New facility designed to build capacities of SMEs and empower them with ICT tools
Vodafone has cut the ribbon on its first enterprise development centre at Society Business Park in Lusaka’s Central Business District (CBD). The new business zone is targeted at the growing small-to-medium-sized businesses seeking ICT solutions to help facilitate growth and expansion.
Vodafone Zambia Chief Executive Officer, Lars Stork, highlighted the important role Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) play in ensuring small businesses experience growth and engage competitively on a continental and global scale.
“We understand that In Zambia, the SME business sector makes up roughly 95% of the total businesses and contributes to 87% of informal employment. This translates into over 3 million people being employed by SMEs. These figures demonstrate the need to provide technical support and capacity building initiatives from an ICT perspective to SMEs.”
“Vodafone is focused on supporting small business by not only providing quality services, but also educating SMEs on how to best leverage connectivity to increase their efficiency and reduce costs,” added Mr Stork.
And Lusaka Executive Mayor, Wilson Kalumba, noted that mobile technology and connectivity is now an essential part of doing business.
“We recognise that in this day and age, it’s virtually impossible to run a business without utilising mobile technology and connectivity. The aim of internet providers such as Vodafone Zambia is to bring small business owners and operators great services while taking the time to educate and support them in how to use them,” he said.
Earlier in the year, the next generation operator attended the 8th Ease of Doing Business Initiative (EDBI) conference in Livingstone, where company CEO Lars Stork, implored small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to embrace new information technology to boost their businesses and fortify their significant contribution to the economic growth and development of the nation.
Wanu, tu, firi, fo, chicks .. All beautiful, nice nice.
Kalumba should first concentrate on cleaning the city as he has done nothing in that area since he assumed office. These tu ma fake ceremonies don’t mean anything at all …
naubaila green party
And please ba LT, there is no such thing as executive mayor in Zambia. Learn to research
The Lusaka Mayor is executuve. Please read the new constitution before you comment
The CEO Vodafone gave statistical insights which are easy to comprehend and visualize the big picture. The Mayor on the other hand did not give any numbers. One can not see the big picture in the Mayor’s speech. Zambians, use numbers to project and reflect. They dont lie. They help in auditing and making improvements in the management of resources, human or otherwise.
Our Mayor is beginning to earn his keep. Congratulations for these initiatives. Please get your teeth into making Lusaka outstanding!
Lusaka “Executive” mayor? Which law allows for executive mayors in Zambia?
The mayor is now popularly elected by universal adult suffrage, but it doesn’t mean that he is “executive” mayor. He is still just a part-time official; the Town Clerk is the chief executive officer.