IT’S TOO EXPENSIVE TO RUN A BUSINESS IN ZAMBIA- Macpherson Mutale

Macpherson Mutale writes:

IT’S TOO EXPENSIVE TO RUN A BUSINESS IN ZAMBIA

To the Government and Administration of President Hakainde Hichilema: if we are serious about Grow Zambia Agenda, then we must be honest about what it actually costs to run a business in this country.

I run a few micro businesses, including a media company with broadcasting and a digital online newspaper. Today, I want to focus on broadcasting and demonstrate just how expensive it is to operate a business under this environment.

For a radio station, the statutory annual costs alone include:

Radio licence – K20,000
ZICTA – K8,000
ZAMCOPS – K3,000
Business levy – K6,000
Health certificate – K2,500
Fire certificate – K3,500
ZRA
NAPSA
Workers Compensation
NHIMA
Annual maintenance – K20,000
PACRA annual returns – K500
Rentals – K15,000

Then come the monthly operational costs: electricity K2,000, water K368, garbage collection K300, tower services K3,500, fuel K4,000, security K3,500, plus the monthly wage bill.

And this is before you factor in replacing broken-down equipment and maintaining two alternative power sources—a generator and a solar back-up system.

Then there is the initial investment. Setting up a radio station normally costs between K350,000 and K1,000,000, depending on the size of the outfit.

So let’s stop pretending that simply telling Zambians to “grow businesses” is enough.

With dwindling advertising revenues, radio and TV stations are drowning. Workers in most stations go months on end without salaries.

The cost of doing media business in Zambia is prohibitively high.

And this is where Government needs to take a hard look at itself.

As Government embarks on Grow Zambia Agenda, there is an urgent need to streamline some of these licensing requirements. You cannot keep piling costs and bureaucracy onto struggling businesses and then wonder why businesses are not growing.

Take something as basic as certification.

You pay for a fire licence, business levy and health certificate, and then spend another nine months burning fuel trying to obtain the actual copies because they always don’t have paper for printing.

Seriously?

Why not simply issue digital certificates that businesses can print themselves?

This is not rocket science. It is common sense.

If Government genuinely wants businesses to survive, employ people and contribute to the economy, then make it cheaper, simpler and less frustrating to do business.

You cannot Grow Zambia by making it prohibitively expensive to operate in Zambia.