Ernest Mafuta is a telecommunications certification consultant and founder of the E-Telecom consultancy, a telecom certification company that helps equipment manufacturers of Telecom and ICT products to certify and obtain type approval certificates before they enter any African market. They currently service over 100 countries worldwide.

Having recognised a challenge in this space in Zambia, he started thinking of ideas on how to make access to telecommunications easy to manufacturers in Zambia. His vision is to become one of the leading telecommunications and certification companies in Zambia. He is currently working on models for ownership of telecom test labs in Zambia.

His goal is to establish these telecom test labs to serve as regional conformity labs for the southern Africa region. 

Ernest is of the view that young people play a critical role in addressing Africa’s challenges, and it is important that those young people begin to invest in themselves to be able to invest in their communities.

He says that the SADC region is home to one of Africa’s biggest markets. Looking ahead, he would like the SADC community to grow strong enough to influence political policies and decision making. 

In the long run this will give member countries financial sovereignty, which is currently the biggest problem since independence. His goal is to use the platform to trade and engage young people in ventures that will facilitate economic growth and development.