The recent victory has given people renewed hope in the team, and it’s abilities to deliver. By wining the Zambia National team has inspired a nation. People have taken to the streets to celebrate this great victory that means so much to a nation that needed it so much.
This is possibly the greatest Zambian celebration of our time. The only celebration that has been bigger than that of the 2011 presidential elections, as the whole nation has come together to share in the joy of not only winning but also justifying their hopes, dreams and finally putting to rest all their “What ifs”.
The could have beens have become and now the promise has been fulfilled, nolonger are we just a nation with great potential and hope, we are Afcon Champions.

This is a signal, a call to our inner hope as a nation, to continue hoping and believing in ourselves as a nation and as individuals.

Zambia right now is in a state of euphoria and rightly so, the nation is in great celebration as we await our national sports heroes that have done the nation and themselves proud.

On paper Chich’s highest level of education would appear to be grade nine. When she completed her grade 12, through some mistake her results were given to someone else, that is someone with the same name who had not written the final grade 12 exams, but had collected Chichi’s results as her own. She found this out when she went to collect her results she was told that there had been two people with the same name, her and somebody else and one of them hadn’t written the examination, and also that the results had already been collected by the other person. This, coupled with family issues derailed Chichi’s academic progress, but the amazing thing about her is that you would perceive her as a university graduate if you ever had the chance to meet her.
Her knowledge and her firm grasp of common sense, that is, the kind that is not so common and her self confidence, you would be forgiven to think she was the managing director of a large enterprise, and well you wouldn’t be that far off.
Chichi is a mother of three, runs her own small business as well as holds down a Job. She has been running her business for a number of years, she keeps it simple, she basically sells food items to people, she’s got her customers which she provides with food items, orders items such as fish and potatoes and goes around and delivers to her customers. On the surface it would seem that Chichi is simply a trader, but when you listen to her describe her strategies you would think twice and realize that she is not only providing her customers with goods, she is providing them with a quality service as well.
Chichi puts it like this.
“I time the month end and when people are really broke and are unable to pay for food for cash, I go around and offer them food items like potatoes and fish which I order in bulk. I time it so that it is just before they get paid, that way even though I sell them the items on credit, they soon pay me.”
She knows, for example, when the lectures at the University of Zambia get paid, and times her business around their time table, she knows that at times before they’ve been paid they might have run out of money and that is when she takes the food to them on credit and they later pay her. Over time she has come to learn that they are some people who will not honour their debt, but she has not been discouraged by the setbacks and she has come to build up a clientele of customers who pay their debts and do so on time.
When I asked her about those that don’t pay her and how she deals with them.

“I know what I am offering is good, and those that don’t pay me are the ones that lose out”
She said with a smile on her face.
She emphasizes on seizing opportunities and she has an array of stories of how she has drawn on her experiences as well as her observations and used that knowledge and skill in her enterprises. She mentioned an account of how she noticed how her sister made money off selling certain clothe items to a particular target market and she analyzed her sister’s business model and then went out bought hand bags and sold them to the same group. Chichi went on to explain how she had worked in various places within Lusaka, restaurants and the like, and at the same time running her own businesses, and how the money earned from the business went straight to funding her savings account and looking after her children.
She described her investment strategies as well as her cost saving measures, at this point you would be impressed by her story but it doesn’t end here.

Chichi, noticed a building under construction, an office/retail park and decided to go and apply for a job in one of the establishments, she applied to work in an internet café as a cashier or a general assistant, but as chance would have it the owner of the place was yet to employ a manager for the place, he therefore offered this Job instead, at that time the owner of the café had his other company (an IT company) to worry about as well as it was also moving into this new building, with so many things up in the air, it fell upon Chichi not only to be the manager of the soon to open internet café but also to be its business developer, as she was left to come up with a business plan for it, as well as design the interior as well as supervise the workers that were working on the café.

This did not happen in a single day, but it did happen over a very short time, in fact only several days, in less than two weeks, through her self confidence and desire to work hard and not shun responsibility Chichi went from a cashier applicant, to an internet café manager in the space of a few days. At this point you might be thinking that the story reads like a fairytale well not only is it a true story, this Cinderella’s carriage doesn’t turn into a pumpkin at midnight, the amazing story continues.
While working on setting up the internet café, Chichi found herself being asked to take on even more responsibility as her boss’s IT company was in much need of and administrator, after the one that was there was fired.
Chichi was not a ‘know it all’ and this is something she continuously admits, but she defines it not as a limitation but as an opportunity as she is continuously expressing her desire to learn. Despite what opportunities she might not have had or what she may not know, she has the desire and determination to seize every opportunity she has now. And as I write this she is making plans to rewrite her grade twelve and work on her education.

As I write this, Zesco has cut off power in Avondale and several other places in Lusaka, leaving us to wonder if it’s a ploy to cause a media black out or just an unfortunate coincidence.

From this we learn three important things; firstly there is a lot of money exchanging hands in informal employment.
Secondly there is immense creativity and entrepreneurship on the streets of Zambia. These guys understand very fundamental concepts such as there is strength in numbers, and that things build up, through small quantities they are able to amass significant sums of money.
Thirdly People may not have access to certain privileges but they are not stopped by what they don’t have and instead work with what they have.

Now here I was back in Zambia with a different handset of the same make, and with the same exact problem and I thouht to myself “Here I go again, no hope this time”. Although not hopeful, I started asking around where I could get the phone fixed. A few places in town, were recommended to me but even before I could go and check them out, I came across Joe.

