Training tailors, cooks or service staff

 

By Derrick Silimina

Catholic nuns are providing skills training to young women in Zambia to help them escape poverty.

Poverty is widespread in Zambia, with rural areas more affected than urban areas. Moreover, women and girls are particularly disadvantaged in a largely unequal society.

Many rural poor migrate and settle in slum areas often located in or on the outskirts of urban centres. One such area is Chawama, one of Lusaka’s largest slums.

The Missionary Sisters of the Holy Family, a Catholic parish based in Lusaka, try to help women and adolescent girls in Chawama. 

Inside their Cheshire Divine Providence Home, they have established a Homecraft training school, a computer school, primary and secondary schools. The Homecraft training school offers various skills training such as cookery, tailoring, handicraft and knitting among others to young women.

Catholic missionaries like the Sisters of the Holy Family have been present in Africa since the 18th century. On top of spreading their religious doctrines, they are involved in socio-economic development programmes in many African countries.

“We teach the young ladies and mothers how to improve their life in society and in their homes. We empower them with some skills in tailoring and designing, cooking and baking, handicraft and knitting. Through all these skills, we believe that we are helping some of these Zambian women to fight poverty in society,” says Magdalene Wanja, sister-in-charge of the skills training school.

The Homecraft training school enrols over 100 students per year. Most of its trainees end up working in restaurants, tailoring shops, hotels, and lodging facilities. 

Some of the young women start and run their own small businesses. “I look forward to graduating and finding a job at a hotel or a resort so that I can raise income to start my own restaurant in future,” says Mirriam Munwela, one of the students doing a tailoring and catering course.

Emeldah Lungu, 28, another student at the training school, explains that it is her dream one day to become a fashion designer. 

“My career is slowly unfolding. My passion has always been to become a fashion designer. Thank you Sisters at Homecraft training school for adding value to what I want to become. I can’t wait to live my dream and lift myself out of poverty,” Lungu stated.

The Catholic missionaries are happy to see their skills development programme helping women in Chawama. 

Sister Wanja affirms: “We are happy that the response from women is overwhelming despite the financial challenges they go through to manage to pay for their one and half year training as the school depends on their tuition fees to operate effectively.”

Making Kitchenware in Solwezi

By Derrick Silimina

As the importation of kitchenware is seemingly shrinking gradually in Zambia, some local innovative minds have captured a major share of the domestic market.

Emmanuel Kamau, 29, a resident of Kandemba area of Solwezi District in North-Western Province is one of the few young creative entrepreneurs making some cool cash from kitchenware manufacturing business. 

In 2018, Kamau with three other partners started the business venture with a minimal capital of K200. 

The business involves buying aluminum metal from various companies, melting it at high temperatures in a makeshift oven; pouring the molten metal into molds made out of sand to bring out different sizes and designs of aluminum pots. 

“This is a very good business because we have many customers who come to buy pots for instance for resale. In short, we sell our products at both wholesale and retail price,” Kamau says. 

PRODUCES 

The business produces on average 30 pots per day, depending on availability of materials. Scrap aluminum is secured at K5 per kg, and the finished products sell at prices ranging from K30 to K90 each depending on size.

He stated that with availability of materials, sales can even go up to 300 pots every month as the retail price for the biggest pot peaks at K130 each.

“This business is able to raise between K20,000 and K25,000 in terms of sales turnover, with profits coming to about K12,000 per month. Our capital base currently stands at K15,000 in terms of liquidity, and 50 per cent of the proceeds are reinvested into the business,” he explains. 

Due to restrictions of movements brought about by Covid-19 between 2020 and 2021, Kamau regrets that the business temporarily experienced some setbacks in terms of access to materials, therefore slowing down manufacturing activities. 

However, since the situation has now improved as more materials are now available, Kamau has a vision to improve the workshop by constructing a better oven, connecting electricity and purchasing equipment such as a welding and grinding machine to be used for cutting of aluminum to smaller pieces for melting.

 

“With such machinery in place, we anticipate to earn a minimum of K25,000 per month. We are in the process of registering our business with PACRA so as to tap into the vast opportunities such as financing and markets,” Kamau says. 

AFLOAT 

Despite some economic hurdles, Kamau and his partners have managed to keep the business afloat, thanks to some business tactics acquired from the Fortune World Investments’ training business workshops which are powered by Kansanshi Mining Plc. 

