By JUDITH NAMUTOWE –

SIXTY of Zambia’s most promising entrepreneurs last Wednesday gathered in Lusaka to start the next phase of their journey towards becoming future business leaders.
The Nyamuka Zambia business plan competition semi-finalists officially graduated during a ceremony in Lusaka at which they heard more details about the tasks ahead in order to stand a chance of winning the K250,000 top prize, along with runner-up prizes and support to bring their business concepts to life.
This was contained in a statement issued in Lusaka and made available to the Times.
The entrepreneurs who were selected from over 500 applicants in the competition, would  now proceed  to the second phase, during which they will be expected to  draft a full business plan to be  accessed by a panel of experts.
“This second phase will involve a lot of, hard work, time and commitment if applicants are to progress to the third phase and become winners,” explained Nyamuka Zambia manager Shalin Jethi.
The work involves events and workshops that participants will be required to attend in order to produce a more detailed original six-page business plan with support and guidance from Nyamuka Zambia
by  July 10.
The top 20 finalists would then be announced on August  7 this year.
The business planning process will also involve entrepreneurs conducting their own market research on their business idea to ensure it is viable, feasible and bankable.
The ZANACO-sponsored Nyamuka Zambia is one of four components under the Private Enterprise Programme – Zambia (PEPZ), funded by the UKgovernment’s Department for International Development (DFID).
Budding business people from all walks of life submitted their ideas, which ranged from renewable energy and waste management to jewellery making, food processing and packaging and also a range of other innovative products and consumer services.
Applications for the competition were launched on March 17 and Nyamuka Zambia supported entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a series of workshops and clinics in Lusaka and the Copperbelt that helped them develop better business proposals.