Charter Cities Institute Launches Office in Zambia
Last week, the celebrated Charter Cities Institute (CCI) marked its anniversary in Zambia by opening a permanent Lusaka Office on Haile Selassie Avenue. Known for innovating urbanisation projects to improve average income, quality of living and productivity, as its motto suggests, “Harnessing Urbanisation for Human Prosperity”, CCI has decided that recent signs of Zambian financial recovery and industrial growth mean that the time is right to bring CCI thinking to Zambia.
CCI is a non-profit organisation that promotes the creation of charter cities. Charter cities are new cities granted special jurisdiction, which gives local authorities the ability to implement practices and commercial regulations to drive growth. CCI brings high-functioning businesspeople together to provide the necessary assistance to those planning charter cities to optimise their performance.
Charter cities are known for creating highly competitive business environments that attract investment, create jobs and improve the lives of millions, making them one of the best methods of rapid urbanisation for driving widespread economic growth. Examples of charter cities include: Shenzen, whose average yearly income grew from $137 USD in 1980 to $13,997 USD in 2017; Singapore, whose GDP per capita was $428 USD in 1960 and reached $64,582 USD in 2018; Hong Kong, with a GDP per capita of $5,700 USD in 1980 and $46,193 USD in 2018; Dubai, whose total UAE GDP was $75 billion USD in 1980 and reached $689 billion USD in 2017.
CCI’s Lusaka Team, pictured at the Lusaka office launch party. (Lusaka Times)
CCI Zambia launched in 2021, and has worked with President Hakainde Hichilema’s New Dawn government with extraordinary success. Their charter cities movement is underway in Zambia, with stakeholders and the Zambian government collaborating to foster an environment for charter cities to prosper. The Multi-Facility Economic Zone program has been key to creating such an environment. President Hichilema and his party have demonstrated their enthusiasm to improve the lives of Zambia’s people; CCI has brought think tanks, associations and global businesses to the table to realise this aim.
Honoured with an invitation to the high-profile event on 13 February was Zambia is Back’s spokesperson Choolwe Chimboba met with various international corporations. Among the many international guests and businesspeople present was Russian-Canadian computer genius, entrepreneur and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. The two networked, discussing Zambia’s bright future.
Vitalik Buterin and Choolwe Chimboba at the party.
The event opened with welcome remarks from Special Assistant to the President Jito Kayumba, Kurtis Lockhart, the global Executive Director of CCI, and Mwanda Phiri-Mwewa, the Africa Lead for CCI. Zambia’s Permanent Secretary for Administration Maambo Hamaundu then discussed Zambia’s role in the CCI joint program.
Mr. Buterin was among the four CCI ambassadors who gave Keynote speeches – joining him were Mwiya Musokotwane, CEO and Founder of Thebe Investment Management limited, Daniel Yu, CEO and Founder of tech firm Wasoko, and Guest of Honour Chipoka Mulenga, Zambia’s Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry. The four speakers represent how CCI can help shape Zambia’s future, through construction of infrastructure, tech-based business improvement, globalised business models through internet-powered finance and responsible government fiscal policy at an international, national and local scale.
The event demonstrated the great future CCI’s contribution to Zambian policy will have – the speeches given were infused with professional credibility, diligence and robust optimism for Zambian growth. The coming together of Zambian businesspeople and pioneers, global-level drivers of industry and CCI’s roster of changemakers based at the CCI Lusaka Urban Lab offered an insight into how UPND’s foray into international investment and development has already begun to rejuvenate Zambia into a nation looking ahead to a better future.