Africa-Press – Zambia. President Hakainde Hichilema was today represented by Mines Minister Paul Kabuswe in Kitwe at the ringing of the traditional bell, as LuSE officially celebrated Copperbelt Energy Corporation’s milestone of becoming the first listed company to be valued at US $1 billion.
Commerce Minister Chipoka Mulenga rang the bell of the Lusaka Securities Exchange (LuSE) on the sidelines of the Copperbelt Agricultural Mining Industrial Networking Expo in Kitwe, as investors, customers, regulators, employees, and other stakeholders toasted to the landmark achievement.
“Let us applaud what CEC has done – I am sure you can see this is a Zambian company, and it’s the Zambians who are running it. Part of the US $1 billion is due to what is happening in the mining sector,” Mr. Kabuswe said.
CEC Acting Chief Executive Officer Mutale Mukuka thanked investors, employees, customers, and other key actors for buying into the company’s vision, which has seen its value increase exponentially at a time when the country faces an acute power deficit.
As the biggest independent power utility in Zambia, which also owns the only transmission line that connects the Democratic Republic of Congo and Southern Africa, CEC has been instrumental in maintaining the power balance despite the acute deficit.
“As we ring the bell, we mark not only the market milestone but, more importantly, we believe this is a powerful symbol of our journey that has shaped the business by its vision, resilience, and the strong partnerships that we have had with each of our stakeholders,” Mr. Mukuka said.
“Now that we have crossed this milestone of US $1 billion, this is not the end but shall be the beginning of our actions to continue to build the business into the future, especially now that, as a sector and as a country, we are challenged—we have these power shortages.”
He said attaining a market capitalisation of US $1 billion would help CEC’s ability to fund future projects.
And Mr. Mulenga praised the ingenious manner in which the CEC top leadership has steered the company to reach the US $1 billion valuation.
“CEC is an iconic company that is leading the way for everybody, and we should be very proud as a country and take a leaf from what CEC has done and say that ‘we can do it; we can achieve it,’” Mr. Mulenga said.
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