CEC sets ambitious plan to grow profit to $100m

AN ambitious plan targeting to grow net profit of about US$100 million annually in the next five years has been set by the Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC).

This ambitious plan however requires efforts from all the employees, according to the CEC Managing Director, Owen Silavwe as he reflected on the company’s silver jubilee celebration.

Mr Silavwe explained that the ambitious plan was driven by efforts made by the company of currently making a net profit of between US$50-60 million annually.

“Over the next five years, our target is to try and grow that to US$100 million, for example. That will not be an easy feat to achieve, and I invite all the employees in CEC to join me on that journey to grow CEC’s profitability from where we are today to almost doubling it over the next five years,” he said.

Mr Silavwe stated that there was a collective belief that the stage was set for the business to drive that kind of growth from different perspectives, including cultural, technological and financial resourcing.

“We think the business is just at the right point where it should be able to drive that sort of growth over the next five years or so,” he indicated.

Reflecting on the company’s silver jubilee, Mr Silavwe described CEC’s performance in the last 25 years following privatisation as successful, responsible and transparent.

He pointed out that all the employees had made huge contributions to its success.

CEC, he said, had been able to create partnerships with local communities and the government in the areas where it operated, including building infrastructure such as putting up bridges where there were none, lighting streets and building hospitals and schools.

“We have created something that is a force for good, in terms of creating wealth for our investors, for our local communities and for Zambia. When I look at the financial performance of the business, I am quite happy to see the improvements that we have made over the period.

“I am quite happy to also see the contributions we’ve made to the local communities because you can only make those contributions if you find success and, therefore, you share some of that success,” Mr Silavwe said.

“The CEC journey is not ending today. We are becoming bold as we look at the future. We plan on taking on very, very bold goals. Today, we are a company that makes a net profit of between US$50 to 60 million.