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Commerce, Trade and Industry
TATA ZAMBIA LTD
Mutale
General Manager
Lusaka Plot 9219 Ben Bella Rd.
PO Box 30074, Lusaka
Tel: +260-211-287160 / 1
Fax: +260-211-286081 / 2 / 3
E-mail: jhmutale@zamnet.zm
tatazam@zamnet.zm
smarora@zamnet.zm
The Tata Group is one of India’s largest and most
respected business conglomerates. It is a leading
name in the engineering, agriculture, hotels and tex-
tile industries. The Tata Group made its first foray
into Africa in the mid-1970s with the creation of Tata
Zambia.
Tata Zambia has four business areas:
- A Vehicles Division, which looks after the sales of
vehicles (pick-ups, trucks and buses), spare parts,
workshops and a training centre;
- A General Trading Division, which deals with bicy-
cles, steel, tires, water-treatment chemicals, pipes,
roofing, steel sheets, electrical supplies, school fur-
niture and miscellaneous projects;
- A Mining Division that provides products to the min-
ing industry;
- An Investments and Property Division that looks
after the Taj Pamodzi chain of hotels and other prop-
erties.
From a single product in 1977, Tata Motors now sells
trucks and buses. Over the years, its clientele has
expanded to include the government, retail consum-
ers and organizations in the trading, mining, trans-
port, hotel and construction business. Today, Tata is
the market leader in Zambia of the medium commer-
cial vehicles segment.
Tata first began by operating Luangwa Industries,
a bicycle manufacturing company. Tata Zambia ran
the company from 1987 to 1997 before it was ac-
quired in its entirety. This is now the bicycle division
of Tata Zambia, manufacturing the ‘Eagle’ roadster
and sports bicycles.
Another Tata Zambia enterprise is the Taj Pamodzi
hotel, managed by the Taj Group from 1990 to 1996,
when Tata Zambia bought a 70% stake in the hotel.
It is now a publicly limited company with the remain-
ing 30% of the company shares held by the Zambian
public and institutions.
Its textile division, Townap Textiles, is based in Liv-
ingstone and makes shirts, suits, bed-sheets, towels
and other fabrics. The agricultural division, MATCO,
distributes tractors from India, and other agricultural
and irrigation equipment.
An additional company, Tata Farms and Foods, was
established in 1989. This subsidiary grows field
crops such as maize, wheat, other vegetables and
roses on a 500-hectare plot in Ngwerere, near Lu-
saka.
Mining is the mainstay of the Zambian economy and
Tata Zambia taps into this industry by supplying a
number of mining products. These include valves,
bearings, rubber linings, graphite electrodes (used
in cobalt processing) and seals. Steel, mainly steel
plates, are supplied to the local market and tires are
sourced from MRF in India.
UNION GOLD
Mark O’Donnell
Manager Director
Office Suite, 2nd Floor
Protea Hotel Lusaka at Arcades
PO Box 51018, Lusaka
Tel: +260-211-252402 / 5 / 6
Fax: +260-211-252441
odonell@uniongold.co.zm
Union Gold is a family business that was established
in 2000 after a group of fragmented companies came
together under a single umbrella. Union Gold is an
investment management holding company that is in-
volved in many different businesses in various differ-
ent sectors of the economy, having taken advantage
of opportunities that have arisen within the growing
Zambian economy. The company is involved a wide
variety of industries such as tourism and hospitality,
construction and property development, industrial
companies and even retail trading.
“Zambia is a good environment in which to do busi-
ness and I would like to see many more companies
open up in Zambia and bring new ideas, new tech-
nologies and the inevitable transfer of skills, all of
which will enable the Zambian economy to grow
much quicker.”
Mark O’Donnell
Managing Director
Each company under the Union Gold umbrella has
a strong individual brand. These companies include
Arcades Developments, Kazuma Plastics, Parts
World, The Wildlife Shop, Protea Hotels, Velos En-