Zimpapers Logo

South African President Jacob Zuma receives a gift from Meprin Founders officials at their stand at the Zambian Agriculture and Commercial Show in Lusaka on Saturday. Meprin was one of the Zimbabwean companies exhibiting at the show which was opened by President Zuma.

Business Reporter
ZimTrade, the country’s national trade development and promotion body, led a delegation of twelve local companies to the just ended Zambia Agricultural and Commercial Show in Lusaka.

The show, which ended on August 7 2017, provided an opportunity for local companies to showcase their products to potential buyers in Zambia and beyond.

It also provided them with a platform to learn prevailing industry and market trends in various sectors and to benchmark their products against competitors in the region.

Products on display included, leather footwear, building and construction materials, foundry products, processed foods, non-alcoholic beverages, clothing as well as agricultural inputs and implements. About 50 percent of the participating companies were SMEs.

“We are quite happy with the level of business we got from this year’s participation. The visitors to our stand were impressed with the quality of our footwear and we have secured distributorship as well as some impressive orders.

“We are very excited to have also had the opportunity to dress the President of Zambia, His Excellency Edgar Lungu and some of his Cabinet Ministers,” said Mr Abel Nyathi of Millenium Footwear.

The Zambia Agricultural and Commercial Show (ZACS) is a multi-sectoral trade event which provides companies a forum to exchange information and showcase new technologies, product innovation and value addition, among others.

Some of the companies that participated at this year’s event have already sealed deals for distributorship, agents as well as export. The Zimbabwe Pavilion received third prize in the category of Best Export Promotion Exhibit.

Zambia provides great opportunity for Zimbabwean companies to diversify its exports into the region because of its proximity and similarities in cultures and good social and trade relations.

Trade between the two countries is governed by Comesa and SADC Trade Agreements which offer preferential treatment to qualifying products into each other’s market.