About Us

The key role of the ZCCB is to nurture and enhance the capacities of cooperatives and small-to-medium enterprises in Zambia as they implement projects in local communities. The Centre identifies and engages a pool of experts to facilitate training, coaching and mentoring of cooperatives and SMEs on topics such as entrepreneurship, bidding and procurement, project management and other relevant themes with a view to building their capacities as they engage in projects in their communities.

This is aimed at buttressing the efforts of the New Dawn Government as it seeks to empower people in their own local communities in the identification and implementation of projects through mechanisms such as the Constituency Development Fund (CDF). While this overarching policy shift has great potential in channeling resources to local communities and enabling local participation in development, there are gaps that exist such as lack of technical know-how and expertise among local cooperatives and SMEs to undertake and successfully implement such projects.

Designing and implementing an effective tender is a huge challenge for most contractors who seek government contracts in Zambia. Studies (Friedman et al, 2001; Zheng et al, 2011; Van Praag, 2003) reveal that some small scale contractors are not favored during a tendering process by prospective clients because they neglect various factors that affect the success and failures of submitting a tender for a contract. Some contractors do not structure and draft their tenders in an appropriate manner; hence their chance of being contracted is reduced. Construction industry has complexity in its nature because it contains large number of parties as clients, contractors, consultants, stakeholders, shareholders, regulators and others. While this is the case for many contractors, the scenario is even dire for cooperatives and SMEs that are being targeted by government spending under CDF.