Zambia Credit Guarantee Scheme

What Zambia Credit Guarantee Scheme does

Zambia Credit Guarantee Scheme (ZCGS) is a Lusaka-based, non-profit, government-backed entity founded in 2017 to address the credit gap facing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and micro businesses in Zambia. Its core product is a partial credit guarantee offered to participating financial institutions, which absorbs a defined share of borrower default risk and is intended to lower the risk-adjusted cost of lending to segments that banks would otherwise decline or price out of the market. The scheme is structured as a risk-sharing intermediary rather than a direct lender: financial institutions originate and service the loans, while ZCGS underwrites the guarantee portion, making its distribution model inherently B2B-to-bank with end-beneficiaries in the SME long tail.

The business model is a guarantee mechanism rather than a conventional commercial revenue engine. The entity does not publicly disclose pricing, fee schedules, guarantee portfolio size, or partner economics, and its website (zcgs.co.zm) was inaccessible at time of data collection, returning only a verification/loading page. Operating funding is consistent with a sovereign or donor-backed model typical of national credit guarantee schemes, and the company type is listed as non_profit. The organization operates with a small team of 11–50 employees, is headquartered in Lusaka, Zambia, and is led by Chief Executive Officer Mary Mumba. There are no disclosed products, technology stack details, partner bank logos, certifications, regulatory filings, or AI/ML capabilities in the source material, which materially limits the granularity of any commercial or technical assessment.

Name

Zambia Credit Guarantee Scheme

Website

https://zcgs.co.zm

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Zambia Credit Guarantee Scheme is a non-profit, government-backed entity founded in 2017 that provides partial credit guarantees to financial institutions to encourage lending to underserved small and medium enterprises in Zambia.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Credit Guarantee Services

NAICS

Credit Intermediation and Related Activities (522)

SIC

Federal & Federally-Sponsored Credit Agencies (6111)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYFSALAKAD

Public Mortgage Insurance & Government Credit Guarantee Programs

Financial & Insurance/Mortgage & Housing Finance/Housing Finance Agencies & Government-Sponsored Housing Programs

Keywords

• Credit guarantee scheme
• MSME loan guarantees
• SME credit access
• Risk-sharing finance
• Financial institution guarantee

Headquarters

HQ city

Lusaka

HQ country

Zambia

HQ region

Africa

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Others

Core offering

Zambia Credit Guarantee Scheme Limited provides partial credit guarantees to financial institutions against MSME loans, sharing default risk to encourage lending to small and medium enterprises and micro businesses. The scheme functions as a government-backed risk-sharing arrangement that de-risks lending to underserved business segments that commercial lenders typically perceive as too high-risk.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Partial Credit Guarantee for MSME Loans Partial credit guarantee coverage provided to financial institutions against loans extended to micro, small and medium enterprises in Zambia, sharing default risk to encourage lending to underserved business segments.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves2 records

Broad incumbents

• International Finance Corporation (IFC): World Bank Group member institution providing partial credit guarantees and risk-sharing facilities to banks lending to SMEs in emerging markets. Functions as a broader, multilateral version of ZCGS's mandate.
• BADEA (Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa): African development finance institution that supports SME access to credit through guarantees, lines of credit, and concessional financing. Comparable as a continental development financier engaging in credit guarantee activity.
• USAID Development Credit Authority (DCA): US government agency that issues partial credit guarantees to mobilize local bank lending in developing countries. Operates as a large-scale, multi-country counterpart to ZCGS with a similar public-sector guarantee mandate.

Direct peers

• African Guarantee Fund (AGF): Pan-African partial credit guarantee facility that provides guarantees to financial institutions lending to SMEs. Directly comparable to ZCGS in mandate, structure, and target borrowers, but operating at a regional rather than single-country level.
• GuarantCo: Specialized partial credit guarantee company backed by development financiers, focused on infrastructure and SME credit in emerging markets. Comparable guarantee-based model that de-risks local currency lending, with an analogous risk-sharing mechanism to ZCGS.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses3 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights4 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Zambia-Credit-Guarantee-Scheme-100083699564995
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/zambia-credit-guarantee-scheme-limited

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Zambia Credit Guarantee Scheme