BAT shows off Zambia plant

British American Tobacco (BAT) Zambia’s MD, Godfrey Machanzi, says his company is committed to contributing toward the country’s economic development, according to a story in The Lusaka Times.
Machanzi was speaking during a media tour of the company’s new, US$25 million cigarette manufacturing factory in Lusaka on Saturday.
The factory, which is situated at the Lusaka South Multi-Facility Economic Zone, was said to have created 72 direct jobs and a further 2,500 jobs in the ‘formal and informal sectors’.
Machanzi noted also that the construction of the factory was evidence of the Government’s commitment to enabling investment in the country.
BAT Zambia previously had a factory in the country, but it had been closed, Machanzi said, before adding that the company’s return was an expression of its confidence in the Zambian economy.
He said that, as in other markets, tobacco production supported many jobs and therefore had a positive impact on the country’s economy.
But he sounded a warning. He said the illegal tobacco trade continued to be the biggest challenge. Zambia had the highest incidence of illegal tobacco-products imports in Southern Africa.