Zambia: a country of entrepreneurs

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Hundreds of entrepreneurs descended on the offices of the Nyamuka Zambia business plan competition to put forward their business ideas to be considered for approval.

A truly diverse range of sectors was represented, including consumer services, waste management, renewable energy, and jewellery - even food processing. Although superficially disparate, these fields all represent the increasingly sophisticated and complex needs of the growing Zambian market.

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Nyamuka Zambia Manager, Shalin Jethi said: “We have had some cracking good applications and I am also amazed at the enterprise of  people to come from far away and it clearly shows the entrepreneurial spirit of people in Zambia and particularly in the Copperbelt; we have had loads of people apply.”

Nyamuka Zambia, sponsored by ZANACO, is just one of four initiatives devised by the the Private Enterprise Programme Zambia (PEPZ), funded by the UK government’s Department for International Development (DFID). The project is aimed at stimulating small Zambian enterprising using £14 million of investments.

The four broad initiatives of PEPZ include: business linkages; business development services; business plan competition, and impact investments.

Entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were backed with a series of workshops and clinics in Lusaka and the Copperbelt which helped them develop a workable business plan for the competition.

More than 1,000 people registered their interest in Nyamuka Zambia, from which more than 400 people submitted formal applications, which will be judged by a panel of experts over the coming weeks; candidates are competing for the top prize of 250,000 kwacha.