By King’s Office Correspondents
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – His Majesty King Mswati III visited three giant Zambian companies trading in the Lusaka South Multi-Facility Economic Zone on Sunday afternoon and was highly impressed.
This is an incentivized investment area, commonly referred to as a special economic zone (SEZ). Eswatini has also designated similar spaces. The three companies visited by His Majesty are Big Tree Beverages, TradeKings Group and Twyford.
Big Tree Beverages is a subsidiary company of TradeKings Group, a wholly Zambian-owned company established in 1995. Trade Kings Group is a wholly Zambian-owned business, specialising in the creation and manufacture of innovative laundry and cleaning products, delicious sweets, confectionary, snacks, and biscuits and reinventing both traditional and exciting new beverages.
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It has invested over 250 million dollars (approximately E4.7 billion) and hired over 16 000 employees. Twyford is a Chinese-led company specialising in the production of tiles of all kinds. It also sells its products across the Southern Africa Development Community and has indicated an interest in establishing a branch in Eswatini.
His Majesty the King thanked President Hakainde Hichilema for allowing him to pay a visit to the Special Economic Zone, or Industrial Park, that is reserved for the establishment of all sorts of companies.
His Majesty thanked the companies for having shown interest and invested in Zambia, thereby creating jobs for the citizens. He said he was impressed not just by the state-of-the-art equipment installed there but also by their first-world-standard products, which are also sold beyond the borders of Zambia.
“We say well done, and we have been pleased to move around in these facilities. In order to be successful, such facilities require a lot of commitment from all involved, including the workers, so that they can be in a position to meet their targets and objectives,” the King said.
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His Majesty said visiting the companies gave him and his entourage, which included Inkhosikati Make LaMagongo, Commerce, Industry and Trade Minister Manqoba Khumalo and Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Thulisile Dlamini, the opportunity to see what is being produced in Zambia.
“Now that we know what sorts of goods these companies produce, it has given us insight and when we get back home, we will see what we may require or buy from Zambia,” the King said.
In fact, in his deliberations during the tour of the companies, His Majesty the King encouraged the companies to consider opening their branches in the Kingdom as well.
