• Commerce, Trade and Industry Permanent Secretary Siazongo Siakalenge (second from right) and Zambian Breweries managing director Anele Malumo (right) are taken on a tour of women entrepreneurs’ products by Zambia Federation of Associations of Women in Business Chairperson Nancy Kawandami at the launch of the Zambian Breweries sustainable development programme called ‘Prosper’ at Government Complex in Lusaka recently. Pictures by STEPHEN KAPAMBWE.

By STEPHEN KAPAMBWE –
Every enterprise in the private sector is run with the aim of making a profit (or gaining money) for its owners.
This is according to the Cambridge International College – Business Economics and Commerce training manual.
But Zambian Breweries believes that for an enterprise to be sustainable, it needs to carry the community with it.
Chief executive officer of Zambian Breweries’ parent company SABMiller, Alan Clerk, put it this way: “Today, society faces major challenges and the stakes are getting higher: poverty, water scarcity, climate change, food security and alcohol related harm all demand attention to secure a prosperous future.
“These pressing issues are shared by communities, businesses and governments and we must solve them together,” he said.
It is for this reason that SABMiller designed the Prosper programme to enable its subsidiaries around the world, like Zambian Breweries, to scale up sustainable development initiatives with a set of new targets set for 2020.
The world’s second largest brewer set out five imperatives; firstly, to achieve a thriving world by directly supporting half a million small businesses in order to help them grow and improve the livelihoods of local people for them to drive local development.
Secondly, it set out to achieve a resilient world through pioneering water efficiency target of 3.0 litres per litre of beer and secure the water supplies it shares with local communities through watershed partnerships at every sight that faces water risks.
Thirdly, it seeks to achieve a clean world by reducing its carbon footprint through use of innovation in dealing with its waste.
Fourthly, it wants to impact productivity by measurably improving food security and resource output through developing targets by crop and growing regions.
Finally, it seeks to encourage moderate and responsible alcohol consumption by scaling up global and local programmes to reach all consumers of alcoholic beverages.
Locally, SABMiller – through its subsidiaries Zambian Breweries and National Breweries, will support more than 13,000 small-scale enterprises in the country by 2020.
Speaking at the launch of Prosper, Zambian Breweries managing director Anele Malumo said the 13,000 enterprises translate into 5,500 businesses in the agriculture sector, 190 enterprises in the Zambian Breweries distribution value chain, 2,900 enterprises in the company’s retailer programme and 5000 women entrepreneurs.
The 5000 women entrepreneurs included 500 in various parts of the country that were recently trained through financial support provided by Zambian Breweries to Zambia Federation of Associations of Women in Business (ZFAWIB).
The women were trained in entrepreneurship and business development services during the ZFAWIB 2014 Month of the Woman Entrepreneur national conference that ran through the month of September.
Beneficiaries included entrepreneurs in Mansa in Luapula Province, Kasama in Northern Province, Sesheke and Shang’ombo in Western Province, Ndola on the Copperbelt Province, Serenje in Central Province and Lusaka.
“While we are striving to contribute towards the SABMiller global target of empowering up to half a million entrepreneurs by 2020, we are locally accelerating the growth of women businesses through activities such as the Month of the Woman Entrepreneur in Zambia”, Mr Malumo said.
The Month of the Woman Entrepreneur, which coincided with the launch of Prosper, culminated into an awards dinner where various entrepreneurs won awards for undertaking different business activities.
This is one of the initiatives being used by Zambian Breweries to help local communities grow incomes and improve the quality of life of the local people.
In working towards achieving world class water efficiency, Zambian Breweries believes that its reliance on water to produce alcoholic drinks should not compromise availability of water for the local communities.
In this regard, Zambian Breweries has staked US$200,000 towards undertaking a number of protective measures to safeguard the Itawa Springs in Ndola as well as provide clean water to Chipulukusu Township. The company has since partnered with the Government and the Germany-based GIZ in its quest to protect the springs.
In addition to that, Zambian Breweries has improved its water efficiency per litre of beer from 1.2 in 2012 to 1.6 litres per litre of beer this year.
The company believes that growing water scarcity, which is driven by various competing demands like climate change and population growth had the capacity to impact its operations as well as the welfare of the local communities by compromising access to the source of reliable, clean supply of water.
The company is also moving towards reducing its carbon footprint by not only upgrading its industrial efficiency but also designing better waste management systems aimed at contributing towards meeting the SABMiller global target.
The launch of Prosper will further enhance the support Zambian Breweries has made to the agriculture sector through the barley programme and improved enterprise development initiatives in the company’s value chain.
In the past, the company made various investments that increased demand for agriculture products used in production of its beverages to meet growth in its brewing capacity which rose to the current levels of over 1.7 million hectolitres per annum from just below one million hectolitres in 2011.
However, with the upcoming investment of US$35.2 million in a Maltings Plant at the Lusaka South Multi-Facility Economic Zone (MFEZ), the country is expected save over US$10 million in malt imports annually.
This is besides the many job opportunities that that the plant would create for the local people in the construction phase and in its subsequent operations.
In addition to that, about 12,000 rural jobs would be sustained as a result of the company’s dependence on the farming of barley which would be required by the MFEZ plant.
This is in line with Zambian Breweries imperative to achieve a productive world by measurably improving food security and resource productivity through developing targets by crop and growing regions.
“We also want to create a productive world where land is used responsibly, food supply is secure, biodiversity is protected and brewing crops can be accessed at reasonable prices,” Mr Malumo said.
Nonetheless, Zambian Breweries has also realigned its responsible drinking campaign in the Prosper initiative.
In its quest to share opportunities and face challenges together with local communities, Zambian Breweries says it wants to contribute towards building a sociable world by encouraging moderate and responsible alcohol consumption that does not negate the positive development of communities. This is already being done by, among other programmes, working with stakeholders like the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) with which it signed a K200,000 memorandum of
understanding in 2013 to scale up programmes aimed educating alcohol consumers about the benefits of responsible drinking.
The Prosper programme would include additional activities, such as a campaign against underage drinking, in the fight to address alcohol abuse.
The Zambian Breweries chief executive officer summed up the Prosper programme by saying, “Each of these five shared opportunities is linked to a shared imperative. We have called them imperatives because they are more than priorities – they are essential to our future success.
“They are shared because the local communities where we work share the same risks and opportunities with us. Our success is interwoven with theirs,” Mr Malumo said.
Commerce Trade and Industry Permanent Secretary Siazongo Siakalenge said the Prosper initiative through the value chain programme was expected to increase local capacity and competences.
He said the programme would also maximise revenue in high earning sectors and thereby improve the country’s competitiveness internationally.
He commended Zambian Breweries for working with women entrepreneurs whom he said were among society’s disadvantaged groups that earned the lowest incomes.
“This clearly complements the Government’s vision in creating decent work and wealth creation,” he said.
He said the efforts of Zambian Breweries to support women in business was in line with Government’s vision of improving opportunities for
women’s access to empowerment funds, working capital finance, entrepreneurship and business skills.
He said such programmes were encouraging women to explore entrepreneurship and self-employment opportunities.
“You may wish to note that through the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC), a total number of 1,526 projects amounting to K98 million were approved in 2013 out of which 36 per cent went towards women through the Chilimba market product, skills development initiatives, and access to markets through business linkages support, among others,” he said.