Standard Chartered Bank Forks Out ZMW 200,000 for SME Capacity Building                                                                  

Daily news Reporter

Standard Chartered Bank Zambia has reaffirmed its unwavering support for the growth and advancement of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) by sponsoring ZMW 200,000 for SME capacity building training in Solwezi.

This collaborative effort, in partnership with Shoprite, underscores the bank's dedication to fostering sustainable development opportunities and impactful initiatives within the SME ecosystem.

Speaking during the launch of the capacity training programme hosted in Solwezi, which was graced by the Minister of Small and Medium Enterprise Development, Hon. Elias Mubanga, Standard Chartered Bank Head of Corporate and Investment Banking, Emmy Kumwenda, underscored the pivotal role played by SMEs in the economic growth of Zambia’s economy.

Ms Kumwenda stated that Standard Chartered’s investment of ZMW200,000 into the hosting of the SME Capacity Building Workshop reflects the bank’s commitment to seeing Zambian SMEs equipped with the right knowledge to enable them grow and expand.

"I hope SMEs utilize and put the knowledge they will gain to good use. We want to see more SMEs in Zambia adding value to their products and making it to our shelves both locally and internationally," Ms Kumwenda said.

Ms Kumwenda noted the challenges that SMEs face such as access to credit, markets and resources, lack of mentorship and financial knowledge among others.

“To address some of these issues we work with Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) to reach SMEs, recognising that the MFIs may be better suited to service the SMEs. We have equally expanded our Agency Banking outlets to 150, with at least 80 SMEs provided with an alternative source of income, as well as providing the much-needed widespread depositor location,” she said.

Ms Kumwenda further stated that Standard Chartered was providing banking services to multinationals who are able to pass on the benefits to the small-scale suppliers by providing extended credit terms.

Standard Chartered Bank Zambia continues to demonstrate its commitment to enhancing entrepreneurship and the local business landscape through its support of SMEs and impactful programmes such as the Bank’s unique Women in Tech programme. As these initiatives progress, they are anticipated to foster the growth of SMEs and contribute to the overall economic development of the country.

The SME capacity training programme is being facilitated by a diverse pool of experts. It aims to address the common challenges and opportunities faced by SMEs, providing them with the necessary tools and knowledge to thrive in today's competitive business environment.

 

 

 

 

Improved connectivity across Africa will lower the cost of doing business- Mutati

By Daily News Reporter

 “They is need to improve connectivity across Africa which will lower the cost of doing business and enhance trade, and also to increase investment in digital technologies and enhanced cross-border connectivity to promote trade…………..” 

Speaking at the 2024 ANGOTIC ICT Forum on Digital Connectivity in Luanda, Zambia’s Technology and Science Minister, Hon. Felix Mutati, stressed the critical importance of improved connectivity across Africa in reducing the cost of conducting business and enhancing trade.

He emphasized that investment in digital technologies and cross-border connectivity is essential for promoting trade and creating a conducive environment for business and travelers. By streamlining border procedures and leveraging digital technologies, countries can facilitate intra-regional commerce and enhance economic growth.

Additionally, Mr. Mutati called for collaboration with multilateral institutions to mobilize resources and invest in critical infrastructure, including modern border facilities and cybersecurity measures.

His vision aligns with President Hakainde Hichilema’s goal of creating seamless border crossings through technology and regional cooperation.

African Energy Chamber (AEC) Sponsors Nigeria’s National Judicial Institute (NJI) Workshop on Petroleum Industry Act, Promotes Judicial Support for Oil & Gas (O&G) Projects

The African Energy Chamber’s sponsorship of Nigeria’s National Judicial Institute’s workshop underscores its steadfast commitment to advocating for streamlined legal processes within Africa’s oil and gas sector

By Daily news Reporter

The African Energy Chamber (AEC) the voice of the African energy sector is sponsoring a workshop led by Nigeria’s National Judicial Institute (NJI). The workshop - held under the theme Innovations under the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 and their Implications in Adjudication and in partnership with Investin234 Promotion Services Limited - aims to equip members of the Nigerian judiciary with comprehensive knowledge of the recent changes in the oil and gas sector brought about by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) of 2021. This initiative is essential for creating an enabling environment, ensuring the sanctity of contracts and restoring both investor and citizen confidence in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

