By BUUMBA CHIMBULU
A DEAL worth over US$3 million investment involving three local Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) has been concluded by the Lusaka-South Multi Facility Economic Zone (LS-MFEZ).
Announcing the conclusion of the deal, LS-MFEZ Corporate Affairs Manager Alice Schultz indicated that the SMEs were set to produce beverages, wheat and flour milling, cooking oil as well as production and recycling of wastepaper into egg trays.
The three SMEs named by Ms Schultz are: Muhungano Enterprises Limited, Chipango Millers Limited and Hyperlabs Limited.
She said the total project investment for Muhungano Enterprises Limited was US$2 million.“This entity is set to develop a beverages factory on a 7, 900 square meter plot within the MFEZ and was projected to create 268 jobs by year three of its operations,” Ms Schultz said in a statement.
On Chipango Millers Limited, she stated that the entity had pledged a total investment of K15 million and was set to establish a wheat flour milling and cooking oil factory.
According to Ms Schultz, the factory construction would create an additional 87 jobs under the LS MFEZ investment portfolio.
“Hyperlabs Limited is constructing a recycling factory that will convert wastepaper into egg trays. The project investment cost is estimated at K5.5 million and will create 24 jobs,” Ms Schultz said.
Currently, the Zone has created over 31, 000 jobs from inception to date, with a total investment of US$1.34 billion from inception to date.Owing to this investment, Ms Schultz invited local and foreign investors to join in on the LS-MFEZ to diversify the Zambian economy, drive job creation and facilitate knowledge transfer and ultimately contributing towards the country’s economic growth.“The LS-MFEZ looks forward to hosting these investments. The friendly investment environment created by Government is enabling the onboarding of local investors, suffice to mention the lowering of the investment threshold for local investment from US$500, 000 to US$50, 000.
“Under the new administration, investors can now enjoy zero percent on import duty for machinery and equipment as well as tax exemptions on dividends and export profits declared in the first 10 years of operations within the LS-MFEZ,” she said.
This article is supported with the WAN IFRA Women In News (WIN) Social Impact Reporting Initiative (SIRI). Gender equality, diversity and inclusion ( GEDI) Information in this article does not reflect the views of WAN IFRA Women In News.
