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

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 single institution for investment promotion, export development, enterprise support and trade-and-industry fund management under a one-stop-shop model intended to lower the cost of doing business.

According to ZDA's own reporting (corroborated by state broadcaster ZNBC and independent outlet Zambia Monitor), the agency 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 respectively — with manufacturing and energy accounting for over 70% of actualised investment. Cumulatively from 2021 to Q1 2026, ZDA reports $16.4 billion in actualised investment and 109,488 jobs created.

The gap between committed and actualised figures is the clearest caution here: ZDA's own cumulative reporting shows 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, indicating that headline investment-pledge figures substantially overstate delivered economic activity.

Read the full analysis: https://zda.org.zm/