By KENNEDY MUPESENI –

ZOONA Zambia, an electronic money transfer firm has offloaded 13.7 per cent of its shares worth US$8 million to its employees for them to own a stake in the company.
Zoona has also slashed the cost of sending money by up to 60 per cent under the campaign dubbed “Zoona Nizee”.
Zoona managing director Lelemba Phiri said the move to offload shares is being undertaken to motivate employees to perform at their best and be part of the business.
It is expected that the share value would go up.
“Tonight we are happy to announce that on Thursday we will begin the roll-out of an employee share option plan that will ensure that every employee has the opportunity to become a shareholder in Zoona,” Ms Phiri said.
She was speaking at the cocktail which was held to launch “Zoona Nizee” campaign and “Zoona Employee Share Option Plan,” at the company’s head office in Kabulonga, Lusaka on Tuesday night.
“That is not all; our company .Our business model is built around supporting and empowering Zambian entrepreneurs. Today there are currently 600 agents, and 1,100 outlets operating in Zambia,” Ms Phiri said.
She said that as a company, Zoona had acknowledged that the country was going through a challenging period.
However, she said with every challenge comes the opportunity to make a difference and be part of the solution rather than the problem.
With that in mind, Ms Phiri said the Zambian technology company has permanently slashed the cost of sending money through Zoona by 60 per cent.
All transfers of K1, 000 and above will now cost the Zambian consumer K100, representing a reduction of up to 60 per cent.
“And in  this difficult time when prices of everything else –from fuel to medicine are going , Zoona is standing by its value of being real and is choosing to be with the  consumers by going against the trend,”