Friday, March 29, 2024

2019 has been a disappointing, depressing and difficult year for the local business community

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GROUND Focus Group chief executive officer Jimmy Mubashi
GROUND Focus Group chief executive officer Jimmy Mubashi

Ground Focus Group Chief Executive Officer Jimmy Mubashi says 2019 has been a disappointing, depressing and difficult year for the local business community.

Mr. Mubashi says 2019 ended on a very difficult note with very depressing economic circumstances as the year did not provide the much-needed opportunities for small scale and medium local enterprises to thrive.

He notes that Business opportunities were extremely difficult to come by in the year 2019, a situation that exerted pressure on ordinary Zambians who depend on the vibrancy of the informal sector to survive.

“However, all hope should not be lost. We must be in a position to rise above our challenges by avoiding petty politics and working with the government of President Lungu to ensure a clear policy direction in terms of strengthening the local economy by creating an enabling environment for Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs) to thrive”, he said.

Mr. Mubashi said Local companies established and managed by Zambians must be given opportunities to do business.

“We have companies in Zambia who never won a tender or carried out business or public works for the entire 2019 because there was no such opportunity given. How do you expect commerce and the local economy to survive if local businessmen are not being given opportunities?

We implore President Lungu and the government to ensure that locals are given sufficient space, support, and opportunities to do business”, he added.

Mr. Mubashi noted with regret that today, there are transnational companies who do things as they please because there are no sufficient monitoring mechanisms to ensure that the profits and opportunities are not externalized.

He said many Zambians are totally marginalized from serious business opportunities and expressed fear that the economic figures will continue to plummet if the situation is left unchecked.

Mr. Mubashi said bold decisions must be made to ensure that Zambians themselves take control of their economy in partnership with investors who on the other hand must be encouraged through effective and favourable Foreign Direct Investment policy directives.

“The Zambian people elected the PF government of President Lungu to make sound decisions on their behalf and not to allow transnational companies to do things as they deem fit. It will be a total betrayal to the majority voters who vested their trust in their leaders to tolerate such kind of business attitude from investors especially in the mining sector and commerce”, Mr. Mubashi said.

He said the adverse effects of climate change have hit us badly with poor rainfall in the 2018-2019 rainy season and other factors threaten to reverse Zambia’s economic gains.

Mr. Mubashi said he expects the government to be firm on the ground working with all stakeholders to overcome these challenges.

13 COMMENTS

  1. The only solution to the current problems is for Lungu and PF to go. Anything short of this is a band-aid solution

    • PF govt prove once again to be completely useless. They are the root cause of this.

      “No country is poor if the man at the top knows what to do The country is poor only because the man at the top is poor in the brains”

  2. Mubashi encourage innovation, research and development to generate outputs that turns into business and henceforth job creation. Local business is heavily dependent on government tenders. Foreign investment and borrowed money come with their own conditions limiting government position on decisions.

    • Innovation, Research and Development needs a lot of money!! Where will a small zambian business find financial resources to finance innovation research and development activities? Even our higher institution of learning like UNZA and other research facilities lack financial resources to carry out any meaningful research.

    • PM, in apparent reference to government support for Innovation, R and D. While it’s an limited technocrats, we all can be innovative and encourage government to support the area.
      “ask not what the government can do for you but what you can do for government”.. President JFK

    • PM, in apparent reference to government support for Innovation, R and D. While it’s an area limited to technocrats, we all can be innovative and encourage government to support the area.
      “ask not what the government can do for you but what you can do for government”.. President JFK

  3. Why??
    Give P.F Cadres like 2tardy Mw@le Contacts so they can rake in millions of U$ taxpayers Dollars & do no work?
    Then when Citizens ask folk like 2turdy to account, 2turdy shouts “CH@K0LWA NAFUCHI NAFUCHI 2021”, & the lazy Mukula peddler in plot #1 decides to protect 2turdy from prosecution coz as his Vuvuzela, 2turdy uses some of his ill gotten gains to campaign for J0n@ staying on in Plot 1, to do nothing but dance, steal & get drunk.
    ONLY IN ZED!!!!!

  4. From the thread, one can tell who has progressive mind and one with a dependent one. Zambians lack innovation and just want handouts all the time complaining.

  5. If it has been that bad then why are you still operating your business. I do not hold an MBA but even I know that it is madness to continue running a business if you are making losses. I doubt you would stay in business if things were as bad as you say. If business has failed you then may be the problem is you. Have you considered a change of careers? Zambian need to learn how to be tough in business..why is it that foreigners can come here and make a success whilst you fail to run businesses. The problem is you lack ubuntu. You prefer to criticise us in government rather than engage us to work with you. The people that engage us maturely are doing just fine. In fact I was even buying my groceries from a former homeless man the other day. Kz

  6. KZ is that your conviction? Is quitting the basis of your economic policy and political ideology? If your answer is yes, then we are not on the same wave length. One needs to have a peculiar eye to denote this article as being a mirror image of our past year. The article in my point of view, has well over outlined one of the biggest economic challenges our nation is battling with. To begin to see this abstract and think of it as relating to oneself or or a specific individual instead of the vast majority, would be a tragedy.

    • KZ…..Mmmmmm!!! Is that your conviction? Is quitting the basis of your economic policy and political ideology? If your answer is yes, then we are not on the same wave length. Business people have a right to complain when the environment is not favourable!

  7. One does not have the monopoly of wisdom nor has the considerable latitude in taking on comprador bourgeoisie but suggesting that one closes business because of challenges encountered is narrow mindedness to say the least…

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