Smart Partnerships

Yesterday flagged off a week of regional and international dialogue on social and economic development opportunities for Southern Africa. The talks dubbed ‘Global Southern Africa International Smart Partnership Dialogue’ is currently running at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka from July 28 to July 31 and carries the theme ‘Smart Partnerships in Economic Development and Diversity’.

Over 250 delegates have been registered from more than a dozen countries. Delegates range from Non Governmental Organisations and Private Sector Institutions, to senior Government officials and Heads of State.

The expectations from this gathering of not so familiar bedfellows is that at the end of the dialogue some productive agreements and partnerships will be made that will result in improved economic activity in all the countries represented. Part of the expectations will dwell on resource mobilisation and yet other expectations include skills sharing and transfers in addition to experience exchanges.

President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa’s welcoming remarks to the delegates described ‘Smart Partnership dialogues as platforms where participants, who become Smart Partners, discuss various issues related in particular, to development’

The President further stated that ‘The dialogue provides an atmosphere that creates unique friendships, bottom-to-top networks and an opportunity for joint ventures’

The President also highlights that ‘the dialogues focus on finding solutions and measures for achieving sustainable economic development’

The key driving mechanism for the whole dialogue period will be ‘Partnerships’. Partnership demands a level of equity by both parties. Partnership requires investment, commitment, responsibility, and obligations to be fulfilled by both parties. Partnership should produce benefits for both parties. The dialogue also pays special emphasis on ‘Diversity’ as being a recognised fundamental that should be taken into account and influence the discussions and deliberations.

There are some overriding benchmarks steering the dialogues and are contained in the word catch word ‘SMART’. The acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-limited actions to be taken by participating partners.

The Smart Partnership program has been running for over ten years now and has held annual dialogues in several African countries, Malaysia, and Barbados. The themes for each dialogue are specially chosen to target the major development challenges of the time, and in the selected region, to ensure relevance and ownership by the host country and all participating delegates.

Some sessions in this year’s dialogue will tackle the goal of transforming countries through realising national visions. For Zambia this means realising our Vision 2030 – to become a middle income nation by the year 2030. In addition, the dialogues will look at securing natural resources for diversified growth.

One session will be dedicated to engaging Smart Partners to share experiences and implementing opportunities with other Smart Partners. In this session Smart Partners will play the role of ‘sounding boards’ so that their real life experiences and responses can play a part in developing workable and sustainable solutions for other Smart Partners. This session will also require the Smart Partners to provide an update on their ongoing networking activities.

A special session will focus on enhancing the knowledge and application of current trends, opportunities and challenges related to climate change issues. The session will explore actions that Smart Partners can take and options for participating in the development of new standards. The session challenges the participants to be actively involved the Think Tank Factory of Ideas that the dialogue can produce. Hopefully, many of these ideas will be taken home by the Smart Partners for further development through partner networks, and possible implementation.

Two sessions will offer space for interactions between the Media and Communications partners from different areas and specialities. These sessions will also challenge the media with the question, ‘Can the Media assist with the Realisation of National Visions?’ The media will also be given the opportunity to provide their own reflections on the role of the media in development.

A ‘Hands on Experience’ session will take advantage of the Lusaka Agriculture and Commercial Show that is due to kick off at towards the end of the week. This session will allow of Smart Partners to visit the show and meet and dialogue with exhibitors, Non Governmental Organisations, and the public at large in an effort to establish some real linkages and new Smart Partnerships.

The whole week will be punctuated by various activities that will embrace Art and Culture. Social issues will be especially targeted and led by the First Ladies of Zambia and the Kingdom of Lesotho.

This action packed dialogue event will hopefully present some new business relationships that will upgrade our current business community in Zambia. In addition, some new investments are expected to be attracted through this dialogue process. There is an expectation that the dialogue and interaction does not end with the closing ceremony on Thursday afternoon. There is an open challenge to the business community out there, that even though the official dialogue event may only accommodate a selected group of delegates, many of the Smart Partners will still be available at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre on Thursday afternoon for open dialogue with any interested parties. In addition, the interaction and networks established at the dialogue event should continue behind the scenes long after the delegates have dispersed and gone back to their respective countries.

This event is taken very seriously by the Zambian Government and is therefore characterised by the attendance and active participation of the Minister of Commerce and Industry, the Minister of Finance and National Planning, and the Minister of Science, Technology and Vocational Training.

