LUSAKA, Zambia – 23 March 2023 – Financial Insight Zambia (FIZ) hosted Episode 4 of FIZ Show, where FIZ Founder-Mwelwa Chibesakunda spoke to Maybin Mudenda, an investment entrepreneur at Mudenda Capital.
In this interview held on 23 March 2023 in Lusaka, Mr. Mudenda pointed out some critical aspects emanating from the 2023 mining Indaba in Cape Town, South Africa. He described the 2023 mining Indaba as exciting and a way of reconnecting with others and companies. Especially those they never met during the COVID-19 period. The connection was great, especially since it was a packed session; there were many participants compared to the Covid-19 period when they never had complete sessions.
“You will be surprised, Mr. Chibesakunda, that during the 2023 mining indaba in Cape Town, I received other business prospects, including oil tankers, insurance companies, and Kamoto Companies.” Two years ago, Kamoto began supplying traders across borders with warehousing facilities on the Copperbelt. Mr. Mudenda hopes to continue working with more foreign and domestic investors and signing more contracts with them. Mr. Mundenda said.
Mr. Mudenda found the transportation logistics business exciting and decided to enter it. This is because he worked for Oxfam and other logistics companies, which gave him an idea of how logistics businesses operate. When an opportunity came for Southern Logistic Company to invest in Zambia, he partnered with them. Together, they invested in different countries, including Congo and Mozambique.
In Zambia, the business was MK Petroleum. M stands for ‘Mudenda‘ himself, and K stands for ‘Kalwalwanda,’ his wife’s name—currently, Southern Logistics in Zambia trades as MK Petroleum. The business has grown and is Zambia’s most significant fuel transportation company. It has an impressive team of over 50 workers and 165 tankers. The company is considering introducing another product to enter the oil marketing market.
Regarding the Mudenda Capital business, “I set up the Mudenda Capital business three years ago because I noticed I was involved in many different things. I spoke to two funders who agreed to fund, and we got on the market; our first transaction was with a company based in South Africa, where we bought about a 30 percent stake. This means that, in every business, you have to take risks and position yourself in a rough situation; it always pays off. Ultimately, what is significant are the results one archiving can produce”. Mr. Mudenda said.
“Being at this point has never been easy. I have always been very aggressive, and God has been a blessing. I have archived part of what I wanted and hope to archive more as I sit on international platforms. Otherwise, I have not yet arrived; I still have a long way to go.” Mr. Mudenda added.
Mr. Mudenda further explained that, in any business, human capital is a critical principle. As an executive, you need to be consistently good at human capital. Also, strong collaboration among partners is essential; everyone has different abilities in business. For instance, one can be proficient at market sales and the other at company operations. Therefore, it is always wise to position yourselves in respective categories as partners; for instance, one can make market sales, and the other can concentrate on company operations and manage resource organization. In every business, it is also essential to stick to one currency that appreciates, for instance, the United States dollar.
Mr. Mudenda congratulated Financial Insight Zambia’s Founder for signing up with KPMG. He advised all young people to be determined and never give up. The world does not entertain laziness; people need not be lazy and must always stay focused. Whenever possible, please do not be jealous of another person. The more time one spends being jealous of others, the more time one wastes. Work hard; work pays off