 

The AEC’s sponsorship aligns with its strategic focus on promoting research and development in the petroleum and gas sectors. The workshop offers a platform for the Nigerian legal industry to enhance investor confidence, promote Nigerian content in oil and gas disputes, and provide valuable industry feedback to the judiciary. For the AEC, sponsoring this workshop is more than just a gesture of support; it is a strategic move to fortify the judicial framework that underpins the energy sector.

 

The International Chamber of Commerce in Nigeria estimates that Africa loses billions of dollars annually to business arbitrations conducted abroad. This is due to delays in the court process and a lack of sector-specific knowledge among adjudicators, which hampers the Nigerian economy and undermines local content aspirations. The Petroleum Industry Act 2021 – a framework for the oil and gas industry - introduces major changes in fiscal requirements, regulatory frameworks and governance structures. For these changes to be effective, the judiciary must be well-versed in the new regulatory environment and its implications. The AEC believes a knowledgeable judiciary is crucial for resolving disputes efficiently within Nigeria and the rest of Africa, saving costs, enhancing investor confidence and promoting local content by keeping arbitration and its benefits within the country.

 

“A well-informed judiciary not only ensures fair adjudication but also fosters an environment conducive to sustainable investment and equitable growth,” states NJ Ayuk Executive Chairman of the AEC.

“This collaborative effort between the energy sector and the judiciary not only strengthens the rule of law but also promotes transparency and accountability, essential pillars for fostering a thriving energy ecosystem in Nigeria and beyond.”

Bringing the judiciary up to speed with oil industry regulations is critical, especially in light of major developments such as Golar LNG’s recently launched FLNG project in the country. On June 10, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation signed a Project Development Agreement with LNG company Golar LNG for a FLNG facility offshore the Niger Delta. The project aims to monetize 400-500 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) of gas. Additionally, Nigeria recently commenced operations for three gas projects, including the expanded AHL Gas Processing Plant, the ANOH Gas Processing Plant and the 23.3km ANOH to Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben Custody Transfer Metering Station Gas Pipeline. These projects aim to collectively supply approximately 500 mmscf/d of gas to the domestic market, resulting in a 25% increase in gas supply.

 

Recently launched, Nigeria’s latest licensing round introduces 12 deep offshore and shallow water oil blocks, incorporating five blocks from the previous year’s round. Open for bidding until January 2025, the licensing round aims to attract both local and international explorers to the country’s acreage, with the overarching goal of expanding its reserve base and optimizing production.

 

In light of these initiatives, it is clear that judicial comprehension and adherence to regulations play a pivotal role. A robust legal framework ensures the fair allocation of licenses, transparent bidding processes, and the enforcement of contractual obligations. Moreover, regulations provide the necessary guidance for exploration activities, safeguarding environmental sustainability and ensuring compliance with industry standards.

 

African Management Institute (AMI) added $130M to African economies and impacted 1.5M livelihoods in first decade through support for 37,000 African businesses

By Daily News Reporter

African Management Institute's decade of impact: 37,000 businesses and over 94,000 individuals reached, enhancing 1.46 million livelihoods across Africa, and adding $130M to African economies since 2013.

 

The African Management Institute (AMI) (www.AfricanManagers.org) has released its 2023 annual impact report, titled 10 Years as An African Champion for Africa’s Business Champions, which highlights how Africa’s leading business and management learning company impacted 1.5 million livelihoods in the last decade through its support of 37,000 African businesses.

The report underscores the impact of AMI’s practical learning programmes on business growth and job creation at scale across the continent, with 97,000 jobs created and $130 million in incremental small business revenue generated - with an outsized impact for youth and women.

 

“Africa’s businesses and employees are the continent’s engines of growth and prosperity. Through our decade of providing Africa’s ambitious businesses with practical tools and training, we know that businesses grow faster and people perform better when they engage in practical business learning that can be immediately applied on the job,” said Rebecca Harrison, CEO and co-founder of AMI.

