Government has embarked on an aggressive industrial tour of the manufacturing sector to get a sense of how the sector is performing, the opportunities and challenges.
On Tuesday, September 30, 2020, Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry Permanent Secretary Mr. Mushuma Mulenga led a group of chief executive officers from statutory bodies under the ministry, namely; Zambia Development Agency, Zambia Compulsory Standards Agency, Zambia Bureau of Standards, KAIZEN Institute of Zambia, and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, on a familiarization tour of Zamleather.
Speaking during the debrief meeting, Mr. Mulenga disclosed that government was geared to support the growth of the local industry, to ensure that it thrived and contributed to economic growth.
He pledged the Ministry’s commitment to continuously interacting with sector players with a view to crafting relevant policy interventions aimed at boosting the manufacturing sector.
“We have heard your challenges as Zamleather and we are going back to the office to see how best we can work with you so that you become more competitive especially on the export market,” declared, Mr. Mulenga.
He disclosed that his ministry was working to see how local manufactures could benefit from the incentives that were pronounced in the 2020 Budget.
And during the same tour, Zamleather General Manager Richard Franklin disclosed that the company was in the country to stay and was looking forward to new opportunities for expanding their investments.
Mr. Franklin appealed to government to help Zamleather compete favourably on the international market.
He said his company would continue to interact with the ministry and its statutory bodies to ensure that more wealth and jobs were created for the people of Zambia.
Meanwhile, Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) Acting Director General Mukula Makasa said he was impressed with the Zamleather business model which was in line with the government policy of working with local small scale entrepreneurs.
Mr. Makasa said ZDA was ready to work with Zamleather to further unlock the vertical and horizontal linkages for the company and help them realize their full potential.
He observed that there was still a lot of potential that could be harnessed through the fostering of mindset change in the local farmers in relation to the production of leather and hides in the rural areas.
Mr. Makasa noted that if the bulk of the raw materials were sourced locally, more jobs would be created thereby leading to sustainable economic growth.
He declared that the key for the economic transformation of Zambia lay in the strategic partnerships between the public and private sector.