When Kamau was recruited for the business development programme in 2021, he was able to clear all the 24 topics. 

“The training equipped me with the ability to manage finances prudently, hence expanding the business. Currently, funds are saved via a mobile money facility. One of the attributes that I got from the training is the ability to overcome fear and be able to venture into business with confidence,” Kamau says. 

He salutes the KMP management for providing a platform of empowerment through the business training. 

That has rekindled his appetite for further training in metal fabrication to improve skills for business enhancement. 

The Fortune World mentoring team were impressed with the innovation displayed by the youthful entrepreneurs and urged them to expedite the process of registering the business and opening a company bank account. 

“Once your business is registered, it would easily be linked to the North Western Chamber of Commerce to access further capacity building opportunities,” FWIL Managing Director Mukumbi Kafuta said.

Entrepreneur Scoring with Poulets and Eggs

 

By Derrick Silimina

Beatrice Mwenze’s passion for the chicken rearing business unfolded with a poultry house to accommodate 550 birds - now she is building another one for 1,000.

I started the poultry business in 2016 as a way of supplementing my husband’s income after I built a (5 x 22m) poultry house with a capacity to accommodate 550 birds,” Mwenze recalls. 

Mwenze, 42, a resident of Solwezi’s Kandundu area, states that though sometimes the local market gets flooded, poultry business remains profitable as she takes her chickens to Kasumbalesa border, Zambia’s entry point into the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

With the current local market price of K100 and K120 per bird, she sells her chickens and eggs within a week to avoid feeding them further and to maximize on profits. From her current investment of K24,000 which consists of chicks medicines, feed, charcoal and sawdust, is rearing 450 one-week-old chicks.

“This is a lucrative business because sales of 450 birds at K100 each gives me about K45,000. After I deduct expenses, it gives me a 50 per cent profit margin of about K21,000,” she affirms. 

The border market is even better with higher prices as her 450 chickens can take about three to four days to sell. In her quest to enrich her knowledge in poultry business, Mwenze started attending training in January, 2021 at Aaso Lodge, the main venue for Fortune World Investment’s monthly business workshops. 

And when lessons shifted to radio, on account of the Covid-19 restrictions, she continued following the programs to date. 

“The business training has equipped me with knowledge for better business management, and most topics learned have motivated me create employment for helper who earns K1000 per month,” Mwenze states.

Moving forward, Mwenze plans to increase the number of birds to 1000 and is currently constructing a bigger poultry house at her farm. 

She also looks forward to a situation where she will begin to supply all her chickens to one source and get paid at once because her record keeping is up to date with details of day-old chicks, stock feed and sales data. 

Additionally, Mwenze is rearing 90 piglets at Weighbridge area and will begin selling them in December when they are fully mature. 

With the current local selling price of pork at K90 per kg, Mwenze is encouraged to also look for a market at lodges, hotels and restaurants as a way of increasing her customer base. 

Mwenze is hopeful: “In future, I seek to acquire more training in poultry farming, animal husbandry and feed formulation to help boost my agribusiness.”

Planning with a Heart for Veggies and Fruits

 

By Derrick Silimina

Vegetables are the cheapest source of essential minerals and vitamins and for a long time have remained a popular ingredient in Zambian sauces, soups and stews.

Nonetheless, vegetable farming is one of the little-touted ventures in agriculture, but if well nurtured can offer truly amazing business opportunities. 

For this reason, Roger Musemvu, 42, is among many entrepreneurs from North-Western Province who are taking advantage of the large demand for vegetables in Solwezi’s bustling city markets. 

Musemvu is one of the devoted farmers of Solwezi’s Kimale area who in 2018 started cultivating carrots on a half lima piece of land, and green maize on a half lima. 

He spent K1,200 on procuring inputs such as seed, fertilizer and an additional K1,500 on fuel for his generator which facilitated irrigation to kickstart his horticultural project. After harvest, he sold his products and raised K5000 from carrots alongside K2,800 from maize. 

In a bid to sharpen his horticultural skills, Musemvu enrolled for the free monthly business development training programme funded by Kansanshi Mine Limited and executed by Fortune World Investment limited (FWIL) in the district. 

“With topics such as time and record management, which I grasped from the business training, I learned to spend my time productively as I have no idle time any more. For me, time spent in the field is money.” 

Having completed the training in December 2018, Musemvu’s work culture has transformed positively as he is in his garden from morning to evening every day. With his records management skills learned from the training, he is able to keep records such as sales, expenses as well as profit and loss accounts.

