History of the School

The School of Business was established in 1978 in response to the findings of a research undertaken by a group of experts in the early 1970s.  The research team consisted of representatives of the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).  The findings of the report were that over 2000 managerial and supervisory positions in Parastatal companies, public institutions and private firms were at the time, filled by people who were either partially qualified or not qualified at all. In other words, Zambia did not have a pool of specialists in Business Management and Accountancy.  Consequently, performance of many companies and public institutions was hardly satisfactory at all.

The aim of the school is to continuously deliver degree programmes of high quality at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The driving objective is to deliver courses that are conceptually very challenging, with a strong analytical base and practical relevance to the needs of the industry and the service sector.

There are over 800 students enrolled in the School of Business for programmes in Business Administration, Accountancy and Finance, Marketing, Purchasing and Supply and Production management each year. Originally, the programmes on offer were mainly at Bachelors Degree level. However, in 1995 the School launched its Master of Business Administration Degree (MBA) programme, details of which are contained in the MBA Handbook. Two other programmes at Masters Degree level programmes; the Master of Business Administration – Finance and the Master of Arts in Human Resource Management, were launched in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

The School endeavours to redress the absence of a pool of specialists in Business Management and Accountancy. The School has made tremendous progress in providing qualified human resource.

The School also provides consultancy services to Industry in major functional areas of Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Human Resource Management and General Management. It provides various Research and Consultancy services to private and public, profit and non-profit organizations in Zambia and beyond.

The School has experts in all fields of business and the experts are grouped into teams that handle specific areas of consultancy. The following are existing groups with their specific areas of specializations:

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Services.

• Training in all aspects of SMEs, Entrepreneurship and Intellectual Property.
• Business Proposal Formulation.
• Business Planning.
• Business Plan Formulation, Implementation and Control.
• Business idea incubation and commercialization.
• Intellectual property management, protection and commercialization.
• SME Financing and Accounting.
• SME Growth Strategies.

Business Process Re- Engineering & Productivity Improvement.

• Statistical Process Control.
• Lean Manufacturing.
• Six  Sigma.
• ISO – Students.
• Total Quality Management.
• Facility Layout.
• Plant Layout.
• Ergonomics
• Continuous Process Improvement through cost reduction and waste elimination (DMAIC).
• Work Study (Method and Work Measurement).
• Project Management.
• Modelling and Simulation.

Business Development.

• Market Research.
• Competitor Analysis.
• Customer Service and Relationship Management.
• Advertising.

Finance, Audit and Tax.

• Training in all Finance, Banking and Accounting areas.
• Tax Planning.
• Tax Advisory.
• Audit and Assurance.
• Corporate Finance Advisory.
• Budgeting.
• Value for Money (VFM) Audits.
• SME Finance Advisory.
• Microfinance.

Strategic Management, Governance and Economics

• Training in all Social Responsibility Policies.
• Ethics.
• Corporate Governance.
• Strategic and Corporate Plan Preparation and Coaching.
• Management.
• Corporate Social Responsibility.
• Corporate Legal Advisory.
• Macro Economics studies and analyses.
• Managerial Economics.
• Public Finance.
• Financial Sector Studies.
• Labour Market Studies.

Research  Activities.

• Some of the past research and consultancy activities undertaken in the School in the recent past include the following:
• Times of Zambia Market Research and Comparative Competitor Analysis.
• National Economic Advisory Council, Survey of Quality of Employment in the Mining and Manufacturing Sectors in Zambia (2008).
• Introduction to Business Computer Packages for the British American Tobacco, Zambia (2008).
• Feasibility Study for Solar Panels in Zambia (2006).
• Hedging Practices of Listed Companies in Zambia (2009).
• Business Development for Small and Medium Enterprises. 92009).
• Corporate Social Responsibility for Mopani Copper Mines (2007).
• Kitwe City Council – Strategic Planning in Municipal Councils.
• Black Country Project with the University of Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom.