Andrew Sotiris Sardanis

EARLY DAYS, MWAISENI AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTER

Andrew Sardanis came to Zambia in 1950 at the age of 18 years old. He spent his first years in Zambia in Chingola working for his brother in law in a transport company. He threw himself vigorously in to the development of the business and expanded in to trading, opening stores in Chingola, the Copperbelt and the North-Western Province. By the end of the 1950’s, he was still in his twenties, he owned and operated North Western Trading By 1957 he had started Mwaiseni stores. At a time when the color bar was the order of the day, he trained and advanced Zambians in his own business, treating them as partners and fellow shareholders. His business was run entirely by Zambian staff. For the Zambian population, he provided a group of shops which allowed Zambians to transact like dignified human being. He was a firm anti colonialist and he joined UNIP. In the 1962 elections he stood as UNIP candidate for Kabompo. He became a passionate freedom fighter and was strongly involved in the independence movement.

BIRTH OF A NATION, THE CHIEF EXECUIVE, INDECO AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

In 1965, after independence he was appointed by President Kenneth Kaunda, Chairman and Managing Director of the Industrial Development Corporation(INDECO). Under his leadership, and in only a couple of years he took it from being a small lending institution to a large holding company operating in many fields. His main objective was rapid industrial development for Zambia. INDECO got involved in textiles, fertilizers, explosives, and copper fabrication (ZAMEFA) It build the Zam-Tan road, to the Tanzanian Coast, and the Tazama Oil pipeline along the same route. An oil refinery was constructed (INDENI) as a result. It constructed cement plants for Chilanga Cement. It formed, Zambia Airways, Intercontinental Hotel, and Kafue Textiles. It made investments in Zambia Sugar Company, Dunlop Zambia and Duncan Gilbey and Matheson. In 1968, he was appointed the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and whilst Chairman and Managing Director of Indeco. From 1968 to 1971 he supervised President Kaunda’s Mulungushi Reforms. By 1969 Indeco had grown 100-fold since 1965 and had become a major industrial conglomerate employing 13,000 people. It had become the second largest business group after the copper mines.

THE PERMANENT SECRETARY, THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE, INDIGENIZATION AND STATE PARTICIPATION

In 1969, he became the Permanent Secretary of Trade Industry and Mines. His success with Indeco had gained him confidence in his abilities from the Government and President Kaunda. Indeco was asked to spear head the takeover of the Copper Mining Companies. At the same He also became the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry State Participation and in 1970 he was appointed the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Finance. After the consolidation of the mining companies into Indeco the company was renamed the Zambia Industrial Mining Corporation (ZIMCO). He became its first Chairman and Chief Executive.

ACHEIVEMENTS AND DEPARTURE FROM GOVERNMENT

By 1971 ZIMCO’s annual sales stood at USD1.12 billion and with net assets of USD 840 million. In drawing a comparison to America’s Fortune 500 companies, ZIMCO would have rated 100 largest at the time. During this period however, Sardanis had long been conscious that he should hand over the key positions he had held to Zambians. He resigned and left government with a generous testimonial from President Kaunda, who said that he had done more for the economy than any other single man. He went in to private business.

IN TO PRIVATE BUSINESS AND THE START OF A NEW CONGLOMERATE

In late 1971, he formed Sardanis Associates which later became ITM International. It was built on the same principles that Indeco and earlier, Mwaiseni stores of indigenization and localization. It was very aggressive in training. In Zambia, he built with local partners the Chibote Group of Companies, which owned Mazembe, Minestone, Chibote Farms and Interchem amongst others. On the international front ITM grew to become a group of more than 150 companies operating in more than 40 countries worldwide and 25 countries in Africa. It was involved in International Trade and Product Distribution, Construction, Mining, Finance and later commercial banking. Many of his Zambian Colleagues joined him on the International scene acting as Senior Managers, and Directors heading businesses, in USA and UK.

