

There is much talk of Citizens Economic Empowerment but it must not be just in the boardroom and at the conference tables. The challenges go far beyond the basics of providing funds and reserving sectors for ‘nationals’. The CEEC must become a watch dog with sharp teeth to check on unfair practices and to advocate for supportive and facilitative initiatives to assist Zambians to prosper.

In the construction industry, many Zambians lose contracts due to difficulties in obtaining bank guarantees due to the cumbersome procedures and high costs involved. On the other hand, foreign contractors overcome this hurdle effortlessly because of the support they receive from banks originating from their home countries. How do expect our own people to become bigger players in the construction industry unless we deliberately persuade our supporting institutions to be more pro-Zambian including the Zambia National Tender Board. One need only look at the purchasing rules of some Diplomatic Missions and Donor organisations to see the impact of their initiatives to support their own nationals. Why do we shun this practice which is an international best practice of citizens’ empowerment in the developed world?

The Zambia Competition Commission has its work cut out to ensure that there is equity and fair play in the business environment such that Zambians can be facilitated and supported to invest in their own country and become the large corporations of tomorrow.

We would all like to see Mr Andrew Kachibe’s big Zambian smile in our economy.

Published 29 April 2008