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Zambia Association of Manufacturers (ZAM) and USAID TradeBoost have signed an agreement designed to instill corporate governance philosophy in the management of business and thereby attract more investments.
The agreement is expected to encourage ZAM members to better follow global Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards and ultimately attract greater foreign investment.
According to ZAM, this partnership will create a manufacturing sector in Zambia that embraces strong governance standards, protects workers’ rights, applies environmentally friendly practices and introduces new technologies.
The agreement was signed between ZAM president, Ashu Sagar, and USAID TradeBoost Chief of Party, Juan Estrada-Valle.
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Minister of Science and Technology, Felix Mutati, Minister of Small and Medium Enterprise Development, Elias Mubanga, and USAID mission director, Peter Wiebler, spoke at an event launching the agreement and stressed the importance of investing in Zambia.
This is according to a statement by ZAM chief executive officer Muntanga Lindunda on Saturday.
The statement said through this agreement, 40 ZAM members would be trained on best practices for cleaner production processes and technologies and how to produce competitive goods that meet international best practices to ultimately ensure market access.
“Through improved ESG practices, market opportunities open up for entry, since buyers want to support companies that are responsible corporate citizens.,” Lindunda said.
Stakeholders are confident that such practices will position ZAM member firms to attract investments from the US, connect with U.S. buyers, and take advantage of trade preferences offered through the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) when exporting to the US.
Additionally, she said 10 ZAM members that successfully completed ESG training will partner with US firms to facilitate green-technology transfer that reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
To ensure equity in its support, Lindunda said 30 percent of businesses that benefit from the programme will be led by women or youths.
“This new partnership follows a series of significant US government investments in Zambia, such as the inaugural US Zambia Business Summit and the over US$44 million US Government investment through USAID TradeBoost and the USAID Business Enabling Project to create an environment that addresses trade, agriculture, clean energy, and eco-tourism challenges in Zambia,” it stated.
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