 “Thank you to the KMP management for the training. I urge them to continue and extend their business empowerment programme to others as this entrepreneurship training is changing many lives in the district,” he notes. 

Recently, FWIL Managing Director Mukumbi Kafuta paid Musemvu a mentorship visit to ascertain progress made thus far and was impressed that he has continued with farming and has currently invested in cabbages and tomatoes, using water from a nearby stream and a Genset for irrigation. 

With an investment of K3,490 into cabbage production, Musemvu is proud now that heads are selling at between K7 and K10 per head, depending on size. “I expect to make about K36,000 from the venture by the time all my cabbages are sold,” Musemvu states. 

He has equally invested K1,824 into tomato production and has cultivated more than 800 plants of tomato, which are already being harvested. 

Musemvu plans to expand further into planting other crops to expand his niche in the sector. With one box of tomato fetching an average price of K200 at a local market, the farmer has so far cashed in about K16,800 as per day. 

He harvests three boxes of tomatoes, and has already been harvesting them for a month. Having tested how profitable the horticultural industry is, Musemvu is positioning himself for rapid growth as he is now planning to acquire a bigger piece of land where gardening activities will be expanded and will comprise cabbage, carrots, egg plants, tomato and green maize among others. 

On the other hand, he has also planted a nursery of fruits such as oranges, avocado, and bananas. Musemvu has not yet registered his business, but intends to do so in January 2022. 

“I have so far acquired five hectares of land specifically for fruits in Solwezi’s Lwamakanda area where I will transplant one hectare of oranges, one Lima of avocado and one Lima of bananas.”

Zambia Fights Corruption

By Derrick Silimina

Corruption and embezzlement in Zambia have for long plagued the country. However, the new government of President Hakainde Hichilema assures that it strives to fight corruption and it has taken first measures.

In Zambia, political and economic governance declined between 2019 and 2021 according to research data. Additionally, the people’s dissatisfaction with the status quo increased as the currency lost roughly 50 % of its value against the US dollar, which resulted in increasing prices for goods and services.

Zambia’s business domain has continued to be hindered by corruption due to a weak institutional framework. This includes flaws in company registration, tax evasion, flaws in the procurement of goods and services and unfair tender processes. 

After taking power in 2021, Hakainde Hichilema, Zambia’s seventh head of state, launched a battle against corruption, in the hope that countering the vice would help redirect huge sums of public funds towards economic development.

“We will have zero tolerance to corruption. The fight against corruption will be done from a professional angle, a legal angle to recover the assets as much as possible so that we can apply those assets’ revenues to benefit owners (people of Zambia) in education, health and investment for women and youths,” said President Hichilema.

Through its law-enforcement agencies, the new government has conducted several operations to reprimand corrupt individuals and government officials. 

The Zambia police swung into action in Lusaka’s new Kasama suburb, where they discovered trunks of cash amounting to 5.3 million kwacha (around $ 3.7 million). 

In addition, they also unearthed a safe containing $ 57,900. Both sums of money were suspected to have been stolen or unlawfully obtained by Faith Musonda, a well-known former national radio journalist. The state also took possession of the house, where the sum of cash was discovered.

Zambia’s Anti-Corruption Commission is also investigating a total of 87 cases of suspected corruption, of which 55 are of public interest and involve politically exposed individuals from the former ruling party, the Patriotic Front (PF).

However, senior PF bigwigs claim that the new government has turned its war on corruption into a witch-hunt of its political opponents. 

“It’s us they want to fix and not the economy,” lamented former PF Secretary General Davies Mwila.

The government is not deterred by cries from its opponents, and the president in a recent address to the National Assembly reiterated his government’s commitment to further the fight against corruption.

“We have waged war against corruption and will fight it from the past, present and the future so that resources benefit all citizens. We will improve the benefit of being honest, rather than being dishonest and more funding will be allocated to the law enforcement agencies to deal with corruption,” Hichilema said.

He also touted the creation of a Fast-truck Stolen Assets Recovery System to fully deal with corruptly acquired assets. In this regard, Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane recently handed over forfeited funds by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to the treasury in Lusaka.

“The funds will benefit an additional 2,232 university students across the nation who were left out on government bursaries in December 2021 due to budget constraints,” said Musokotwane.

