When one young man supplied black soil for my lawn in December, he proposed the supply of human manure. I was eating a mango at the time and I almost threw up. Just the thought of human manure littered all over my lawn nauseated me.

He further revealed most of the green lawns on which I hosted receptions were a product of treated pooh-pooh. It is amazing how opportunities are opening up in the strangest of products. Next week, I will write about business opportunities in this sector associated with the environment. The reason is that on the 3rd of March, the British Council and Zambian Breweries will jointly run a one-day Waste Management workshop at Sandy’s Creation.

I guess there are many companies associated with waste management that may not have received any invitation letters. You can call the British Council or Zambian Breweries and ask for Daisy Banda or Kapinda Wakumelo respectively.

The hot topic in terms of opportunities as things stand is in the Information Communications and Technology sector (ICT). While in Ethiopia recently, President Rupiah Banda did disclose Zambia was going to invest heavily in the ICT. This sector has all the promises of a dynamic industry not only for established businesses but for the young entrepreneurs whose mindset is geared towards exploring new things.

The ICT will continue to produce very wealthy people in Zambia and beyond. Among the world’s richest people are in ICT. Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, Yahoo, AT&T are sectors that are influencing the world and in the process making other people rich. I know many Zambians who had a chance to excel in ICT. If they knew how to manage money, partnerships and clients, they would have by now expanded into other countries.

The reason ICT is a growing sector is that it is a solution-based business. It offers opportunities for other businesses to improve levels of efficiency, productivity and networking at reduced cost. Businesses that are dominating the world are those that seek to offer solutions for other businesses. ICT is always exploring new ground and new opportunities to leverage and there is no competition for knowledge. Unlike the mining sector where standing up a business requires huge resources in terms of money, ICT only requires the brain resource.

The other day, I sat wondering why someone has had to come up with the High Definition TV (and now, we are talking of 3HD-whatever this means!) I have personally never complained of weak definition of picture on my TV for many years. But someone has been working at improving that picture. All of a sudden, people are flocking to MultiChoice to switch to HD.

The power of this industry is in moving the world in the direction it chooses. It is a business leveraging on high anticipation; having full knowledge about what people want and then provide solutions. In countries like Japan, the shelf-life of technologies has moved to less than three months. It means every three months; someone will come up with another solution to what was previously solved. My prediction is that human beings will never stop designing new information systems, new communication channels and new technologies until they peep into Heaven; and God will have to confuse their language!

Most of the opportunities in ICT am about to discuss already exist in Zambia. Being a solution-based industry; we can never talk of saturation. The reason is that the clients will keep buying every often. If you are in the furniture industry, you will have to think of new clients to supply furniture but in ICT, one client can buy new software in the morning, and depending on how you explain, can buy another one in the evening.

The leading opportunities in ICT with respect to Zambia are in selling and supplying. There are thousands of ICT related gadgets, accessories such as computers, mobile phones and data storage discs and drives. I have seen small players at Lusaka City market and big players at Manda Hill. The total replacement budget for various accessories by Zambian businesses is in excess of K120 billion per annum.

The copper mining companies as well as commercial entities such as banks have huge budgets just for the purchase of various ICT accessories. This figure grows by 11 per cent every year. This does not take account of individuals and students who are being initiated in the ICT industry yearly. If you are already in this business but not winning, you may be milking a male species!

As industries invest significantly into ICT, the opportunities for maintenance and repair also increase. A number of Zambians have the right training in ICT and the rewards are significantly high. My advice to Zambian entrepreneurs in the repair industry is to learn to be truthful and disciplined. Some young entrepreneurs with excellent skills in the repair of various gadgets deliberately do shoddy work even when they have capacity to build a brand. Stick to delivery time and be sincere!

The opportunity in maintenance and repair also goes hand in hand with the supply and installation of software. Many manufacturing companies, hotels, banks, mining companies, colleges and retail outlets are regularly purchasing all sorts of gadgets. These normally do not have these specialised skills in their IT departments. Businesses find it cheaper hiring out such one-off tasks than engaging full time staff.

Let us now move to the big ones. The real opportunities for real success in ITC lie in software development, engineering and the maintenance of such software. There are a number of businesses already making good money in the management of information systems, payroll, point of sale applications and many others.

My friend Jeremiah Phiri of Dove Computing has become an established local brand in payroll solutions and other IT related products. Many government ministries and several other private companies are with Dove Computing. Every year, the clients renew the licences; and in the process, Dove Computing makes passive income for its shareholders.

My other colleague David Nama equally controls a number of ATM machines leased out to some banks through his Proxy computer firm. For every withdrawal of cash by a bank customer, Dana Services takes a portion in charges. What more can you ask for? You install the software and technology and you wait for people to pay you. It can only happen in ITC. No wonder Nama refers to this side of his businesses, ‘creating money’.

Some of the upcoming cadre of wealthy young people in Zambia is in services such as graphics designing for advertising, marketing and branding purposes. My former workmates at ZNBC Alec Mugala and Patrick Musonda are minting gold in the graphics design industry through their company Prime Time Productions.

I have gestured to them about full time employment and they ask me to stop being crazy! They have found opportunities in the new and old companies that seek to rebrand their images so that they are competitive in this fast changing country.

Young people are full of ideas. In designing the cover of my book, Business Values for our Time, I consulted a South African company for the task. But a young University of Zambia student, Alinani Mugala, decided to give it a shot. I do not have to make second choices about who is nearer my expectation!

The growing opportunities in ICT are also in web development design, web and email hosting, web domain registration and all types of online publications. The web-designer and administrator for chibambakanyama.com, Puremarks Technology, was started by a young man Sifweti Situmbeko a few years ago. He had no capital.

However, he had the brain and skill. Now, I pay him monthly; and he is currently investing over K30 million in server networks and licences. Other international firms making huge money at the moment in this area are Google, Yahoo, Facebook and YouTube (and the world feels hopeless without these new services!)

I do not have enough space to discuss opportunities in the Internet service provision currently dominated by companies like Zamnet, Africonnect, Post ISP, Microlink, Coppernet, Proxy and many others. The truth is that access to ICT services in Zambia is below 30 per cent. In other words, these companies have just scratched the surface of opportunities in this sector. Remember once again, the ICT sector is a solution based industry; opportunities never end.

The mobile and telecommunications sector is probably a difficult area to enter in view of the regulatory limitations as well as the size of capital required. But the existing players; Zain, MTN and Cell Z have given opportunities for many other players. One company exists sorely for the provision of masts for one of the mobile companies. Some of the wealthy young entrepreneurs are selling talk-time.

My interest in recent years has been in E-Commerce, E-Governance and E-learning. This ‘E’ something must be seriously explored by those who seek to tap into the opportunities for the creation of wealth now and in future. It is the big thing in Zambia.

The ‘E’ something is associated with credit cards, debit cards, ATM machines, mobile payments, banking services and products and all the associated processing services. The coming of new banks in Zambia means a growth in the potential to make money.

Hey, I should conclude by talking about developing and supplying technologies associated with broadcasting services (video and digital cameras and satellite equipment). Read my book to know why Steven Nyirenda of Muvi TV is where he is today! www.chibambakanyama.com

Source:http://www.postzambia.com/