The Zambian business community should take this opportunity to engage with new partners in a Smart way. The opportunities have come to Zambia and we have only ourselves to blame if we do not take full advantage of what is at our door step. The obvious thing to do is to get involved, to get engaged, and to get SMART this week.

Published 29 July 2008

Business Scams

The world has become an open market for various business innovations, opportunities and unscrupulous scams too.

Sovereign borders no longer limit the reach of business people and businesses. The early ‘border blind’ investments were often referred to as Multinational Corporations that had business tentacles touching economies of many countries across the globe. These investment giants generally followed the rules and regulations of investment regimes because they had their corporate reputations to protect, and if they veered off the path of business ethics, it was often with the blessings and anointment of the host Government. For instance in the Second World War some western Multinationals were allowed by their Governments to develop some new food products specifically to service the markets in the enemy camps so as to keep making money even during the raging war. In Apartheid South Africa some western owned financial institutions and large corporations were allowed to either expediently change their identities or sell shareholding to locally registered subsidiaries of the very same corporations so as to appear to pull out of the country but continue reaping the profits. The basic fundamental for re-engineering of these companies was based on premise that Government approval should be sought and obtained to avoid problems in the future. This was a clear indication that the businesses intended to stay around for a long time to come.

The situation has evolved over the years with the advent of liberalization, regionalization, and globalization. The world has become more cut throat and businesses whether Multinational or domestic have become more daring and are prepared to ‘make or break’ at any cost.

Today many Multinationals all over the world have been convicted for bribery, corruption, book fixing, sanction busting, and out right lying to the public and Government authorities.

Many of us have received e-mails informing us that we have won a lottery that we did not purchase a ticket for. We are told that we have won millions of US dollars and should provide a bank account so that the funds can be transferred to our accounts. The naïve and greedy people have generously provided their bank accounts and also generously lost the little savings that they had to the scam lottery outfit that forged signatures in order to withdraw somebody’s hard earned money. This scam has also been modified to offer millions to anybody who is willing to supply their bank account to deposit fictitious monies stolen from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and various oil companies. The end result is that you lose the little you have in your bank account to the fraudsters.

As the years go by the scams become more sophisticated. Today we receive e-mails inviting us to conferences and seminars in the USA, Canada, the UK, Japan and many other exotic places. The invitations tell us that all expenses including air travel and accommodation will be paid for by some kind and benevolent institution abroad. We are only requested to pay a registration fee of USD300 to cover administration costs. Well, if you ever remit this fee that is the last you will ever hear from the organization because all they want from you is your USD300. If they receive 500 such contributions then they amass a huge USD150,000 from unsuspecting forced donors! There will be no conference and no further communication between you thereafter.

The ingenious scams border around some form of legality and are laced with some solidness. Many business people have received notifications that they have been awarded a trophy for being best company in a particular sector or field and are invited to fly to some European city to receive the award at a special award giving ceremony. The inviting institution generally uses your local telephone directory to pick out the prominent but local companies that will pay up around USD2,000 to travel abroad to receive their award. Once a hundred such companies have been identified and checked out for capacity to pay, they are contacted officially by written correspondence and officially invited. The organizers make sure that the award ceremony takes place during the lowest travel season when airfares and hotel room rates are cheapest. The excited winner of the award pays the USD2,000 from which USD600 goes towards the group return air tickets, USD200 pays for the 4 days in a hotel on special group rates, and USD200 covers the plastic or glass trophy, certificate, some buffet meals etc. The total cost for each person to attend the awards ceremony comes to about USD1,000 since the conference room is provided free by the hotel providing the accommodation. The organizers make a quick USD1,000 on each participant and walk away with a cool USD100,000 at the end of the event! Everybody walks away happy! The participants believe that they have won some useful prestigious award and feel honored to display their trophy and certificate as a mark of their achievement. Strictly speaking, these participants have been scammed for USD1,000 because no clear and open analysis was made to warrant the winning of the award. It is extremely difficult to prove the fraud and therefore the practice of strange awards being given to companies all over the world continues.