The rise of a Solwezi film-maker

 

By Derrick Silimina

Youthful Shadreck Mfwana, an upcoming film maker from Solwezi’s Kazomba area, started pursuing film-making as far back as 2007 after completing his Grade 12, though without generating any income then.

“I Would hire a camera to learn how to go about film-making, and I also did videos and still photos to raise some income,” Mfwana, now 30, narrates. 

In 2016, Mfwana attempted to make a film, courtesy of a certain studio, after having borrowed some money to invest in the venture. The attempt flopped. However, in January 2018, after learning how to manage his talent, Mfwana enrolled for the business development training programme powered by Kansanshi Mine Limited through Fortune World Investment limited (FWIL) and completed the 12 topic module the same year. 

Prior to attending the training, Mfwana had little knowledge of marketing and advertising. After the training, he began to advertise his business through Facebook and grew his customer base.

“I have now registered my business and opened a bank account, as the workshops enlightened me a lot on how to runmy film-making enterprise,” he notes. 

Mfwana bubbles with confidence that he now has the capacity to offer various services including; Film-making, script writing, directing for clients, editing for clients, photography and cinematography (camera directing, placement, lighting). 

Some of his works so far include screenwriting, translation and time coding for his client, a prominent actor on Zambezi Magic, a channel on DSTV. He recalls that one of the productions on Zambezi Magic, in all worth about K270,000, earned him K5000 per series, giving him a total of K65,000 for 13 episodes. 

Mfwana has described the film industry as “very lucrative,” but requires capital investment approximately K30,000 to cater for production costs to pay crew members, logistics, food and clothes for actors among others. 

He currently has three pending projects; a feature film of 1 hour 30 minutes in length which has the capacity to earn him K150,000 and a two-part series with 13 episodes each, which could earn him about K400,000. 

Other pending outcomes include a 50-per cent profit in some film projects and some TV stations pay commission to air every episode. 

“My gratitude goes to the Kansanshi Mining Plc management team for the training and I encourage them to continue to raise more self-employed persons like myself,” Mfwana says.

Spreading Truth and Faith Through The Media

 

Sr. Beatrice Mwansa of the Daughters of the Redeemer in Lusaka, Zambia

By Derrick Silimina

While Zambia transitioned into pluralism and liberalization of the media in the 1990s, Catholic sisters were already at the center of their ministries for a better world.

As the nuns continue to embody the mercy of God through their vocations, Sr. Beatrice Mwansa of the Daughters of the Redeemer believes society cannot underestimate the role of the media in evangelism because it can quickly spread God's message to the world.

“We cannot underestimate the role of the media in evangelization because the media have the power to spread God's message to the whole world in a flash of a minute,” said Mwansa, a renowned media tutor at both private and public media training institutions in Lusaka, Zambia's capital. “This gives me joy to be part of this apostolate of spreading God's message through radio or television and even informing those who are in the media industry.”

Mwansa was attracted to the Daughters of the Redeemer in part because of its motto, "To radiate Christ's goodness to the people," and made her first vows in 1995. The next year, she started her studies in mass communication at the University of Zambia, where she earned a bachelor's degree in mass communication and a master's degree in communication for development in 2002 and 2008, respectively.

After graduating with her bachelor's degree in 2002, Mwansa worked at Radio Icengelo, a Catholic community radio station, for three years. As a head of programming, she supervised the news and production departments; oversaw radio announcers, producers and news reporters; and managed all operational budgets.

"Radio broadcasting exposed me to meeting different people from various works of life," she said. "It widened my horizon of understanding different community issues affecting people and moving toward being action-oriented."

After she earned her master's degree, she embarked on her lecturing career. Since 2009, she has been teaching at various public, private and religious institutions, such as the Zambia Institute of Mass Communications, Cavendish University, Mulungushi University and Zambia Catholic University.

GSR: Tell us, what drew you to media and journalism?

Mwansa: What drew me to journalism was the desire or urge to evangelize like our Lord Jesus Christ did as he went about proclaiming the kingdom of God from town to town. That inspired me to take up this apostolate.

While at the radio station, I produced religious programs and programs on social issues. I always felt joy to share some reflections from the word of God and to give hope to people experiencing different problems.

I was also happy to do research on social issues such as alcohol abuse, housing, unemployment, juvenile delinquency, etc.

What are the topics that you usually lecture on?

Since I started lecturing, I have taught news reporting, investigative reporting, media and society, sociology, media and social context, media law and ethics, foundations of public relations and customer relations. These courses have widened my understanding in reporting skills, in-depth investigative reporting, how the media interacts with society, how the media operates with the law, and how journalists uphold ethical standards in their profession.