CREATION OF THE PEOPLE’S PAN AFRICAN BANK

In 1984, he opened Meridien Bank Zambia, the group’s first move into commercial banking, because he felt that the colonial banks were only interested in serving foreign corporate business interests. He felt that by creating a local bank he could provide local project finance and assist clients in finding export opportunities and the necessary export finance. The Meridien Banking group expanded in to Liberia, Cameroun, Burundi and Nigeria. The acquisition of the BIAO group of banks in Francophone Africa, (at the request of Alassane Ouatarra, then the Governor of the BCEAO, and currently the President of Cote D’Ivoire) made Meridien BIAO the largest bank in black Africa. The bank expanded its finance interests in to insurance opening Madison Insurance in Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia. By the mid 1990’s the ITM/ Meridien had over USD 1.5 billion in assets and a turnover of USD 1.3 billion. It employed approximately 30,000 people, almost half of which were in Zambia.

A NEW DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUTION

During this time, he maintained his personal friendship with President Kaunda, and visited him regularly. In 1990 as Kaunda was preparing to return the country to a multiparty democratic system, Sardanis wrote the new proposed constitution. This provided the blue print and basis for the current multi party constitution of today.

THE DEMISE OF THE PAN AFRICAN GROUP

By 1995 the Meridien BIAO banks at grass roots level has been very successful. This upset the French and British Colonial Banks. Meridien had taken on the Colonial Establishment. A concerted campaign by the Central Banks of Britain and France against Meridien, saw to its demise. A series of unfortunate economic issues in West Africa compromised Meridien’s ability to survive the on -slaught. This brought about the downfall of the ITM/ Meridien Group. Almost of all the operating companies and banks of the group at grass roots level continued to operate, under different ownership. Many argue that despite the disappearance of Meridien, it had paved the way for a more competitive banking environment, and had brought about inclusion of all races in to the banking system in Africa. As he quotes in his forward to his book “A Venture in Africa.” “To the members of staff who shared the joy of the achievements and the pain of the collapse. Together we opened new frontiers for African Business. We stumbled and fell within sight of our goal, but we opened the way for many”

THE RETURN HOME, CHAMINUKA AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION

In 1996 he returned home to Zambia to lived in his home Chaminuka Village. It was built as a replica of the village he used to visit in the North-Western Province. It is said that it is this village that persuaded him to stay in Zambia when he first arrived in 1950. Built in the style of a village typical in the North-Western Province, characterized by a series of Insakas and red brick. Chaminuka means the Place on the hill. It was constructed in the mid 1970s. It overlooks Lake Chitoka and is situated in a game park approximately 40 sq. km in size. Throughout most of his life in Zambia, he visited the game parks and nature reserves During the 1970’s he was concerned about the environmental destruction being caused by the over population of elephants, which potentially saw the demise of many of Zambia’s other species of wildlife. He started Chaminuka as a “Noah’s ark” that in the event that the National Parks should lose some of their species, there was access to a gene pool from which they could draw to restock the parks. Chaminuka now has more than 7000 animals representing approximately 72 species of wildlife He financed 14 other game farmers to do the same. The game farming industry was born. It is estimated that 30 per cent of Zambia wildlife population are now in private farms.

PATRON OF THE ARTS

The walls of Chaminuka are covered with more than 1000 pieces of Zambian Art. From an early age, Andrew Sardanis was a Patron and collector. Many of the early Artists were close friends of his, Petson Lombe, Henry Tayali, Remmie Sichalwe and Flinto Chandia to name but a few He sponsored many artists, exhibitions, and indeed collected for himself and his many businesses both locally and internationally. He was eager to establish a self-sustaining market for Zambian Art. In the late 1990s he was awarded the Ngoma Award for his contribution to the visual arts of Zambia.

THE POLITICAL ANALYST AND AUTHOR

Having served in the process of independence and during the first 50 years of independence of several African countries, he used his unique eye witness experience to provide an inside view of Zambia and Africa’s Evolution. He wrote three books, published by IB Tauris. The first was Africa: Another Side of the Coin, covering Northern Rhodesia’s Final Yeas and Zambia’s nationhood; A Venture in Africa covering his personal experience in running a business conglomerate in Africa, and finally Zambia: The First 50 Years which is an in depth of Zambia’s evolution since independence. His last book was dedicated to the people of Zambia

THE HOST, THE FATHER AND THE VISONARY.

In the early 2000 Sardanis decided to open Chaminuka to the public. Now a community of more than 1000 people, it is run by a new generation of Zambians which he nurtured, all born in post colonial Zambia. More than 20,000 people a year flock to Chaminuka, to commune with nature, view the art collection, taste Kaposhi’s international award winning cheeses or to meet the its ever present father who tells his stories, shares his wisdom and expounds on his vision.