Stanbic targets energy, mining, manufacturing, agriculture to drive Zambia’s growth

Stanbic Bank Zambia says it is prioritising financing for the energy, manufacturing, mining and agriculture sectors as it seeks to support Zambia’s economic growth and job creation through investments in productive industries and enterprise development. Stanbic Bank Zambia Chief Executive, Mwiindwa Siakalima, said the bank’s strategy is aligned with Zambia’s National Development Plan, which identifies manufacturing, agriculture, mining and tourism as priority sectors requiring reliable infrastructure and investment to unlock growth. Speaking at the 98th Zambia Agricultural and Commercial Show in Lusaka on Saturday, Siakalima said economic growth depended not only on financing but also on addressing constraints such as electricity supply, governance and market access.

“Zambia is a home we drive growth. We’ve got key sectors in the economy. From a Stanbic side, what we look at is enabling those first.

We know we are coming out of the drought situation that we had. It impacted energy and power supply,” he said. Siakalima said the bank had played a leading role in financing renewable energy projects to help close Zambia’s electricity deficit.

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He said the bank was among the lead arrangers of the US$71.5 million financing package for the 100-megawatt Tusamba Solar Project, whose electricity will supply a mining operation. “The first one is the Tusamba solar project, where we were one of the lead arrangers of the facility which then brought about the Tusamba 100 megawatts solar project. That power that is being generated there has got a mine as an off-taker,” he said.

He added that Stanbic also acted as lead arranger, lead manager and underwriter for the US$96 million green bond that is financing the 136-megawatt Itimpi Solar Project being developed by the Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC). “The other one is the Itimpi project that is being done by CEC, which basically is looking at about 136 megawatts of power. As part of capital market development we did then participate to deepen capital markets in that aspect,” Siakalima said.

Beyond financing major infrastructure, Siakalima said the bank was investing in the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly those seeking to participate in mining and manufacturing supply chains. He said access to finance alone was insufficient if businesses lacked sound governance, financial management and operational capacity. “From a Stanbic Bank perspective we don’t look at financing as the first step that you look at in enterprise development.

What you look at is ensuring that we have the small and medium enterprise look at its governance first,” he said. Through SME masterclasses conducted on the Copperbelt, Stanbic equips entrepreneurs with skills in financial management, record keeping and business growth, while incubation programmes implemented with government and United Nations partners are helping prepare businesses to supply the mining industry. “So we enable them to gain knowledge around how they can run their businesses as enterprises, and then to be able to scale, because scaling is also important.

How are you mine ready? Can you as an enterprise be resilient enough, have the records, know what the mine is looking for?” he said.

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