In developing countries brochures are being developed to attract investors into Industrial and Trade parks with the promise that special Duty Free incentives will be offered to the investors that sign up for these opportunities. Claims of Special Incentives are documented in the leaflets. Attractive options are lifted from local Investment Acts to entice investors without clarifying how one qualifies to get these incentives. Many promises of good business opportunities are offered. The catch is that applicants must pay a registration or booking fee of around USD40,000 in addition to several months of advance rental for business premises. Of course the businessmen that produce these attractive brochures and leaflets are only interested in collecting the registration fees and the first 3 month rental advance payments from the unsuspecting investors. If 40 would be investors paid up front a total of USD50,000 then a package of USD2 million would have been raked in as free money. The investment marketing company then closes offices and disappears with this big bonus leaving the investors to fight with the local authorities about the promises made to them by the bogus marketing company. Unfortunately, even clever business people out there that have never visited our countries get cheated by fraudsters who pretend to have inside information and special contacts in the Government. The moral of the story is that being fore warned as this article highlights, allows businesses and the authorities to be fore armed. At the end of the day the old basic Latin rule for doing business namely ‘Caveat emptor’ which means ‘Let the Buyer Beware!’, still holds true.

Published 22 July 2008

Counterfeit Goods

The last few months have brought to centre stage issues of copyrights, trademarks, brand names, piracy, and quality of goods on the Zambian market.

Calls for the enactment of an Anti-Counterfeiting Act have been made and discussions between Government and various private sector institutions are ongoing in respect to this issue.

The Merriam-Webster On line dictionary also defines Piracy as ‘the unauthorized use of another's production, invention, or conception especially in infringement of a copyright’

It has been highlighted that piracy continues to rob innovators and investors of income legitimately due to them. Worldwide, trademarks and branding has been the mechanism for containing and linking the marketing efforts of a product to its inventors or producers thereby translating the longtime investment into sustainable financial returns.

Countries such as Kenya have taken the initiative to put in place an Anti-Counterfeiting Act to mainly protect their domestic industries. It must be acknowledged however, that there are many instances where re-packaging and re-documenting that amount to ‘pirating’, are still practiced in the COMESA Free Trade Area with special focus on ‘export’ goods. Many countries in Africa import bulk products and distribute in smaller quantities under the label ‘product of … such and such country’. This problem is also challenging the SADC as they try to establish a Free Trade Area in the southern tip of the African continent.

Across the Atlantic in South America, some countries have argued that if a ‘patented’ product was of national importance to a particular nation, then the commercial rights should be overridden by the larger public good and that product should be allowed to be reproduced with or without the consent of the patent holder. In effect, this decision legalizes within a domestic economy, the counterfeiting of the product. A typical example is that of HIV ARV’s that became so expensive to the average citizen that the Government of the day decided to exercise its sovereign right to manufacture patented formulas for the treatment of its own people. The debate on commercial patented rights versus the moral ethical rights of people’s access to products that are ‘life saving’ is ongoing even at the World Trade Organization such that ‘national interests’ are now being taken on board in trade rules, regulations, agreements and protocols. This provides some legal waivers to ‘piracy’ in very special circumstances.

At the global level debate is going on in respect to the ownership of intellectual property rights for discoveries and development of products, processes and formulas that emerge from educational institutions. Should the techniques for Genetically Modified Organisms be universally owned because they are developed in Universities or should commercial institutions immediately patent and own them because of the funding that they provide to institutions of higher learning? The last four decades have seen American companies’ scrambling to the patents office to patent GMO techniques as soon as they are established by various Universities. Is this morally and ethically right? The world continues to struggle with the debate of commercial and business rights versus the people’s rights and one cannot expect a consensus in the near future as the two sides have different interests. One side is driven by profit whilst the other side is driven by responsibility.

It is therefore very disturbing when we see that businesses are engaging themselves in producing counterfeit products in the pharmaceutical sector and marketing these fake products in the Zambian market. When customers buy a brand name they expect to get the genuine product made to a specific quality and design. This phenomenon must be stopped by the relevant authorities such as the Zambia Bureau of Standards, the Poisons Board, and the Zambia Weights and Measures Agency in coloration with the Zambia Police Service to protect the safety of the public. Counterfeited products unlike ‘similar’ products cannot be easily traced to the producers therefore leaving all consumers at the mercy of trial and error with no recourse for defective or damaged consignments.

At a more life threatening level, the pharmaceuticals and medicines industry in Africa is worth over USD20 billion per year. At least 20 percent of this industry is made up of counterfeit or sub standard products. Many people are dying due to these substandard medicines and Zambia cannot afford to stand by and watch innocent people perish for no good reason.

COMESA and SADC are challenged to look into counterfeiting and piracy as trade protocols and agreements are finalized. The success of regional integration will largely depend on how practical we can be in addressing the issues of equity and public safety within the region. Short changing the process will not bring the desired results as we will continue to bicker and quarrel at the expense of productivity, wealth creation, higher standards of living, and more jobs for our people.

