#zambiatech

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the zambian innovation series: the startup ecosystem

bongohive: the anchor of zambia's startup ecosystem. established may 2011, founded by enthusiastic programmers who experienced firsthand the gaps in zambia's local technology industry — lack of coordination, limited skills exposure, absence of productivity infrastructure. since 2011: co-working space, startup incubation, entrepreneurship training, developer groups in gaming and robotics, accelerator programmes, and networking events. 15 startup investments. 10 active partners.

in november 2025, bongohive signed an MoU with the university of zambia to build a direct pathway from academic research to commercial startup — through joint incubation, mentorship, the UNZA innovation challenge, and the development of the unipod AI hub.

the broader ecosystem: impact hub lusaka — part of the global impact hub network, with an entrepreneurs in residence programme for early-stage founders. innovation village. growthafrica. officesphase. the asikana network — empowering young women in technology. ZICTA and the ministry of technology and science shaping the regulatory environment.

events: lusaka startup week. google I/O extended lusaka. the zambia fintech summit at the mulungushi international conference centre in march 2025, connecting the zambian ecosystem to the african export-import bank, smart africa, and invest africa.

the talent question: a growing pool of young, educated people interested in entrepreneurship. but a skills gap exists in software development, data science, AI, and digital marketing — where demand from startups exceeds the supply of trained professionals.

the funding gap: the most persistent challenge. zambian startups reaching product-market fit frequently need to look outside zambia — to south african, kenyan, or international VC — for the growth capital that would allow them to scale. this gap is narrower than five years ago. it has not closed.

the ecosystem is young. it is growing. asking the same question this morning's post asked: what does it take to create, not just adopt?

the zambian innovation series continues. 🇿🇲💡

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the zambian innovation series: why this matters to me

i run a valve and instrumentation supply company in kitwe. flow valve limited — twenty-three years old this year, serving the mining sector. i am not a tech founder. i don't write code. but i have watched, over the past decade, as the tools available to a business like mine have changed in ways that would have seemed extraordinary when flow valve started in 2002.

i carry in my pocket a device that gives me real-time commodity prices, connects me to chinese principal suppliers in shenzhen before kitwe has had its morning coffee, processes payments without a bank branch, and translates a technical specification from mandarin in seconds. the infrastructure of doing business in zambia in 2026 is fundamentally different from what it was in 2002 — and most of that difference comes from digital technology.

that's what this series is about. not innovation as an abstract concept. innovation as the specific, practical, daily changes in what is possible for zambians doing business, farming, accessing healthcare, learning, and building things.

zambia has nearly 20 million mobile subscribers. more than 12 million active mobile money wallets. bongohive — established 2011 — has supported more than 300 startups and in november 2025 signed an MoU with UNZA to build a direct pathway from academic research to commercial startup. lusaka hosted the 10th edition of the africa fintech summit — the largest bi-annual fintech summit on the continent.

none of this was true in 2002. all of it is true now.

the gap between what zambia's innovation ecosystem is and what it could become is the subject of this series. i'm writing it as a business person who lives in the middle of it — not as an outside observer.

and i'm starting with the question that i think matters most: what does it take to move from being a country that adopts other people's innovations to a country that creates its own?

the zambian innovation series begins. 🇿🇲💡