Zozodo Gemstone Consultancy and Mining Company Limited has set ambitious plans for its 2025 financial year, including making massive investment in quarry mining, gemstone value addition and gemstone jewelry production in its efforts to improve the income stability for the company.
Recently, the company held its annual general meeting (AGM) to evaluate and assess its successes and challenges for the past two years that it has been in operation.
Held under the theme "Planning is the base of success", the AGM also looked at the company expenditures, income, achievements, challenges and suggested solutions to the highlighted challenges.
Speaking in an interview with Nyasa Times, Zozodo Gemstone Consultancy and Mining Company Limited Chief Executive Officer (CEO), John Vasco Chidule, said the meeting also enabled the management and staff to plan for the 2025 financial year.
"After two solid years of operations, the company had no time to evaluate its works and projects. So, this was the most opportune time for the management and staff to meet and deliberate on the future of the company," said Chidule.
Among other successes since it was launched in 2022, Zozodo Gemstone Consultancy and Mining Company Limited has managed to purchase office assets such as eight computers, printers, stationery materials, and a plot to build its offices.
It also purchased two motorbikes for the mining field officers and other mining tools such as petrol jack hammers that are modern and other hand tools.
It explored various industrial minerals such as beryllium, iron ore, tantalite, columbite and other gemstones with Mzimba and other districts across Malawi and employed locals in places it conducted exploration apart from bringing in investors.
And in its future plans, according to Chidule, the company envisages to attain a profit of K50 million by 2025 having made a loss in the previous year.
Chidule added that the company will train youth in the mining sector at a free cost so as to boost mining knowledge among the youth.
"We also want to support women in the mining sector through a free gemstone value addition course and rewarding certificates of attendance and completion of basics," he said.
On challenges, Chidule highlighted lack of support from government funding institutions to assist them with loans to support their investments such as quarry mining investment, gemstone value addition, delay in approval of mining licenses by the responsible ministry and lack of well-equipped geological labs as barriers to their progress.
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He also fingered out poor markets for the locally sourced gemstones as another barrier to the growth of the company in the year just gone by.
"We appeal to the government to support us with financing so that we can grow our investment. We also recommend speedy license processing by the government under the Mining Regulatory Authority to enable our investors to pool their resources in the sector," he appealed.
Chidule also asked the Minister of Mining to consider visiting their sites to appreciate developments taking place there.
Zozodo Gemstone Consultancy and Mining Co. Limited is a private limited company by shares.
