Client Stories -

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Gen-Tech is a company based in Lusaka and is owned and run by Director Rehema Chawinga. Gen-Tech’s primary business is to supply, install and service industrial-sized generators to commercial clients, and its main contracts are with government departments.
Gen-Tech Zambia started in 2008, and through perseverance and good client references, Gen-Tech eventually penetrated the government sector and secured some large contracts.
Before getting help from BFC with order financing, Gen-Tech often faced challenges when clients put tight deadlines on orders on massive gen-sets, which cost a lot of money.
With BFC’s help, Gen-Tech were able meet the expectations of some of their biggest clients, and since then they have secured four more huge contracts with the assistance of BFC’s order financing facility.

Brown Kalela used to work for BP, but his entrepreneurial spirit encouraged him to start off on his own, using his own personal savings. In 2007 he founded Darwin Enterprises, a trading company supplying various products to banks, the oil industry and government.
Amongst the products they supply are supply testing and floating equipment to the oil industry, branded items such as stationary, t-shirts and uniforms to banks, and medical accessories to NGOs. The products are import goods from the USA, South Africa, The Netherlands and China.
Mr. Kalela explains some of the challenges he encountered when starting up:

Mwangala Kwatakwe started her business in 2005. It is a multi-branched company with interests in media, printing, documentary-filmmaking and the wholesaler supply of dry foodstuffs to large corporations. There are now three full-time employees, including Mwangala’s son who is a cinematographer and cameraman.
“The biggest challenge when starting up my business was financing,” explains Mwangala. “Finding money to finance the orders was hard because we were completely self-financed. Sometimes I would just give the supplies to my friends who would pay something small so I could pay for the next order, or sometimes we would team up then share the profit.
I started working with BFC when they opened in 2012, and since then they have really helped me a lot. The first large order I had was for the Zambian Air Force, so BFC financed my order so and I was able to deliver. That’s when BFC became part of us. When we were doing the Electoral Commission documentary BFC was able to finance us to transport the election materials to the most far-flung rural areas in a helicopter.

Lembi Protective Systems is a company wholly owned by Zambian businessman, Christopher Kawewe. The company is centrally focused on the supply of personal protective equipment, waste management solutions, and mining equipment both hardware and electrical. They currently employ 36 workers and with the help from BFC they have been able to increase their turnover by almost 1,000%.
It hasn’t been easy to get to where they are today and at one point they even had to close down the business. A few years later they were able to secure a contract for waste collection with Shoprite in Solwezi and reopened the business. This was soon followed by contracts with Vale Zambia and Kansanshi Mining.
Before BFC opened offices in Solwezi, the business was financed through personal savings and family support. Since then, BFC has assisted with invoice discounting and order finance facilities, enabling them to expand and perform on their contracts.