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Commerce, Trade and Industry
terprises, Spar, and Mica Hardware. As the group is
intent on strengthening the value of its companies, it
works with the management of each company to de-
velop and implement growth strategies. Each busi-
ness operates autonomously, and Union Gold works
to empower management to accept responsibility
and use that responsibility to assist in maximizing
the full potential of each brand.
Certain elements can be noticed across all of the
Union Gold companies. These are a strong com-
mitment to professionalism and a high standard of
services. They all have well structured business
models with growth and market expansion strate-
gies in place.
Union Gold has a vision for a strong hotel group with
Protea, opening new properties on a regular basis
and hoping to capture the growth in the tourism sec-
tor. In the retail sector, they want to see Spar grow
as a leading supermarket in Zambia. The real es-
tate development and property management aspect
of their portfolio also represents a large contributor
to the overall value of the company. With Arcades
Developments in particular, they have successfully
developed and managed a modern shopping mall
in the heart of Lusaka. With Kazuma Plastics and
Parts World, Union Gold directly contributes to the
development of the manufacturing sector and sees
a bright future for these business units. With each
of its businesses, Union Gold strives for excellence
and aims to make a substantial contribution to the
development of the Zambian economy.
“There is an unlimited amount of opportunity here in
Zambia and we are continuously exploring new and
exciting opportunities for further expansion of our
business.”
Mark O’Donnell
Managing Director
ZAMBIA FORESTRY AND FOREST INDUSTRIES
CORPORATION LTD
Frightone Sichone
Managing Director
PO Box 71566, Ndola
Tel: +260-212-616030/671026
Fax: +260-212-680742
Zambia Forestry and Forest Industries Corporation
Limited (ZAFFICO), aims to ensure that a sustain-
able supply of quality wood products and raw ma-
terials, to meet both local and export demands, is
available in Zambia. Through effective management
Arcades Mall, Sunday Market a delight of treats not to
be missed.
of newly introduced, fast growing species of trees on
ZAFFICO’s plantations, the inherent benefit of in-
creasing biodiversity, for present and future genera-
tions, is being pursued and achieved by ZAFFICO’s
encouragement of participation in such activities by
all stakeholders.
The history of ZAFFICO dates back to 1962, when it
had become evident that the timber yield from Zam-
bian forests was on the decline. This prompted the
government to embark on the large-scale plantations
of newly introduced, fast-growing species of trees.
The corporation has since emerged as a major sup-
plier of wood and related products in Zambia. The
increased wood production from the ZAFFICO plan-
tations has helped to reduce the pressure to log
indigenous forests for the construction and mining
industries. ZAFFICO is the major supplier of logs
for sawmilling operations. The logging industry, from
the plantation stage to that of the untreated log, to
all of the associated downstream functions, create
direct as well as indirect employment opportunities
in many timber based industries and the transporta-
tion sector.
The ZAFFICO forest plantations are able to meet the
present annual demand for lumber, approximately
380,000 cubic metres, from the various wood pro-
cessing firms. ZAFFICO has directly contributed to
significantly reducing the need for imported wood
and wood products in Zambia.
At the present time, ZAFFICO’s area of 48,000 hec-
tares may not meet the rising wood demand expect-
ed over the next 5 years. Forecasts show that the
existing forest plantations needs to be increased to
over 80,000 hectares over the next 10 years in order
to meet rising demands. Such expansion plans are
difficult to implement in the Copperbelt (where some
of the present day plantations are located), due to
mining companies and prospectors extremely inter-