It is evident that counterfeiting industry in Zambia has criminal elements as shown by the firearms discovered by the Police during their raids of targeted premises. It is clear that the Police recognize the dangers to human health that counterfeit pharmaceuticals pose. It is now the responsibility of all Government agencies and the general public to support the Police in bringing all culprits to book in an effort to save our own lives.

Published 15th July, 2008

2009 Harvest

Zambia has enjoyed good harvests in the last few years because we planned our farming seasons and had some good rains.

The Food Reserve Agency and the Ministry of Agriculture worked as a team to ensure that farming inputs were made available to both the commercial farmer and the widely dispersed peasant farmer. A similar effort was made for collection of produce and subsequent storage as reserve to provide food throughout the year.

Food production, like rain, is a vey delicate business. Planning, forecasting, and preparation are significant keys to success. There are many storage warehouses across the country for grain storage to cater for a bumper harvest at the end of the rainy season. More and more intermediaries are cropping up in the food production chain such that various crop buying agencies are vibrantly engaged in trading in Maize, Wheat, Soya Bean and several other crops. Millers have much larger storage sheds now because milling is a round-the-clock business to supply the Zambian consumer as well as consumers in the region. Packaging producers and importers are doing a roaring business supplying jute bags, thread, and weigh scales to the sector.

The grain business is definitely a winning business as the price of Mealie Meal continues to go up every couple of months. In the middle of 2007 Roller Meal retailed at K25,000 per 25Kg bag. Today this basic food necessity for many Zambians is selling at K35,000 per 25Kg bag. This marks a whopping increase of 40% in one year! The population is growing, people must eat, and Mealie Meal is the stuff that satisfies our stomachs.

The current prices of fertilizer spell doom for next year’s grain harvest.

Every farmer in the country whether peasant producer or commercial farmer is lamenting at the high cost of fertilizer. Commercial farmers recognize that they must procure this commodity at whatever cost or go bust, but peasant farmers who constitute the bulk of the grain producers will sow their seeds when the rain comes and will fail to afford the vital fertilizer that is needed to guarantee a good harvest. The writing is on the wall. Next year promises to put food shortages top on the national development agenda unless this dilemma is addressed immediately.

Too often we respond too late to avert a crisis and the price to pay is very high. We end up having to beg for ‘food aid’ from the ‘donor’ community in turn will attach lots of conditions to the aid program and compromise our own national development programs. In addition, when this ‘food aid’ arrives in the country it will further damage the already weakened farming sector as grain prices will be controlled by Government through the ‘price fixing’ of the ‘food aid’. This kind of knock to the agriculture sector will take several years to repair and this too, only if good rains persist for a couple of years thereafter.

Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia is a strategic industry that is being left to go to grass. We do not seem to have a decent forward looking program for the company that will ensure that NCZ plays its rightful role in supplying fertilizer to the farming community across the country. Initial plans for NCZ were that it would produce not only enough fertilizer to support Zambia’s agriculture sector, but even more for export to the region.

Since the time that NCZ was slated for privatization, the company has limped along incurring debt to its employees and has been relegated to being a burden to the tax payer.

NCZ has substantial infrastructure that is useable and offers any investor an opportunity to develop the company into the largest producer of fertilizer amongst Zambia’s eight neighbors.

The Zambia Development Agency in collaboration with Government and private sector business associations must work tirelessly towards getting NCZ back on its feet as a major producer of fertilizer in Zambia at prices that will guarantee food security for Zambia.

Effort must be made at all levels. Local Private Businesses must be attracted to invest in NCZ to ensure viability and a sustainable operation. Foreign State Enterprises must be targeted too, as an alternative model for resuscitating this all too important industry. Our international marketing programs must be stepped up to bring in new and fresh capital and business ideas respectively.

The world economies and their economics are all about food. Conflict and suffering all over the world have been primarily triggered due to lack of access to food. For many countries the reasons given for mass suffering are justifiable when productive life is disrupted by Tsunamis, Monsoon rains, Cyclones, Volcanic eruptions, Earthquakes and so on. What will Zambia’s reasons be? Lack of foresight? No planning? Insufficient investment? Lack of focus? These are all very limp excuses that will not attract pity but will instead label us as incompetent thus invoking those dreaded conditions by ‘donors’ that offer a helping hand. If Zambia can start to seriously put food on the top of the social and economic development agenda then we will be on the right track to a brighter future and sustained peace and prosperity.

