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The rise and rise of Yo Maps

  Yo Maps Originally published in the Zambia Daily Mail  By VICTOR KALALANDA For any ardent follower of Zambian music, there appears to be enough reason to believe that celebrated Zambian artiste Yo Maps (real name, Elton Mulenga) is nothing short of extraordinary. If he was average, as his detractors would desperately have us believe, he wouldn’t have lasted more than six months on the local music scene after releasing his smash hit song “Finally.” He would have disappeared like snow in the summer sun. The unwritten rule in the music industry is that without a decent prior music catalogue, any artiste who happens upon instant fame is destined to become the infamous one-hit wonder. In any cut-throat field of human endeavor, big doors don’t swing on small hinges. The roots must run deeper than outward appearances, or else nothing lasts. For an artiste that keeps exceeding public expectations since rapturously coming to the notice of the nation in 2018, Yo Maps proves th...
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Marcopolo tiles expands

  IDC company spots more investment, export opportunities

PRESIDENT Lungu (right) listening to Wonderful Group chairman Huang Yaochi during the opening of Marcopolo Tiles Company Limited in Chilanga District of Lusaka. PICTURE SALIM HENRY STATE HOUSE

VICTOR KALALANDA, Lusaka

When Marcopolo Tiles declared its first dividend worth K72 million to its shareholders in June this year, the company had not only made a killing, but its expansion projects were taking root.

Following its recent pay-out, the company, which is the first outside South Africa to manufacture porcelain tiles in Southern Africa, is now poised to break its own records after completing a sanitary ware expansion project costing $15 million.

Such momentous growth has occurred in defiance to economic woes posed by COVID-19, establishing the company as one of the exceptional success stories under Government’s investment arm, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).

Commenting on the company’s growth, IDC chief executive officer Mateyo Kaluba says “we at the IDC are proud to be associated with the growth of a Zambian manufacturing company which is for the first time in this country producing bathtubs, toilets and hand basins, in addition to the tiles that it has been producing since its establishment in 2016.”

The sanitary ware project, which will source its materials from within the Zambia, takes off this August and its production line will result in the saving of foreign exchange—since Zambians no longer need to import the products that will be manufactured.

It is because of such promising growth that Government decided to take over the company as a shareholder, in a bid to accelerate national efforts aimed at wealth and employment creation.

At the current rate, in fact, Marcopolo Tiles has created a total of 750 jobs and it now exports its products to six countries in Africa.

Incidentally, with 49 percent and 51 percent of the company shares owned by local institutions and the founders respectively, Marcopolo Tiles has a continental competitive edge as the first tile manufacturing company in Africa to produce porcelain tiles.

IDC’s shares are actually pegged at 22.61 percent, in a state-of-the-art automated tile manufacturing plant situated in Lusaka West with an installed capacity of 10.8 million square meters of tiles per year or 40,000 square meters of tiles per day.

Besides, the local market for the company accounts for 60 percent of its sales while 40 percent is exported to countries like Congo, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

“Our interest in investing in Marcopolo Tiles Company Ltd,” says Kaluba, “emanates from its unique place as the only one tile manufacturing plant in sub-Saharan Africa, outside of South Africa. The expansion of Marcopolo Tiles Company Limited, further down the value chain was a key attraction to our investment in the company. The fact that the project has materialised gives us great comfort (that) we will have the desired impact on forex earnings through exports and on job creation through the value chain. I urge Zambians to buy local or to buy Zambian (products), as these products meet the highest international standards.”

The assumption of a strategic role by Government in the management of Marcopolo Tiles constitutes a resolve to take advantage of the Africa continental free trade area, which could be exploited by turning the country into a manufacturing hub.

Through IDC, Government has been on the lookout for investment opportunities in both greenfield and brownfield projects, and Marcopolo Tiles is partly a realisation of such ambitious and historic efforts.

Through a transformation agenda that is bent on making its enterprises profitable and thriving, IDC has so far scored roaring successes at the manufacturing company.

Under IDC’s steering, the revenues of Marcopolo Tiles grew by over 31 percent from K397 million in 2019 to K522 million in 2020, whereas the operating profit grew by 42 percent.

Additionally, the net profit grew from K143 million in 2019 to K150 million in 2020, despite the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy as a whole.

And the production of tiles itself shot up by 26 percent from 2.71 million boxes of tiles to 2.95 million boxes.

Such growth in revenue and the improvement in operating performance were further underpinned by increasing domestic and export sales.

The developments recorded so far have thus led to import substitution and added foreign exchange earning for Zambia, ultimately helping stabilise the economy.

It is clear, therefore, that IDC acted with precision when it invested in Marcopolo Tiles.

By cementing its expansion projects, the tiles company will create more jobs for Zambians, increase value addition to the country’s natural resources and eventually lead to retention of wealth within the country.

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