• MS Mukuka (behind, second from left) with some Shuttle Private School pupils.

By MIRIAM ZIMBA –
THE old Bemba adage says “ifisanga abaume, abanakashi fibakumyafye, (issues that affect men do not have a great effect on women),” and this is highly applicable in many areas of human endevour.
However, in the case of Pelijah Mukuka, the opposite is true because for her, ifi sanga abanakashi, abaume fibakumyafye (issues affecting women do not have a great effect on men).
Her story began in 1998, shortly after she was enlisted for retrenchment, something that she was not prepared for.
At the time,  she was working as a sales representative at the then BP Zambia.
“I left formal employment at the age of 30 years when the company I was working for was downsizing its workforce. Fortunately for me, I was given the option of voluntary separation, which I accepted.
“The package I received only amounted to K4 million (old currency) at the time and there was very little I could do with that money,” she said.
That is how Ms Mukuka moved on from being in gainful employment to being unemployed.
From the K4 million (which is now equivalent to K4,000) she received as her benefits, she travelled to South Africa to buy goods for re-sale.
“I did not even have enough money for accommodation, so I spent a night at Park Station Bus Terminus. All I had on me was a blanket which I used to cover myself at night before heading back to Lusaka the following day,” she recounts.
Having worked for a big organisation like BP Zambia, she kept looking at the bigger picture and was convinced that she could do so much more than the business she was engaged in.
As she pondered on how to diversify her business, she met a friend who told her about the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC).
“She asked me if I was aware that CEEC was offering finances for businesses and she asked if I had a business plan.
“When I told her I had a business plan, she escorted me to CEEC where we just went to enquire how we could be assisted to finance our business proposals,” she said.
Ms Mukuka filled in the loan application forms and was advised to find people to draft a business proposal for her.
However, she decided to draft her own business plan because the person she contracted to assist her draft one did not do a good job.
In fact, when she opted to draft her own business proposal, pessimists thought she would never succeed in accessing funds from CEEC without the help of experts in drafting the proposal.
But Ms Mukuka proved them wrong because when she submitted the application form together with her business proposal, she carried on with her business trips.
She did not anticipate a positive response from the CEEC until she received a telephone call for her to go to the CEEC offices.
“I immediately went to the CEEC offices where I was given K1.6 billion (now K1.6 million), which I used to establish what is today known as Shuttle Private School, which began operations in 2012.
“We started with only four learners, but currently, the school has 140 learners. We are still growing because the school has the capacity of about over 500 learners,” she explains.
The school now has a total of 15 teachers.
She encouraged fellow women to look beyond the obvious, and focus on the bigger picture if they have to grow and expand their businesses.
She now has plans to set up a chicken hatchery business and says she will use her business experience in running the school as a learning experience. She believes she is set to succeed.
She was inspired to start up the school largely because she realised that she had the potential to run a business successfully, after having worked as a sales representative for a lucrative company.
“Every time I could go around collecting cheques for BP Zambia, I was inspired to start up my own business because I knew I could make it,” she explains.
She encouraged women, especially those in formal employment, to make use of their free time and start up small businesses to boost their income.
Ms Mukuka believes that business is about taking risks in order to succeed.
“When we advertised for enrollment, we only had four learners in the first term, and there were teachers at the school who also needed to be paid. This was a business risk I had to take,” she explains.
Her choice of investing into the education sector was driven by her passion to provide improved standards of education.
“I felt that the standards of learning in most public schools had been compromised, and most parents and children were getting a raw deal,” she says.
She was moved by the fact that some learners in Government schools were unable to read and write in English, even in upper primary grades such as Grade Six and Grade Seven.
“This was not the case with children who attended private schools, and I thought of establishing a school in order to meet the needs of these children,” she said.
Therefore, her investment in the education sector is one which Ms Mukuka envisions will contribute towards raising the standards of education especially for the less privileged.
Initially, when she began repaying the loan, Ms Mukuka was not exactly getting it from her income from the school. Instead, she had to source for funds from other sources in order to maintain her credit worthiness.
She implored CEEC to continue funding women-run businesses.
CEEC Public Relations Manager Glenda Masebe explains that the loan repayment by the womenfolk has been very impressive.
“We have seen a lot of women out-perform the men-folk from the 30 per cent allocation for women-run businesses.
“We have funded over 1,800 projects out of which 37 per cent of the funding has gone to women-run projects.  We are excited as CEEC because women have performed extremely well and they have been able to meet their targets as regards loan repayment,” she says.
She said the CEEC has noticed that a lot of women are now moving on from the culture of being over dependant on men, and they are now more independent and a lot more are running successful projects funded by the CEEC.
She said CEEC has had very few female defaulters because very few women divert the funds from the intended purpose towards something different.
She said this is because women are more focused.
“Going forward, CEEC would want to see more women running businesses because they have demonstrated their determination and focus towards succeeding in their business. We would also like to see more women who have succeeded uplift other women who are just starting up their businesses,” she said.
Ms Mukuka is just one of the many success stories recorded by the
CEEC, and her story is one that should inspire other women to work at achieving their goals.