 

“We’re particularly proud of our work with thousands of talented women business leaders across Africa. Our latest data shows women and youth outpace the average on all key business metrics, including revenue growth, job creation and access to finance.”

 

AMI was founded in 2013 to address the lack of effective and scalable business and management learning for Africa’s ambitious business owners and teams.

 

The report outlines lessons and stories from AMI’s high-impact model for business learning and growth support at scale.

“We knew that traditional training couldn’t achieve real change. Our approach had to be obsessively focused on practice - providing business owners and their teams with practical tools to underpin the daily habits and behaviors needed to build strong companies,” emphasized Jonathan Cook, AMI’s co-founder and chairman. “In our first ten years, that’s what we’ve delivered and as Africa’s ambitious businesses continue to grow, we’re looking forward to the next decade of spurring further growth.”

Report Overview:

Since 2013, AMI has:

Resulted in SMEs generating $130 million in incremental revenue

Reached 37,000 businesses with its practical training programs.

Facilitated the creation of 97,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Enabled an average annual revenue growth of 18% for businesses post-Covid

Enhanced 1.46 million livelihoods across Africa

Key Findings of the Report - 2023 Results

Youth and Women-Owned Businesses:

Women-owned businesses accounted for more than half of those supported. Women and young entrepreneurs outpaced men in nearly every growth metric:

Spotlight on Women in 2023

50% of all participants and 51% of entrepreneurship program participants in 2023 were women.

Women-led businesses created an average of 1.4 jobs each per year, surpassing the overall average of 1; 26% of jobs created were for women

Women-led businesses had a median annual revenue growth of 20%, exceeding an overall average of 18%.

Women-led businesses accessed higher finance amounts ($33,667) compared to male-led businesses ($26,833), with co-led businesses accessing even more ($45,737)

Spotlight on Youth in 2023

81% of participants were youth (age 34 and below).

Youth-led businesses achieved an annual revenue growth of 24.62%, significantly higher than the average

Youth-led businesses also had a higher three-year CAGR at 20.23%.

High Return on Investment:

AMI delivers sector-leading impact and cost efficiency;

For every $1 invested in an AMI programme, businesses generated $48 in revenue, with an estimated 25% of that directly enhancing employee incomes.

In 2023 businesses in AMI programmes saw 18.69% median annual revenue growth

The top 50 performing businesses created an average of 15.4 jobs each in 2023 and grew their revenue by an average of 169% in one year.

MSMEs Access to Finance in 2023:

39.5% of participants accessed finance (an increase from 2022).

77% of those accessing finance obtained loans.

Average finance amount was $30,800 (, with a median amount of $4,405).

The range of finance raised was $33-$1.2 million.

Entrepreneur Endorsed:

88% of entrepreneurs reported that they either would not have or may not have achieved their growth without AMI's support.

 

What is the future of AI in marketing?

By Daily News Reporter

AI marketing is achieving new advancements at a phenomenal speed. Here are some ways it’s reshaping businesses for the better.

Computer vision

Computer vision allows AI marketing tools to derive insights from non-text digital data available in the form of raw images. From powering optical character recognition (OCR) to analyze information and signatures in checks and recognize brand logos in videos, to extracting text from images for accessibly, computer vision is helping solve key business challenges every day.

In retail, computer vision can be used to identify imperfections in products in a manufacturing assembly line or to ensure shelves are always full. It also helps in improving biometric authentication with enhanced facial recognition to identify shoplifters, a customer or employee in distress and so much more.

AI chatbots

Conversational AI in the form of virtual agents and intelligent chatbots is set to change traditional marketing. AI chatbots marketing can put brand visibility in hyper drive with targeted messaging. They can boost engagement with existing customers and prospects to generate leads and also analyze their data to provide you with fine-grained insights for predictive and prescriptive marketing.

Virtual agents also streamline customer requests, ensure 24/7 customer support and route conversations to the appropriate team for the best results–all resulting in increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Predictive and prescriptive AI

Predictive and prescriptive analytics are already making AI marketing tools essential for marketers. Prescription analytics sorts social listening data into categories based on consumer motivations, mindsets and intentions. This information from conversational analytics enables you to develop highly targeted ads, posts and emails that will yield optimal results. A great example of this is how streaming services use your previous choices to provide you with content relevant to your interests.

Predictive analytics enables you to go further so you can anticipate outcomes and develop a business strategy well in advance based on past voice of customer data. This means you can build long-term business models, conduct risk evaluations, expand market acquisitions, and improve product designs and more.

Responsible AI

AI marketing also takes into account the fact that existing AI models are not perfect. To achieve true advantages and accuracy in deriving business insights, AI in business needs to be fair, secure, reliable, inclusive and transparent. This means that AI tools need to be developed more thoughtfully and trained with diverse data to remove biases.

There are also data privacy, copyright and governance rules being developed to ensure that ethical and societal implications are considered in order to be fair to humans and AI development companies. This means social networks and social marketing teams need to be cognizant of how they employ AI tools to collect customer data, create content, show personalized ads to influence purchase behavior or for any other reason.

 

ZDA launches Exporters survey Report

By Daily News Reporter

Zambia Development Agency (ZDA)has launched a survey which is an important report which highlights the performance of exports in particular, nontraditional exports (NTES) and the factors affecting exporters and exports, the survey is aimed at informing policy and strategy formulation in order to improve exports The Agency undertakes the exports survey annually in order to assess the performance of Zambia‘s Non-traditional exports (NTES) and propose interventions in addressing the identifies And in the report it shows that in 2023 the agency linked 283 exporters from various sectors to export markets.

From the linkages $98.3million worth of export leads and $3.7million confirmed orders were reordered mainly from the agro-processing, chemicals and manufacturing sectors.

Furthermore through Zambia export development fund (ZEDF), the agency provided trade financing amounting to$582,692 to four exports in the manufacturing, mining and agriculture sector And speaking during at the launch in Lusaka ZDA BOARD CHAIRPERSON PROF. BIEMBA MALITI stated that these interventions indicates that the agency has continued unweaving support in promoting and facilitating trade particularly the of growth of NTES

And Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry CHIPOKA MULENGA MP, stated that Government is yielding dividend as evidence by increase in NTES from 3.52 billion in 2022 to $ 4.23 billion in 2023, representing an increase of 20.2 percent.

The share of NTES to total exports in 2023 stood at 40.6 % signifying an over achievement against the 8 NDP annual target.

He further said that the economy has also demonstrated resilience and steadily growth from 3.6 percent in 2021 to 5.8 percent in 2023.

The government is cognizant of some the challenges exporters are experiencing which includes high cost of doing business, export bans, bureaucratic export process, and high export duties in target markets.

Government has put in place incentives specifically for exporters operating in the special economic zones in order to attract more export oriented investments, reduce the cost of production and enhance competitiveness of businesses,” Chipoka said.

 

 

The Zambia Association of Manufacturers (ZAM) has called on the government to expedite Value Added Tax (VAT) refunds for manufacturers who consistently comply with tax regulations. During the 2024 pre-budget meeting in Lusaka, ZAM President Ashu Sagar emphasized the need for a scorecard system to prioritize compliant manufacturers for VAT refunds and other tax-related reimbursements.

Mr. Sagar proposed significant tax reforms, including:

Reducing Income Tax Rates: Manufacturers serving domestic and export markets would see their income tax rates reduced from 20% and 10% to 16% and 14%, respectively.

Extending Proof of Exportation Timeframe: The timeframe for presenting proof of exportation under VAT Rule 18 would be extended from the current 3 months to 6 months.

Increasing Turnover Tax Threshold: Aligning the Turnover Tax (TOT) threshold with the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) classification by raising it from K800,000.

Additionally, Mr. Sagar urged the government to standardize council levies under a single overseeing ministry and develop regulations for product listings in chain stores. He also highlighted the need to strengthen existing incentive frameworks and optimize tax structures to enhance the manufacturing sector’s performance, which has been impacted by broader economic trends