Lilongwe City Council asked to introduce business forums
Centre for Community Organizations and Development (CCODE) has asked Lilongwe City Council to introduce business forums to facilitate and encourage networking and information sharing among business players in order to foster business relationships.
Centre for Community Organizations and Development (CCODE) executive officer, Wonderful Hunga, stated that such fora could also play a pivotal role in ensuring that business players and the council are in constant engagement on matters of societal and national importance.
Hunga made the remarks in Lilongwe on Monday during the Urban and Ward Socio Economic Profiles Validation Workshop.
The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP Lilongwe) and Oxfam Malawi organized with financial support from the European Union (EU) and the Royal Norwegian Embassy through Tilitonse Foundation.
Hunga disclosed that a recent study his organization conducted revealed that there is hunger among businesspeople to have forums where they can be discussing and sharing ideas on how to improve their businesses.
“They want this forum to be a unified, non-racial, all-inclusive body that represents the interests of all actors in the business sector. They believe that such fora could also assist in facilitating a clean, safe and appealing LCC business avenue,” he said.
LCC Director of Planning and Development Hilary Kamela said the council is developing a number of strategies to create and improve the environment for doing business in Lilongwe.
Kamela said, among others, that the council is working with the Malawi Police Service in enhancing security, which he said is crucial in attracting various forms of business investments.
“I am very grateful to CCJP and Oxfam for facilitating this workshop because it has created a platform where non-state actors, residents and the council secretariat can come together and share ideas on how to improve service delivery in our city,” he said.
In her remarks, Tilitonse Foundation Governance Research and Development Manager, Janet Chidothi, reiterated that the involvement of the residents and stakeholders is crucial in the attainment of Malawi 2063 development agenda.
