Percy Chinyama, who leads Smart Zambia, says government and private firms should build digital services together, not compete. He made the case at a BongoHive event and pointed to the online passport service as proof of progress.
Chinyama spoke on a panel at the fourth Edge: Peers Connect. BongoHive organised it with Zanaco. He said innovation should build synergies, not rivalry. Teamwork, he said, helps deliver solutions that improve people’s lives. He urged Zambians to use digital government services. He says they save time and are easy to reach. No new programme, budget or deadline was announced.
Smart Zambia Institute is the state’s e-government arm. Here are the points Chinyama made.
| Point | What he said |
|---|---|
| Teamwork. | Build synergies, not competition. |
| Example. | The new online passport system. More tools are in development. |
| Citizens. | Use digital services for ease, speed and access. |
| Revenue. | Wider use could raise government revenue. |
The passport service is the one concrete example. Reports say it launched in December 2025 on ZamPortal. People can apply and pay online for passports and other travel papers. They can pay by MTN Mobile Money or ZICB SmartPay internet banking. They can also track their application on a dashboard. Officials quote 14 days for processing in Lusaka, Ndola and Livingstone, and 21 days in other provincial capitals. Paper forms at offices stay open for now. ITWeb reported in January that more than 1,000 passports had been processed online. That is an early figure, and we found no newer count.
The institute and BongoHive have worked together before. BongoHive is a Lusaka innovation hub. In July 2025 the two began talks on a roadmap for Zambia’s digital public infrastructure. The meeting was described as an example of public and private groups working together.
Two other leaders joined him on the panel. They were Muyangwa Muyangwa, Director General of the National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA), and Jason Mwanza, Chief Executive of Zamtel. The report did not quote them.
The call for teamwork fits a wider message from Smart Zambia. In June, remarks by Chinyama to a digital rights conference said the institute is reviewing its 2021 e-government directive. A colleague read them out for him. They said the state must protect personal data and earn trust as more services go online. They also called for work with civil society, universities, firms and citizens.
Why it matters: Government can build an online service. But it needs payments, networks and local tech skills to work. Many of those sit with banks, telcos and startups. A panel with a telco chief and a pension body shows that mix at work. For Zambian founders, the open question is how to join. Chinyama did not name a programme, a fund or a buying plan. The test is whether the call leads to contracts, open data and clear rules for firms.
What to watch next: which new digital services the institute plans to launch, and when. Watch how many Zambians use the online passport service, and whether paper applications close. Watch for rules or programmes that let local startups build on government platforms. Watch the result of the review of the e-government directive. And watch whether revenue improves, as Chinyama suggests, once more services move online.
Sources: Smart Zambia Institute remarks at Edge: Peers Connect, fourth edition, November 2026; Techsoma on the ZamPortal online passport system; ITWeb Africa on the online passport application system; TechAfrica News on Smart Zambia and BongoHive; TechAfrica News on Zambia’s e-government reforms.
A note for startup founders: Don’t practice on investors. Practice on AI first. RaiseReady by Index Prima is an AI fundraising simulator for African founders: upload your pitch deck, get a readiness score and face a tough AI investor before the real meeting. Find this post, and every post we publish, at raiseready.indexprima.com.
