Stanbic ready to help actualise Zambia’s transportation hub vision

KABANDA CHULU
Lusaka
STANBIC Bank says it has developed numerous products to support Zambia’s role as a strategic hub that links various trade corridor networks such as Walvis Bay, Kasumbalesa and the upcoming Lobito railway and road trade corridor, says head of business and commercial banking Chanda Mwila.
And Ms Mwila has urged small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to seize opportunities presented by Stanbic’s ZamChina Trade Connect facility because it is positioned to help the SME sector grow by granting their businesses access to lucrative export markets and accurate information.Reflecting on the theme, ‘Connecting Zambia and SADC by land to facilitate trade, investments and ease the movement of goods and people’, which anchored the just-ended 2024 Annual Land-Linked Zambia (LLZ) Conference and Exhibition, Ms Mwila said the country remains an integral market within the wider SADC region to foster faster economic growth.
“As Stanbic, we are alive to the game-changing value of trade corridors in extracting the opportunities available in the regional markets. Through the Standard Bank Africa Trade Barometer Report, we have visibility of the exponential growth in demand for goods, services, and commodities in the region and globally,” she said in an interview last Friday.
“At Stanbic, we aim to be the preferred bank for existing and potential transport and logistics businesses not only in Zambia but across the continent by leveraging our trans-regional capabilities in the different markets in Africa and with key trading partners outside Africa.”
She said Stanbic has a robust transport sector value proposition that seeks to provide dedicated solutions in the transport sector, ranging from financing infrastructure such as roads and rail to solutions for the entire transportation value chain.
“We also have various access to finance products since we understand that the transport and logistics business is capital-intensive and requires access
to finance. Our wide range of capabilities include working capital solutions through structured Trade Finance and longer-term financing through our Vehicle and Asset Finance proposition, that can secure assets and equipment unique to the transport sector. We additionally offer insurance solutions as a value-addition proposition facilitated by Stanbic Insurance Brokers,” Ms Mwila said.
She observed that one of the main challenges local businesses still face is inadequate access to information and market-relevant data, which Stanbic’s trade finance solutions have helped to resolve.
“The challenge with most SMEs is access to information and access to the market. The ZamChina Trade Connect proposition simplifies the process of accessing supply in a market that they have probably never been to before,” Ms Mwila said.
“What we do is connect them to various suppliers in China and then they will be able to have a conversation with them in terms of what they need…be it equipment, a truck…. We have even financed fuel tankers for some SMEs, so it gives them that opportunity to have access to a market in a safe and secure manner,” Ms Mwila said.
“Our market-leading Africa China Trade Solutions, known as ZamChina, can seamlessly connect buyers to suppliers of equipment and logistical assets in China at a competitive cost without compromising on the buyers’ desired standard of equipment.”
Over 500 delegates, with 18 African Ministers of Transport, were in attendance, with host Minister of Transport and Logistics Frank Tayali re-emphasising Government’s commitment to positioning Zambia’s international trade connectivity through developing the various transport corridors that traverse the country.
These are: Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Corridor; Lobito Corridor; Nacala Corridor; North-South Corridor; Beira Corridor and Central Corridor.
“It is in the development of these corridors that Zambia will truly transform itself into a land-linked country and benefit from our abundant resources and strategic location,” he said.