Joe, a young man selling airtime and phone accessories at a small kiosk in Long Acres, with a smile on his face, very busy though dealing with several customers at the same time.

I was only there to buy airtime, but I decided to ask if he knew anyone who could fix my phone. To my surprise he suggested he could, and he could do it right there in under thirty minutes. For obvious reasons I was extremely sceptical, but I decided to give him a chance. I left him to work on the phone and 45 minutes later I was back to find that Joe had repaired my phone.

In under 45 minutes Joe, from his small red kiosk had done something that the repair shop in England had failed to do in Months. This intrigued me, so I asked “Where did you learn this from?” And he simply answered “From the streets”. I smiled and thought “Welcome to Zambia!”

Tamanga literally the word means to run, but it can be more appropriately translated to mean to run around in search of money to struggle for money in informal employment.

Perhaps this is why you have such a difference between what is on the ground and official statistics for Zambia. I am not saying that people are rich and this is just noticed, but I am stressing the point that there is a lot going on that just isn’t accounted for.

Some wonder what use a kantemba is and how it is beneath them, but its unique advantages cannot be denied or ignored. It allows you to set up rather quickly and it provides you with cash flow which could be diverted to something more sustainable.

What would be considered as great innovation and entrepreneurship around the world, in Zambia, it’s just day to day life. The average Zambian is an entrepreneur.

Yes it is a shame that level of employment in Zambia is very low but on the other side of the coin the entrepreneurship levels are extremely high. Zambians are very creative and every day I see this in the ways they find to make money, and the services they provide.

I initially wanted to write on the evils of a kantemba and the great many things that can be done to improve it, but a lot would have been missed. We must first appreciate that a Kantemba helps meet basic needs and provides cash flow for individuals and families alike. To some families it gives them that financial independence.

People dream big, but as we have been told many times, start from where you are. And that is what a Kantemba allows people to do, organize what they have in terms of skill and resources and just begin.

Although not all, a good number of people begin very small and grow their small little shop into a big thriving organization.

The pricing system used is one i have come to call dynamic pricing, where the price of the item is not solely based on the conditions surrounding bringing that product or service to the market, but also your ability to pay and this varies with each customer. The factor or condition is the sellers living conditions and their desire to make ends meet.

Don’t go to the market dressed like you are a rich person this will send the price of the item you wish to purchase through the roof.

Do Dress modestly but no need to be in rags, for women a Chitenge would not be a bad idea but that is just to give you an idea.

Don’t when in Lusaka you can speak Bemba but in some areas you shouldn’t as this associates you with the copperbelt and some people will then try to take advantage of you.

Do Try and speak the local lingo, Nyanja mostly for Lusaka and Bemba for the Copperbelt, this helps you avoid a lot of people that might want to take advantage of a tourist or a less informed visitor

Funny enough with the offices you would do almost the opposite as in you would want to dress exceptionally well so as to make a good first impression yes, but it’s more than that, i have found that although most people are visual, in that they shape their worlds based on what they see, it’s a bit more in Zambia.

For example if someone walked into an office with unpolished or worse dusty shoes, one would think he probably came in on foot and further draw the conclusion that he is probably looking for a job or wants something.

Yes the average Zambian is a profiler, able to deduct whether rightly or wrongly someone’s social standing and the purpose for their visit.

Therefore if you have to carry around a cloth to keep your shoes shined and instead of going around with an exposed envelop when you go looking for a job, better take it in a professional looking folder or briefcase. Ask to see the manager or whoever you want to see and if possible by name, this will help you get past the front door.

So is what you see, what you get ?

Zambia may not have the same systems as the western world but do not be fooled, it does have one. if we define a system as the way and manner in which things work then there you have it, Zambia ticks, things move and things get done. Maybe not as others might expect but they do.

The system Zambia has is an organic one as opposed to a mechanical one that the west may have. The mechanical system of the west is truly a machine, efficient, churning and delivering out products and services with very high efficiency, buses and trains being on time and if not then only a few minutes late. And if any major disruptions happen then there’s sufficient or at least some information provided to this regard.

The ladders are there to be climbed. The system takes care of you whether you are on benefits or maybe you want to buy a house and have a good credit rating, the system takes care of you and hands you a mortgage.  Generally tips are offered for good service and well that is part of oiling the great machinery.

Now, the organic system of Zambia, if you think about it, it’s hard to understand, there is a stereotype that Africans and those of African descent, when they walk and when the dance there is just this flow. The ‘flow’ might well be the case, but for myself, I am a terrible dancer and can’t hold a tune. I guess I am the exception. But when you see how things work in Zambia you can’t help but feel the rhythm and sense poetry of how things work over here. A survival guide in Zambia might sound like a dance lesson, as I start I tell you, don’t think, feel.

If you want to be frustrated you might complain about the lack of signs and information all around and about why some prices are not displayed and why people will pay different prices on the same bus, you might even complain why almost every single transaction seems to be a haggle, but when you understand it, you smile.

“The market does determine the prices” not wall street or the Lusaka stock exchange, yes there is a guide but a flexible or rather dynamic one.

Zambia is said to be a free market economy and well, you see it every day, with prices fluctuating based on how you are dressed or how much money you are perceived to have, does it sound wrong that the rich should pay more than the poor? Does it sound better that the rich should pay the same as the poor?

There are always businesses starting up all the time, anywhere and everywhere by both the educated and the uneducated. Information is stored in the minds of people and minus labels and road signs people can still navigate through different areas.

As time goes by we will look at the system in Zambia and how it ticks, and how things get done.