· Lafarge Zambia and Zambian Breweries have donated K100,000 to The University of Zambia -UNZA School of Engineering to develop the nation’s first prototype ventilator. The two giants of industry are backing the UNZA innovation as part of their effort to fight against the pandemic. Lafarge Zambia saw the importance of being part of the project as this project would instil national pride, being the first ventilator that would be manufactured by Zambians in Zambia.
· The license to operate a mobile network in Zambia by Unitel’s UZI has expired. UZI has failed to start its operations due to failure to raise insufficient funds. UZI has been postponing the date to launch its network and the last timeline given to them to launch was end of May 2020. ZICTA’s deadline to UZI to launch and begin operations was at the end of May 2020 as confirmed by the ICT regulator. ZICTA acknowledged that the extension given expired at the end of May and promised to issue a comprehensive statement this week.
· Prominent economist Professor Oliver Saasa has commended the government’s move of awarding the contract to Lazard as the best evaluated bidder to advise Zambia on its debt restructuring. Prof. Saasa has stated that though the decision has attracted significant
interest among economic and political players, Zambia however urgently needs re-profiling of its national debt which is almost due and its restructuring should not be a questionable matter. The Ministry of Finance had last week announced it had selected Lazard, a financial advisory and asset management firm as advisor to provide consulting services to the Zambian government for liability management and restructuring of its debt portfolio over a period of three years.
· The Zambia Chambers of Commerce and Industry –(ZACCI)’s immediate past president Micheal Nyirenda has passed away. Michael
Nyirenda served as ZACCI President from 2017 to 2019 while representing the Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors ( ABCEC) within the apex body of the private sector.He sat on the ZACCI board from 2015 – 2017 before taking on the leadership role in 2017. The Zambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry – ZACCI is the umbrella organization representing businesses across the country and across all sectors of the country.
