Brand Enhancement

BRAND ENHANCEMENT

Editor's Note — Issue 14, July 2026

Chief Editor Diana Kabaila opens Excel's diamond-anniversary-adjacent issue with a challenge to Zambian businesses: stop chasing awareness, start building authority.

A brand that merely gets noticed isn't enough anymore. In her opening address for Issue 14, Kabaila makes the case that true market leadership belongs to brands willing to "walk the talk" — unique, trustworthy, and consistently over-delivering on their promise to customers. Complacency, she warns, is the quiet killer of once-great brands, rendered irrelevant by time, new entrants, and shifting tastes.

Three stories defining the moment:

🔹 ZITF Turns 60 — Zambia's biggest trade platform marked six decades under the theme "Bridging Markets and Building the Future," strengthening ties between local and international business.

🔹 A Smarter Debt Play — Government refinances an expensive 2053 Euro bond into a low-cost African Development Bank facility, freeing up capital to power Zambia's energy grid.

🔹 Money Lenders, Meet Regulation — The 2026 Banking and Financial Services Act pulls informal lenders into the formal financial system, under strict Bank of Zambia oversight — with penalties as steep as 30 years imprisonment for non-compliance.

Inside this issue: a 7-year-old inventor's toothpaste breakthrough, a Trailblazer profile on Dr. Charles Muwe Mungule, the ZITF's 60-year commerce story, the Local Content SI opportunity for entrepreneurs, NDCCI's SME resilience conference, the memoir Becoming Gina, and a health guide every expecting family should read on postpartum haemorrhage.

 

By Diana Kabaila Chief Editor

Greetings and a warm welcome to the eminent Issue 14 of Excel Magazine. Our theme is "Brand Enhancement".

To dominate your territory, you must be a brand that walks the talk. Your brand style must be unique, innovative and trustworthy enough to stand out from the rest.

People's overall experience with your brand must be "over delivery''. This will gain you brand loyalty and lifelong positive word of mouth.

But to maintain a growth trajectory, you must avoid complacency and regularly review, and enhance your brand, because the passage of time, aggressive new market entrants and evolving interests will naturally make your brand to be outgrown and in worst cases – irrelevant.

When you enhance your brand, you will move beyond mere awareness to true market authority and gain strategic leverage for premium pricing power. Hence the need to develop your brand's audit plan that will identify areas for improvement.

Brand enhancement goes beyond simple aesthetic makeovers; it's about an improved total packaging that will differentiate you from competitors and make you attract your ideal target audience.

TRENDING TOPICS:

THE 60TH ZAMBIA INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR (ZITF)

The epitome of brand enhancement in this Issue is the Zambia International Trade Fair Trust (ZITFT). Excel Magazine congratulates the board and management of the Trust for successfully hosting the 60th event, under the theme "Bridging Markets and Building the Future".

It was a celebration of 60 years of growth and resilience; trade barriers were eliminated as people and businesses were linked to counterparties both local and international. We are optimistic that the linkages will yield long-term profitable results.

ZAMBIA'S DEBT FOR ENERGY SWAP

To mitigate against the ongoing climate change shocks, the Government continues to upgrade Zambia's energy infrastructure, in order to support key sectors such as mining, manufacturing, agriculture and tourism. The investment to strengthen the national grid will be sustained by the savings from the refinancing of the expensive 2053 Euro bond, to a low-cost African Development Bank facility. This intelligent swap not only manages debt, but secures long term investments in energy stabilization.

THE 2026 BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES ACT OF ZAMBIA – IMPLICATIONS FOR MONEY LENDERS

The 2026 Act repeals the old Money lenders Act (cap 398) and changes the legal position of money lenders in Zambia – integrating them into the formal financial sector regulatory framework, under the Bank of Zambia and no longer operate under a standalone law.

The money lenders are now classified as Financial Service Providers holding Financial Business Licenses. Licensing under this act is mandatory, and penalties for operating without one are up to 3 million penalty units or up to 30 years imprisonment. The Act now mandates BOZ to set Capital requirements, Fit and proper tests for directors and Board structure, strong consumer protection rules, disclosure of interest rates and charges; and prohibition of hidden fees.

Compliance with Anti-money laundering and Counter-terrorism financing rules have to be adhered to.

Failure to comply with operating license rules will result in BOZ Suspending or cancelling licenses. The act effectively eliminates informal money lending and Integrates lenders into the banking system.

INSIDE STORIES

EXCEL FOUNDATION

7 years old Mauristeta Zimba is the 5th recipient of the Excel Foundation seed fund. Her project is environmentally friendly tooth paste that is made from everyday kitchen products. Proof that genius is not bound by age.

Excel Magazine wishes Mauristeta God speed with her invention.

In the business segment: ZITF a chronicle of commerce and leadership; maximizing the opportunities presented by the Local Contents SI; and building resilient SMEs - NDCCI conference equips businesses for sustainable growth.

Under lifestyle: Trailblazer Profile Dr Muwe Mungule; Becoming Gina - a journey through silence, faith, and the long road from survival to becoming; Postpartum Haemorrhage – a simple guide to understanding bleeding after birth and how to prevent it.

Enjoy the read.