Published 8 July 2008

Women In Development

Last week a very important international women’s conference was held in Belfast, Northern Ireland at which the focus of the discussions was on sustainable peace and the special characteristics of women that are often ignored and sidelined in national and communal development programs.

Irish women highlighted how for 30 years they had suffered the brunt of the misery brought about during the ‘troubles’ and yet they refused to be cast aside from participating in the negotiations and discussions that led to the Good Friday Agreement of 10^th April, 1998 which brought peace and stability to this battlefield that did not discriminate amongst men, women or children. Combatants were not identified by age, gender or uniform. They were marked by geographical location, religion, and political persuasion.

Powerful women that emerged through the Northern Ireland conflict spoke with confidence, knowledge and experience that left the delegates inspired about the possibility of women around the world taking up more central roles in the social and economic development agendas of their countries.

In many countries women have proven quite conclusively that they are more committed to their employers, that they are less corrupt than men, that they can work as long hours as their men folk, and that they are more reliable than men. Even in the face of this evidence employers continue to prefer to employ men over women. It is quite obvious that these decisions are propelled by some kind of xenophobic fear of women gearing to take over a man’s world, and the paradoxical conclusion that women are the ‘weaker sex’ and therefore should be preserved at home for the purpose of propagating the human race.

When we assess the gender demography of many towns and cities in Africa we note that women generally account for at least 55% or of the population. In post conflict countries, women account for over 65% of the population. This suggests that women are a ‘silent’ and ‘ignored’ human resource that if called upon, could dramatically impact on the social and economic development of our countries.

In business, women tend to be more conservative and measured on profit margins and risk taking. These are two positive characteristics that banks offering loans would appreciate. Furthermore, women often clean up their work spaces at the start of the day and clean up at the end of the day. Paper work, equipment, tools and raw materials will therefore be properly managed and accounted for every working day. Most small businesses in urban areas are run by women. In addition, there are many more women headed single parent households than those headed by men.

Evidence shows blatantly that single parent headed households headed by women usually result in more balanced children and stable homes compared to those headed by men. This information suggests that generally women don’t breakdown irreparably after an emotional bout such as divorce, retrenchment, dismissal or bereavement. They pick themselves up at some stage and carry on with life as best they can irrespective of whether they receive help or not.

In Zambia our lived experiences show similar results.

Former Minister of Health Professor Nkandu Luo has never been held back because of losing her Cabinet position or her seat in Parliament. She continues to push ahead in her own right. She stands in the front line both as national leader and provider for herself and family.

Current Minister of Local Government Sylvia Masebo is as charged and vocal as she has ever been throughout her political career. Ms Masebo puts effort and passion in her work at the office and is not depended on anybody to feed herself. Her presence is felt throughout the nation.

Former Barclays Bank of Zambia boss Margaret Mwanakatwe excelled in her work at the Zambia Investment Centre to the extent that she became the first Chief Executive of a Bank in Zambia and subsequently climbed the ladder of success to head an international bank in a foreign country.

Ambassador to the United States of America Inonge Mbikusita Lewanika has done a splendid job of marketing Zambia to the American people as both an investment and tourism destination. One wonders what positive work she will be allowed to do in Zambia when she completes her diplomatic tour of the world.

Zambia has broken some regional records by acknowledging the competence and integrity of women through the appointment of a woman as Deputy Chief Justice.

There is a long list of women achievers in Zambia who should be considered as assets for national development. Women bring to the table a special unique profile that will propel the country forward towards equity, prosperity and sustainable peace for the foreseeable future.

Norway, Burundi and several progressive countries have recognized the potential of women and that they are equal partners to their men folk. As such, new legislation has been drawn up that ensures equal rights for both men and women. Furthermore, some bold laws have been passed to promote women in politics, business, and community development. Norway demands that the Boards of Public Companies and those of Private Listed Companies must have at least 40% women representation.

We should be proud of our achievements in supporting the integration of women in all spheres of our development, but we can do more. We must not become complacent and should continue to employ all our human resources covering men, women, the elderly, and the youth. As our country develops in this modern and demanding world, the challenges are continuously evolving and the best Zambian should always be chosen to serve the country in politics, business and the public services sector.

It is often said that behind every successful man is a supportive woman. The time has come to re-cast this saying. We may want to consider a new saying that says ‘when men and women join hands to work together they will achieve full success’.

Published 1 July 2008