Zambian traders get unique Dubai shopping experience

Zambian traders and importers who travel to Dubai to shop are being offered a one-stop service, which includes the booking of their visa, flights and accommodation, as well as being given a helping hand in Dubai. “We organise Dubai visas as well for importers who use our services to fly their products into Zambia with us,” says Sudhir Balsure of Barloworld Logistics. The traders are even met at the Dubai airport by a sales team of Zambian nationality, and directed to hotels which cater for them where Zambian food, for example, is available. A sales team is on hand to take them to relevant markets where they can buy goods that they want. Usually these are wholesale markets. “It gives traders a sense of comfort being met at the airport by people who speak their own language,” he says. The goods are then packed and carried to Zambia by sea or air depending on the type of cargo. “We have over 100 airlines calling Dubai airport. Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, SAA and British Airways have regular services to Zambia and other African countries,” says Balsure. The service is so popular that Barloworld has staff working three shifts to meet the traders at the airport, he says. In 2008, Swift Freight was taken over by Barloworld Logistics to form Barloworld Logistics Middle East Asia.