Electronics firm Samsung, intends to strike a deal with the government of Zambia to help the country develop various sectors like construction, energy, health and education.
The partnership was strongly motivated by the solid growth and liberalization of the landlocked Southern African country, Zambia; this will ensure the country’s developments heighten.
Zambia has in their records a strong real gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the last three years. The country has a GDP of 6.5 percent in 2012, 6.6 percent in 2011 and 7.6 percent in 2010; this is according to the global financial tracking website indexmundi.com.
Thierry Boulanger, Director of information technology (IT) solutions and B2B Africa at Samsung Africa, said that Zambia’s GDP growth and increasingly liberal market offers corporate business attractive investment incentives.
Samsung Africa has been increasing donations such as solar power generators, smart healthcare solution products and education solutions.
“The Zambian government has embraced a strategy for implementing e-government solutions and understand the importance and effectiveness of these programmes,” said Boulanger.
Kalyan Medapati, senior analyst for global markets at Informa Telecoms and Media, has told ITWeb Africa that moves by Zambia’s government to open up its economy has made the country an attractive market to invest in by the likes of Samsung Africa.
“The country has a good track record on reforms, a stable government and I think they are specifically looking to energy and construction in Zambia,” he said.
But while Zambia’s economy over the years has opened up, government officials in the country have also taken a more rigid approach. The ruling Patriotic Front (PF) government has threatened to shut down websites critical of Zambia’s rulers.
Despite the Zambian government’s increasingly hardline approach, nevertheless, Zambia’s strategic position in Africa could be vital to its future economic rise.