Dodia weighs opportunities for local companies to partner with foreigners

Economic Analyst Yusuf Dodia

Economic Analyst Yusuf Dodia has observed that opportunities for Zambian companies to partner with investors from developed countries are still very slim.

Mr. Dodia notes that currently there are very few Zambian companies that have the financial muscle to enter into equitable partnerships with big investors from highly industrialized countries like China, the US and Germany.

He has told Qfm News by telephone that this does not however mean President Edgar Lungu’s call on investors from China to partner with Zambians is not possible.

Mr. Dodia who is also Private Sector Development Association (PSDA) Chairperson says the country only needs to recognize what kind of partnerships it is likely to enter in with such big capacity foreign investors.

He says this entails keeping in mind the logic that a large Chinese company coming to invest in Zambia is not aptly going to enter into partnership with a local company on 50-50 basis.

Mr Dodia says such a Chinese investor is most pertinently going to enter into a kind of partnership where the Zambian Company merely becomes a supplier of goods and services for supporting the development of the investment.

He has stated that for the fact that China has now become a world center stage player in among others manufacturing and technology advancements, it will be much useful for Zambia to enter into bilateral partnerships for infrastructure development with such a highly industrialized country.

Mr. Dodia has also advised the Zambian government to woo more Chinese investors in the already established three Economic Zones.