Africa-Press – Angola. The Media Nova SA Group promoted this Thursday, in the municipality of Catumbela (Benguela), a debate with businessmen to hear their opinions on business opportunities in the province.
This initiative precedes a business forum called “Business and Connectivity”, which the Group will hold on the 16th and 17th of June of this year, in Benguela, bringing together businessmen from Angola, Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia and Kenya, to address the best processes to make trade and business happen.
Agribusiness, maritime resources, livestock, wood, miners, beverages, manufacturing industry, transport and banking will be the areas under analysis at the meeting by businessmen and entrepreneurs from the aforementioned countries.
According to the coordinator for the debate’s marketing area, Edson Macedo, the meeting aimed to bring together entrepreneurs to exchange ideas and find solutions so that businesses have a collective sequence, where each one can specialize in a branch and give opportunity to others.
He gave the example of agricultural production, where the producer needs the transporter to take the products from the field and take them to the cities and, in turn, the merchant sells them.
Edson Macedo referred to the Lobito Corridor as a facilitator for the flow of products and doing business in the provinces of Benguela, Huambo Bié and Moxico, where the Benguela Railway (CFB) circulates, and with landlocked countries, such as Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which bring their products to be exported to Europe and the Americas, by sea, through the Port of Lobito.
On the occasion, businesswoman Vanda Almeida, from the hotel sector, said that support from the State is needed in order to facilitate bank credit, eliminating bureaucracy, a factor that prevents the achievement of objectives more quickly.
He recognized, on the other hand, that there is still a lack of unity in the class to make it stronger, taking into account the entry of their foreign counterparts, in the scope of free trade, in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) zone.
Nelo Somano, another businessman, applauded the approach of businessmen to those with decision-making power, because, in his view, it will bring fruits to the economy.
In his opinion, the sector that employs the most in the country, after Education and Health, is the hotel and tourism sector.
“We have more than 15 hotels in our province, but there is no superior hotel school”, lamented the businessman.
In his speech, the director of the Provincial Office for Integrated Economic Development, Samuel Maleze, called on the business class to be more united, stating that the Executive has its alignment which is to diversify the economy with the participation of the private sector.
Samuel Maleze recalled that the province has immense opportunities to do business, referring to small examples, such as the lack of a bakery in the municipality of Chongoroi, where people are forced to travel to the city of Benguela (151 kilometers) to buy bread.
“In the Tourism sector, even in Chongoroi, there isn’t a room for someone who wants to stay. It is necessary to inform yourself and take advantage of opportunities, ”he said.
The director congratulated the Media Nova Group’s initiative for choosing the province of Benguela and announced other events to take place next May, with emphasis on the Benguela International Fair (FIB).
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Um passo para o capitalismo