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Good practice Imported

Zambia Development Agency — A Five-Agency Merger Aiming for One-Stop Investment Facilitation

Zambia · Lusaka · See the Zambia profile · See the Lusaka profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 83% 52/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Zambia merged five agencies into the ZDA in 2007 as a one-stop investment and export shop; in Q1 2026 it recorded $1.69bn in actualised investment (71% of target) and 9,576 jobs (34% of target), with only $16.4bn of $92bn committed since 2021 actually materialising.

16.4 billion USD
Cumulative actualised investment, 2021-Q1 2026 (2021-Q1 2026)
18 %
Committed-to-actualised investment conversion rate (2021-Q1 2026)
109,488
Cumulative jobs created, 2021-Q1 2026 (2021-Q1 2026)
Zambia Development Agency — A Five-Agency Merger Aiming for One-Stop Investment Facilitation

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Zambia Development Agency (ZDA)
Period
2007-2026
Keywords
investment promotion, export promotion, business facilitation, one-stop shop

Context

In 2007, Zambia merged the Zambia Investment Centre, Zambia Privatisation Agency, Export Board of Zambia, Zambia Export Processing Zones Authority and the Small Enterprises Development Board into the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) under Act No. 11 of 2006, creating a one-stop-shop for investment promotion, export development and enterprise support.

Results

ZDA recorded $1.69 billion in actualised investment and 9,576 actualised jobs in Q1 2026, against quarterly targets of $2.4 billion and 28,050 jobs. Cumulatively from 2021 to Q1 2026, ZDA reports $16.4 billion in actualised investment and 109,488 jobs created.

Conclusions

The gap between committed and actualised figures is the clearest caution: just $16.4 billion of $92 billion in committed investment since 2021 has actually materialised (an 18% conversion rate), and the Q1 2026 job-creation target was missed by roughly two-thirds — headline investment-pledge figures substantially overstate delivered economic activity.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Zambia Development Agency (merged five-agency structure)

Conditions for success

  • Closing the gap between committed and actualised investment
  • Realistic quarterly job-creation targets

Common failure modes

  • Only 18% of committed investment since 2021 has actually materialised
  • Q1 2026 job-creation target missed by roughly two-thirds

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

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Attachments

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