. Sichinga

By BRIAN HATYOKA –
ZAMBIA is working hard to improve the business environment for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to create job opportunities, Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) director for enterprise development Makasa Mukula has said.
Mr Mukula said the country was working to improve the business environment for SMEs with the development of a plan on value chain targets in mining, agriculture, infrastructure and tourism, which were being developed through partnerships with stakeholders to generate wealth and create decent jobs equitably.
He was speaking at a high-level round table session on ‘Promoting Sustainable and Inclusive Value Chains’ at the World Investment Forum (WIB) taking place in Geneva, Switzerland under the theme – Investing in  Sustainable Development: Vision and Roadmap.
Mr Mukula, who represented Commerce, Trade and Industry Minister Robert Sichinga at the gathering, said inclusive value chain development in Zambia for sustainable development was critical in construction, rural development, and procurement in the mining industry.
He also spoke about two pilot programmes on green jobs and food security that were targeted at the youth and women.
The Zambia Green Jobs Programme (ZGJP) is a United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Business Linkages Programme that is intended to create at least 5,000 decent green jobs particularly for young people, to improve the quality of at least 2,000 jobs in the MSME sector, which in turn will improve the incomes and livelihoods of at least 8,000 households that depend on the building construction sector.
Speaking earlier, UNCTAD Deputy Secretary General Petko Draganov noted that it was important to link small enterprises in developing countries to regional and global value chains, as well as to establish partnerships between government, transnational companies and the private sector.
He said there was need to make value chains more inclusive by integrating the poorer communities, enterprise clustering, business development services and building facilities to help local firms meet standards.
Mr Draganov urged the forum to address the challenge of the majority in developing countries being at the low end of the value chain.