We’re excited to announce that The Best of Zambia and the Private Enterprise Programme Zambia (PEP-Z) have partnered to make it easier for local Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to do business with large corporations operating in Zambia.
As part of the Best of Zambia and PEP-Z Business Linkages Programme (BLP) partnership, thebestofzambia.com will host the PEP-Z certified business directory. The directory will provide easy identification of PEP-Z certified businesses who meet the criteria for inclusion in their Business Linkages Programme. These businesses will have a chance to showcase their businesses to large-scale corporate customers and better participate in their supply chains.
One of the aims of the partnership is to put SMEs on the digital map, empowering Zambian businesses to grow from being purely bricks and mortar businesses that require physical footfall in order to trade, to businesses that can also generate trade via the internet.
This working partnership is full of potential and both organisations are looking forward to moving the project forward. PEP-Z Team Leader, Bayo Akindeinde said, “There is a strong commercial case for large companies to purchase more locally thereby shortening import-dependent supply chains, improving their carbon footprint, encouraging Zambian businesses to be more innovative and remain competitive and, indirectly creating local jobs with SME suppliers.”
InfoBwana Chief Executive Officer, Joseph Brown’s comment focused on how the Best of Zambia and PEP-Z goals are so closely aligned. “Every day, we press on with our vision to get Zambian businesses online, provide people with useful business information and share our beloved country and continent with the world. We are very happy to be working with PEP-Z whose vision and goals are so complementary to our own”.
Funded by UKaid, PEP-Z is a five-year programme that builds and strengthens the capacity of Zambian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the private sector in order to create jobs and contribute to the diversification of the economy.
PEP-Z is being implemented through targeted interventions that identify and support entrepreneurs with the attitude and willingness to become more competitive. PEP-Z initiatives also reflect a commitment to increasing opportunities for women and young people. The programme achieves these goals through an integrated approach that has four interlinked components:
SME’s in Zambia can get business support, guidance and marketing through PEP-Z and The Best of Zambia. If you run a local Micro, Small or Medium Enterprise and want to trade with corporations in Zambia and better participate in their supply chains, then click here to find out how to get involved.
Entrepreneurs have a chance to showcase their businesses to large-scale corporate customers thanks to a new partnership between the Private Enterprise Programme Zambia (PEP-Z) and online business portal Best of Zambia.
The agreement between PEP-Z’s Business Linkages Programme (BLP) and InfoBwana, which runs thebestofzambia.com website, aims to help Zambian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) better participate in the supply chain of larger established companies in all sectors.
Under the collaboration, InfoBwana will raise awareness of PEP-Z Business Linkages Programme, both online and via its database of Zambian businesses. With PEP-Z guidance and support, it will add PEP-Z information to thebestofzambia.com, including the easy identification of PEP-Z certified businesses who meet the criteria for inclusion in their Business Linkages Programme. In turn, PEP-Z will facilitate Best of Zambia membership subscriptions for both PEP-Z certified SMEs that PEP-Z is working with, as well as large companies looking for local suppliers.
The partnership will also ensure the long-term sustainability of PEP-Z’s business-to- business web portal www.b2b.co.zm, which is under construction. PEP-Z is a five-year project funded by the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) to create jobs and contribute to the diversification of the Zambian economy.
“Greater business linkages between large firms that dominate the economy and local suppliers can help to link lead industries to sectors in which the poor are employed,” said PEP-Z Team Leader Bayo Akindeinde. There is a strong commercial case for large companies to purchase more locally thereby shortening import-dependent supply chains, improving their carbon footprint, encouraging Zambian businesses to be more innovative and remain competitive and, indirectly creating local jobs with SME suppliers.”
According to the Zambia Information & Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA), Zambia has an estimated 6.1 million mobile internet users and mobile phone penetration has reached three quarters of the population — 11.6 million subscribers out of a population of 15 million. That’s nearly half of the Zambian population now using mobile internet. Thebestofzambia.com provides Zambian companies with a platform to reach this growing local audience, as well as tap into regional and international opportunities.
Over the last seven years InfoBwana has developed www.thebestofzambia.com into an online business advertising portal designed to assist the economic development of Zambia by enabling entrepreneurs and businesses to source suppliers for products or services. Through its subscription-based business advertising service, the website also empowers Zambian businesses to grow from being purely bricks and mortar businesses that require physical footfall in order to trade, to businesses that can also generate trade via the internet.
“Every day, we press on with our vision to get Zambian businesses online, provide people with useful business information and share our beloved country and continent with the world. We are very happy to be working with PEP-Z whose vision and goals are so complementary to our own”, says InfoBwana Chief Executive Officer Joseph Brown.