MOPANI Copper Mines spent US$844 million on suppliers in 2011 and the bulk of the contracts went to local vendors in Kitwe and Mufulira towns, which host the mining giant’s operations in Zambia.
Chief executive officer (CEO) Danny Callow said this on Monday in a statement.
Announcing the launch of a new system, which would evolve the way in which the company interacts with its internal customers and external suppliers, Mr Callow said Mopani wanted to provide suppliers with a level playing field and equal competitive advantage.
He said that of the vendors engaged last year, 61% were in first tier which covered Kitwe and Mufulira, 8% comprised all vendors on the Copperbelt, 13% from the rest of Zambia and 18% were foreign vendors.
He said Mopani planned to improve the vendor strategy that was implemented at the beginning of 2011 which aimed at identifying and classifying vendors by geographic areas in order to be able to identify the value and volumes of trade in each particular locality.
He said the new system, which had been running since the beginning of March 2012, has given a new dimension to the way of doing business with Mopani, making it even more user friendly.
“I’m very delighted that we have managed to implement this system that will see all vendors competing at the same level and given equal opportunities to do business with us,” Mr Callow said.
“We are confident that through this system, we will be able to help small businesses grow by giving them equal opportunities with established ones. This will go a long way in creating employment opportunities for the community,” he said.
The new system had been implemented primarily to enhance security in order to curtail any possible fraudulent activities in the evaluation and awarding of supply tenders to the vendors.
Mr Callow said the system gave vendors the opportunity to tender electronically and that minimised the chances of collusion between the buyers and the vendors on one hand, and provided the suppliers with equal competitive advantage on the other.
Mopani, in conjunction with the Kitwe Chamber of Commerce and Industry, recently conducted workshops where over 200 vendors from the Copperbelt as well as Lusaka received training on how to use the new system.
Mopani was also introducing “Internet Cafés” at the Corporate Office in Kitwe and at Mufulira General Offices to give access to vendors that did not have access to the internet, the CEO said.
The new system’s marketing director Meryl Malcomess said this was the first time in over 30 years that a company was undertaking such an extensive sensitisation of external system users and showed the level of commitment to ensuring that the end users benefitted significantly from the system.
The Kitwe Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) welcomed Mopani’s new initiative, saying it would level the playing field and its members would derive a lot of benefits from the new system.
“We commend Mopani for taking the leading role in improving the business environment which will ultimately result in the improvement of the Copperbelt region in the area of employment creation and general standard of living,” KCCI president Raj Karamchand said.
He said Mopani was dedicated to enhancing and developing local Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the newly-implemented system was a step in that direction.
[Times of Zambia]
People will not comment on this thread for the simple reason that they hate joy. Gosh, the Zambian mindset….
Aren’t the bulk of these vendors simply Landlords? Mr Callow, can you be more precise you what exactly the vendors are supplying you!
suppliers of housing units and food for lodging and camping.And you say vendors in kitwe and mufurila my foot.
Landlords, housing units, complain all you like, they are still vendors. nless you want to give them another tag you ungrateful *****s
Put the Value of goods supplied than % of total suppliers, may be the 61% only supplied K1miilion wealth of Goods, where us, the 31% Foreigners may have supplied Trillions of dollars. Please don’t fool us we know how these Foreigner take advantage of Zambians. We want more money in Zambian pockets not percentages.
The problem with you Mopani starts with registration of contractors in which your staff are so corrupt that they demand up front back payment to be registered if they are lucky. other end up just paying for nothing. Your registration of contractors is not transparent. You have encouraged curtails of contractors which prevents new entrants to your contractors list. Second, those who are on your list will be lucky to get a contract because you have preferred contractors which makes others left out or cut off completely. Its a shame. Everyone wants empowerment and so help many not only a few.
I thought they are talking about investing in street vendors. Why not invest in football, like Mufulira Wonderers? What an insult… STRIKE!!!!
Street Vendors? You make me laugh!
Yeah invest in Mighty Mufulira Wanderers!
Invest in Nkana! How can Moses Katumbi a lone ranger surpass you? You killed our club Nkana!
The CEO is right about the figures. what he failed to say that this group of vendors his talking about includes , Nkana water,KCC,BP(PUMA) CEC,ZESCO,MTN,ZAMTEL,BARLOWORLD,EC MING,SWANPOLE(ANDERSONS COMPANY),GIDER AND TETA OF LSHYA and Techtrade . so if these companies got 3.4trillion .which Zambian SME is he talking about. these guys are not real. Mopani is too much of a white south african mine. before an order is place they look at the name of the company. we have now lost control completely. its kingdom come.