Rostam Aziz meets Zambian President to discuss investment opportunities

Taifa Group Chairman Rostam Aziz on Friday, October 20, met with Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema to discuss investment opportunities in the country's energy and mining sectors.

President Hichilema said that his government is focused on securing Zambia's energy generation and supply surplus and is, therefore, keen on strong partnerships between Zambian and regional investors to develop energy projects in Zambia and Africa.

He also encouraged Zambian entities to participate in joint venture investments in local mining, emphasizing value addition to accelerate economic development.

"Adding value to our mining will accelerate economic development, create employment and business opportunities along the value chain and I am very keen to see joint venture investments between local Zambians and regional partners to achieve this," said President Hichilema.

On his part, Mr. Azizi said that President Hichilema's invitation was a challenge to African investors to bring capital to Zambia, and that he would be extending his network to bring other businesses to Zambia to explore the many opportunities the country offers, working in partnership with the local Zambian investors that are already putting money in the economy.

"Zambia is in the right position to attract more investments and as Taifa Group, we will do our best to ensure that more regional investors come to Zambia. Taifa Gas will particularly leverage the strong and positive relationship between Zambia and Tanzania to develop opportunities in energy and mining, and I am happy that we already have local partners," stated Mr. Aziz.

The Taifa Group, through its subsidiary Taifa Gas Limited, recently announced its first joint venture investment with Zambian entity Delta Marimba to develop a 100MW gas powered generation plant in Kasama.

The US$100 million investment is intended to diversify the country's energy source mix with a bias towards cleaner generation and contribute to de-risking its national energy portfolio while opening up more opportunities for LPG-related power solutions.

The meeting between President Hichilema and Mr. Azizi is a sign of the growing interest from regional investors in Zambia's energy and mining sectors.

Apart from the investments in Tanzania, Rostam Aziz has energy investment ventures in other African countries including a 30,000-tonne cooking gas center in the Dongo Kundu Special Economic Zone in Mombasa, Kenya.

In Rwanda, Taifa Gas is partnering with the Rwandan government to build a 25,000-tonne liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage and distribution terminal in Kigali.

Whereas in Mozambique, Taifa Gas is exploring opportunities to develop and operate LPG terminals and distribution networks in Mozambique.

Aziz's investments in Africa are part of his broader vision to create a pan-African energy company that will help to power the continent's development. He believes that Africa has the potential to become a global leader in renewable energy, and he is committed to investing in projects that will help to make this a reality.