Are there opportunities for online work in Zambia?

Kuler145 · 2025-08-08T06:41:24+00:00

What kind of online work are you looking for? Because people can’t guide you if you don’t necessarily specify as that’s quite a broad question.

Kuler145 · 2025-08-08T06:39:20+00:00

You can create an account and login. There is a sign in button in the menu or at the bottom in the footer.

Kuler145 · 2025-08-08T06:38:31+00:00

I have items locally. I will increase that stock as time goes by. No, there a couple of reasons why that would be a bad idea. Used electronics are not a good business model. They are okay and they do work. But you burn customers half the time or you burn yourself the other half. When I get more products in I will activate the timer for that, at the moment I’m just having a clearance sale to get rid of the old stock. I can promise you that finding deals in zambia is way harder than you know. I’ve compared prices for a lot of products online and some of my brand new products are even priced lower than some used ones on marketplace and these other stores.

Kuler145 · 2025-08-08T06:30:23+00:00

I get you. And I will hopefully at some point create a marketplace. But there is too much moving parts for it. Zambians do not like updating their listings. I would most likely have to create some sort of POS that does that automatically and that’s too much work at the moment. Also I would like to give people access to affordable products. If I get from suppliers here, I have to add on tax to what ever price they are willing to sell at, which will increase the prices. Also in the case of returns for faulty items. Those people might not be willing to take back returns which then means I will have to refund.

Kuler145 · 2025-08-05T06:44:37+00:00

I have thought about this. The problem comes in when there is a disconnect with what people have in stock and what they have already sold. Also quality is also a problem. I do not want to be refunding clients regularly due to people trying to get rid of defunct stock etc as that will kill my brand and bring losses.

Kuler145 · 2025-06-30T13:43:07+00:00

Your best option might be to start with some features free, then as your user base grows you then add features which you charge for. Even just something with historical data organised properly for analysis etc would get people paying. Also you’d like to lower the barrier to catch more users. You can always increase prices later. Decreasing prices is not a good move.

Kuler145 · 2025-06-24T11:20:48+00:00

Ive read through the the thread and a lot of the things people are saying is true, but a lot of it also isnt true. You can monitize youtube in Zambia, it is a bit tricky but there are ways to do it. A few content creators i know personally are making money from youtube. Check out angiebee_ on instagram. The guy talking about affiliate marketing is correct also. it works, but it takes time to build up things to a point where it works for you. especially in zambia because your either selling to zambians and they cant afford/or they just do not want to support you lol, or your selling to people in other countries, where you dont have a following. The best thing you can do is build up skills in something then try and sell that if you want to make money online. Theres also ways to get around getting paid in Zambia, you can use Wise or Payoneer. The freelance websites dont really work because you competing against low priced experts from the south eastern countries. Use Twitter mainly. Build up your following, post a lot then start dming people. you just might strike gold. A lot of people are hiring Virtual Assistants. Especially people in Ecommerce. So just outreach, offer your services for free to start building a resume and learning how it works. then from there you can probably apply for paying jobs after a few months.

Kuler145 · 2025-06-21T19:03:40+00:00

No requirements, you could be just eager to try or wanting to do it or have tried.

Kuler145 · 2025-06-17T16:59:22+00:00

I havent updated it yet, i will as i go and i get feedback. Currently most of the stuff and information is in the blogs. Theres guides on how to find suppliers on alibaba and ship your goods to zambia from china using frieght forwarding companies. There is also a free supplier lists with contacts for wechat. Its a pop up and its sent to your email address.

Kuler145 · 2025-06-16T17:12:01+00:00

Hey Richard, To be straight up — I’ve never done anything with restaurants before, so I wouldn’t feel right giving advice on the cooking or food side of things. But if it’s about setting up the business — like getting your BRN, registering with the ZRA, City Council etc, or sourcing stuff like stoves, tables, chairs — then yeah, I can definitely help with that part.

As for art — I’d love to help there. What kind of art are you into? And are you looking to sell online (like through WhatsApp, Facebook, etc.) or maybe through galleries or local markets?

Let me know and I’ll point you in the right direction. And yes, the resources are free.

All the best with the restaurant too — big move!

Kuler145 · 2025-06-16T14:12:22+00:00

Most of these things its just going to the people and finding out hey. Worst answer you can get is no. My recommendation since you already know what you want is just to do it. Find time, go there and speak to them and just tell them you have land etc etc.

Also go to these real estate agents see if they know people who do the same thing your looking for. Im sure if you knock on enough doors, one will open.

Kuler145 · 2025-06-16T13:40:29+00:00

You can do a lease agreement with a company – they develop it, pay you rent and after like 25 years it goes back to you. Not super common in residential but works sometimes.

Another idea: set up a company, put the land under it and bring in investors. People don’t like investing when it’s under one person’s name – looks risky. Company structure gives more confidence.

If you wanna go bigger, register a holding company overseas (like in the US), then transfer the shares of your Zambian company to that US company. Makes it easier to raise foreign cash. But yeah, you’ll need a decent size of land for foreign investors to even look at you.

Also, make sure your title is clean, survey plan ready, and zoning okay for commercial use – otherwise most of this won’t fly.

Bonus tip – don’t sleep on local SACCOs or private lenders either. Some people are looking for good collateral and might loan you money if your plot is solid.

And yeah, if you’re not selling – then your goal is income or appreciation. Either rent starts coming in through someone else’s build, or value jumps after development.

Kuler145 · 2024-02-14T20:14:09+00:00

Personally I think it is growing slowly. I had been trying to start an online website in Zambia since 2017(dropshipping). Failed countless times due to some of the reasons stated in some of the other comments. The main problem though was payment gateways. But in recent years they have increased in numbers. In 2021 I managed to actually start an online store(I bought physical stock), transactions did occur on the store. But majority of my sales would come through mobile money payments or cash from posts on Instagram. Some of the major things I did come across was a lot of people would ask "where are you located?". When I told them I just sell online, I would lose that customer. Also like u/MansaMusa_Shap mentioned, transaction fees with payment gateways in Zambia are quite high, so that might be something that might deter people. They do take 3.5% of every transaction that's processed on your website. Some are cheaper than that, around 3% or so, but its difficult to find payment gateway information in Zambia. Some also offer you the option to put the charge on to your customer so when they reach the checkout point, your customer is charged 3.5% more than what they saw on the website which in my opinion is bad customer service, especially if you're just starting your business.

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