Ndola, Zambia, 31 March 2026 (ECA) - The Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry (MCTI), in partnership with the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Subregional Office for Southern Africa (SRO-SA), has initiated high-level stakeholder consultations to develop Zambia’s new National Local Content Strategy to advance industrialisation, value addition, and inclusive economic growth.
The consultations in Ndola brought together government officials, private sector leaders, development partners, academia, and civil society to shape a forward-looking national local content strategy aligned with Zambia’s development priorities and industrialisation roadmap.
Delivering opening remarks, Musokotwane Sichizuwe, Director of Industry at the Ministry, underscored the importance of learning from past implementation of local content strategies to design a new and more impactful approach. “As we review the implementation of the previous local content strategy and develop the successor National Local Content Strategy, it is important that we assess how we fared in implementing the expired strategy, identify challenges, and develop a forwarding leaning framework that is practical and impactful and is supported by achievable targets,” he said.
He emphasised that the new strategy must respond to emerging national priorities, including increased copper production targets, agricultural transformation, and opportunities arising from the global energy transition.
“We must ensure that the new strategy positions Zambia to fully leverage its critical energy transition mineral resources and the evolving economic opportunities in the green minerals sector,” he added.
Mr Sichizuwe reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to strengthening local content as a driver of industrialisation, job creation, and economic diversification.
“Local content must be positioned as a key economic development strategy, one that promotes local procurement, supports job creation, drives industrial growth and provides opportunities for micro, small and medium enterprises,” he stated.
He noted progress in sectors such as agro-processing and mineral beneficiation, while acknowledging persistent challenges, including access to key inputs and competitiveness constraints facing local industries.
In her remarks, Olayinka Bandele, Chief of the Inclusive Industrialisation Section at ECA’s Subregional Office for Southern Africa, called for a shift from compliance-driven to competitiveness-focused local content policies.
“Local content is not just about compliance, it is about how Zambia converts its natural resource wealth into industrial capability, jobs, and long-term resilience,” she said.
She noted that Zambia is at a pivotal stage, with policies evolving into targeted, sector-specific tools to position the country as a regional manufacturing hub under AfCFTA. Recent measures include mining sector procurement requirements starting at 20% in 2026 and increasing to 40% within five years.
“Policy intent is not enough. We must move from ownership-based compliance to capability-driven competitiveness,” she emphasised.
Ms Bandele highlighted the need to align national local content strategies with COMESA and SADC regional approaches to unlock regional value chains, citing Zambia–DRC battery value chain collaboration as a key opportunity for mineral beneficiation and entry into green industrial markets.
She also stressed the importance of addressing financing constraints facing MSMEs through practical tools such as purchase order financing and credit guarantees. “We cannot manage what we do not measure,” she added, calling for a data-driven approach, including the establishment of a well-resourced National Industrial Observatory.
She underscored the need for a private sector–led, government-enabled model to drive growth. “This is about moving from protection to performance.” The strategy aims to boost value addition, reduce import dependence, increase exports of value-added products, and create sustainable jobs, especially for youth and women.
“We must design a Local Content Strategy where ‘Made in Zambia’ stands for competitiveness, reliability, and export readiness,” Ms Bandele concluded.
Both the Ministry and ECA underscored that the emerging strategy is expected to be transformative and accelerate manufacturing value addition, leverage Zambia’s mineral wealth, reduce import dependency, and create jobs, particularly for the country’s growing youth population.
Stakeholders were urged to actively contribute to shaping a forward-looking strategy that positions Zambia at the centre of the maturing regional and global value chains to fully exploit the opportunities from the AfCFTA.
Speaking at the same event, the President of the Zambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ZACCI), Mr. Anthony Kabaghe, challenged the private sector to take full ownership of Zambia’s Local Content Agenda, warning that success will depend on execution of the Strategy.
He stressed that the Strategy must deliver tangible outcomes including contracts for local businesses, sustainable jobs, and facilitate the growth of stronger value chains. “The success of this strategy will be determined by what we, the private sector, do with it. A Strategy alone is not enough,” he said.
Mr Kabaghe called on companies, particularly those in the mining, energy, and construction sectors, to open their procurement systems to capable local suppliers. He underscored that local content is the engine of economic resilience: “Buy local, grow value chains; grow value chains, create jobs; create jobs, build economic resilience and sustainability.” He further emphasised that businesses must invest in quality, capacity, and innovation to remain competitive and underlined the importance of ZACCI as a platform through which companies can advocate for and support the quest for shared prosperity.
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