SECURITIES Exchange Commission (SEC) has submitted a 10 year Capital Markets Development Plan to Government meant to address investments mismatch in the securities market.
SEC chief executive officer Phillip Chitalu said this was initiated after the commission identified a capital mismatch in the sector where players had difficulties accessing long term financing.
Mr Chitalu was hopeful that once the plan was approved by Cabinet, it would enable players in the market to access long term capital that provided them room to implement projects before they had an obligation to start paying back.
He said this in an interview at the just ended 94th Agricultural and Commercial Show in Lusaka held under the theme “Innovation through Technology-Technology Transforms Businesses.”
“We have some ideas that we have sent to Government, so we are talking about the 10 year Capital Markets Development Plan. We have come up with ideas that once they are adopted by Cabinet then we hope we can drive capital markets into a particular direction.
“What we have identified in the markets is what we call capital mismatch where you want to start a project and go and borrow from a friend and you should start paying the following month even before a chicken starts laying eggs. That is too short time for businesses,” Mr Chitalu said.
He also said the commission was implementing an initiative called the sandbox which provided upcoming innovators a platform on how to raise funding.
Mr Chitalu explained the sandbox was one of the ideas targeted at Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and other smaller kind of businesses regarding how they could raise funding.
“We have a lot of youngsters who are coming up with ideas that may not be suitable for the existing laws. The laws are a bit rigid and they look at specific kind of parameters which may not be ideal for new innovative ideas.
“We have a sandbox where entities can make an application, they go through a rigorous screening process before they are allowed, and so most of those ideas are targeted at SMEs and other smaller kind of businesses regarding how they can raise funding for developmental,” he said.