VNc#2726c: 3rd part of the 7th indispensable action by GRZ: Economic Productive Infrastructure (EPI) revolution
By Comm. VPM Nyasulu aka @shikulu-LUBUTO
If the first six indispensable actions are to produce the transformation Zambia urgently needs, this Government must pay special attention to the matter of infrastructural constraints facing indigenous Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (i-MSMEs): this is crucial because, again, Zambians cannot build productive enterprises on unproductive infrastructure.
This infrastructure must reach the rural entrepreneur too. The i-MSME revolution for example cannot be a Lusaka revolution given that Zambia’s productive potential exists in every province, district and community. Having stated that production potential exists in every corner of Zambia, I have in mind the:
1. rural farmer processing honey, 2. woman producing peanut butter, 3. young person repairing solar equipment, 4. carpenter manufacturing furniture, 5. small enterprise processing cassava, 6. cooperative producing dairy products, 7. artisan fabricating agricultural equipment.
All the above-mentioned entrepreneurs need infrastructure too.
The GRZ must therefore deliberately decentralise productive infrastructure so that economic opportunity is not determined by proximity to Lusaka. This is how infrastructure can become an instrument of inclusive territorial development.
The Real Test of Infrastructure The success of Zambia’s infrastructure programme should not be measured only by kilometres of roads constructed, megawatts generated or buildings completed. We should rather also measure:
• How many new enterprises were created? • How many existing i-MSMEs scaled? • How many jobs were created? • How much local production increased? • How much did the cost of doing business fall? • How much did Zambia’s import dependence decline? • How much did indigenous value addition increase?
These are the infrastructure outcomes that ultimately matter. A beautiful road that does not connect production to markets is infrastructure.
But a road that enables thousands of indigenous businesses to reach markets is economic production infrastructure-EPI. The need for EPI cannot be over-emphasized! A power station is infrastructure. But reliable power that enables a Zambian manufacturer to operate competitively is EPI!
A building is infrastructure. But a serviced facility where hundreds of indigenous enterprises manufacture, process and innovate is EPI!
The above distinctions matter. They are far from being merely academic.
From Infrastructure spending to Economic Productive Infrastructure (EPI) investment Zambia needs to become much more strategic about what infrastructure is built, where it is built, who it serves and what productive capacity it unlocks. The seventh indispensable action is therefore not simply to build more infrastructure. It is to build infrastructure that makes Zambians more productive, economically!
This mindset shift from just infrastructure for its own sake to EPI because: finance without infrastructure can become stranded capital. Skills without productive facilities can become frustrated human capital. Markets without logistics can remain inaccessible. Technology without connectivity can remain unused. Value chains without processing infrastructure remain incomplete.
But when finance, skills, markets, regulation, value chains and infrastructure reinforce one another, indigenous enterprise can finally move from survival to scale.
We must move from an economy where Zambians are predominantly consumers of infrastructure to one where infrastructure enables Zambians to become producers, manufacturers, processors, innovators and exporters.
And if Zambia is serious about making i-MSMEs finally thrive, then the seventh indispensable action is clear: Build economic productive infrastructure-EPI that allows the indigenous entrepreneur to turn skills, capital and opportunity into production, jobs, wealth and national prosperity. That is how Zambia will begin to build an economy that produces more of what it consumes—and increasingly produces what Africa and the world consume.
Napita mukwai mwemakombe yamfumu!
___________________________________________________________________________ The Author can be reached on +260 955 746 997 or via email at vpmn69@gmail.com