I have also acquired skills in module writing for the students studying via distance learning. Teaching different courses has also taught me to be up to date with current issues.

How do you see your role as a media expert relating to your religious vows and life?

My role as a media expert vis-à-vis my religious vows and life blends very well because it gives me satisfaction to share the word of God with a lot of people via radio or television. It gives me joy to teach upcoming journalists to be principled and uphold ethical standards. As you may be aware, most of these ethics stem from Judeo-Christian ethics and Christian values. My role is to encourage truth-telling, objectivity, impartiality, integrity, etc.

I have learned to be mainstream in my lessons. I emphasize peace journalism because I believe the media has the power to build and to destroy. It is a faithful and obedient servant but can also be a dangerous master. The media can act as glue to cement society, but at times, it can act as dynamite and can blow issues and society into pieces. My role is to be a defender of justice and peace, democracy, responsibility and prudence.

Sr. Beatrice Mwansa of the Daughters of the Redeemer teaches a journalism class at the Zambia Institute of Mass Communications in Lusaka. 

Recently, I had the privilege of serving as a media regulator at the independent broadcasting authority and also as a communication commissioner for Zambia's conference of Catholic bishops, and I have realized that there is a need to encourage media houses to adhere to media ethics.

Have you taken an active role in educating and communicating with the public about safety and health protocols during the coronavirus pandemic? Or the need for vaccines and their safety?

During the coronavirus pandemic, particularly in March 2020, I realized that the many conspiracies and false information that were circulating were filling everyone with so much fear. I appreciated the need to correct this and spread true information about the pandemic.

So, I decided to give feedback to the reporters at the Ministry of Health who were giving briefings to the minister of health before addressing the nation on the status of the pandemic. I would share with them whatever I heard or observed on the ground; for instance, if COVID guidelines were not followed in the minibuses, and the many fears and myths that the people had.

When teaching the students, I shared ideas on how to go about giving important information and how to write a COVID-19 campaign and use the media to support the fight against the pandemic.

When the vaccines came, there was a need to encourage the radio and television stations to send messages that would help people to improve their lifestyle, such as exercising and eating healthy, to fight COVID-19.

As a regulator, I participated in monitoring radio and television programs across the country vis-à-vis COVID-19 messages. The authority also lobbied partners and the government to pay the community radio stations who were airing these programs.

What are your spiritual messages about hope?

When COVID-19 hit our country, it reminded me that we are fragile and not exempt from diseases and death, as well. After the government quickly closed churches, schools and workplaces and encouraged people to work from home, then reality dawned and woke us up to face the pandemic head-on. This experience, I remember, triggered fear, anxiety, stress and even pain as we began losing many people we knew and loved.

The statistics we heard were now translated into names of people we knew. The crisis had come, and we needed to face it. There was no turning back or running away. It was difficult, but we needed to be honest, be real and accept it.

Sr. Beatrice Mwansa of the Daughters of the Redeemer in her office at the Zambia Institute of Mass Communications in Lusaka

For us Christians, this was the time to spread the message of hope and give meaning to people so that they could have the courage to face the crisis. It was the word of God that sustained us each day.

It is said that the phrase "Do not be afraid" is echoed 365 times in the Bible. To hear God telling those who were affected directly or indirectly "Do not be afraid" really uplifts our spirits and gives us reason to live in joy again.

What lessons are to be learned about communication from the experience of the pandemic?

There are many lessons to be learned from the experience of the pandemic. Truth is sacred; hence, the need to counter false information is key. As media practitioners, there is a need to educate the people on conspiracy theories and bring out the truth from well-researched documentation.

The other lesson is to be professional when dealing with the COVID crisis. There is a need to balance up stories and debates. There is also a need to develop critical thinking and deal with the issue holistically rather than deal with emotions.

What do you think are the most important traits for journalists to have?

There are many attributes for journalists, but the most important traits are truth-telling. Every report should be fully complete. Every journalist must ensure accurate information is disseminated. Accuracy is more important than speed.

A sound journalist must avoid misinforming people and provide space for the right to reply where allegations are being made. Whatever they write must be free from sensationalism.

Every piece of information must be double-checked from sources, avoiding single sourcing and ensuring fairness and balance. Every journalist must treat all with respect, not as a means to your journalistic end.