The AB InBev-owned brewer took the honour at the Zambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s annual awards, days after ZACCI listed it as a dinner sponsor.
Zambian Breweries Plc has received the Manufacturing Excellence Award 2026 from the Zambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ZACCI). The award was presented on September 11 at ZACCI’s High-Level Business Dinner and Awards at the InterContinental Hotel in Lusaka. It follows a US$80 million expansion of the brewer’s Lusaka plant.
Chipego Zulu, a Corporate and Regulatory Affairs professional at Zambian Breweries, announced the win in a LinkedIn post. She said it reflects the company’s focus on quality, safety, innovation, sustainability and continuous improvement. The company called it a recognition belonging to “Team ZB.”
What the event was about
The dinner was themed around a sustainable 24-hour economy and business efficiency. Permanent Secretary for Investment and Industrialisation Crusivia Hichikumba told the audience that government was focused on a competitive environment for investment and enterprise expansion. Andrew Sinyangwe, speaking for the chamber’s president, urged firms to modernise operations, adopt technology and invest in people.
ZACCI also listed Zambian Breweries as a Supporting Sponsor of the dinner. The sponsorship and the award are separate, but readers should weigh the recognition with that in mind.
The US$80 million plant
In January 2024, government commissioned the upgraded Mungwi Road facility after the US$80 million investment. The expansion was meant to lift capacity, support local sourcing, reduce reliance on imports, create supplier opportunities and give the company room to export Zambian-made products.
The company says its partnership with the World Food Programme and the AB InBev Foundation has trained thousands of smallholder sorghum farmers. The brewer is also widening its portfolio, having launched AB InBev’s MXD vodka RTD in Zambia.
The financial picture is mixed
Results for the first half of 2026 point in two directions. Net revenue rose 4% to ZMW2.86 billion, and gross profit climbed 31% to ZMW1.54 billion on lower production costs. Operating profit rose 27% to ZMW413 million.
Profit after tax, however, fell to ZMW106.3 million from ZMW202.3 million a year earlier. Higher finance costs, linked to a balance-sheet restructuring and de-dollarisation programme, and a heavier tax charge explain the drop.
The company returned to profit in 2025 after two years of losses. It posted net revenue of ZMW6.11 billion and profit of ZMW295 million, against a ZMW673 million loss in 2024.
Manufacturing under a wider lens
The award arrives as manufacturing draws more policy attention. Zambia Development Agency data cited by the Zambia Association of Manufacturers show the sector took US$7.33 billion, or 38.5%, of actualised investment between 2021 and June 2026, the largest share of any sector. Zambia Statistics Agency figures cited alongside show manufacturing growth of 7.1% in 2025 and 5.4% in the first quarter of 2026.
That context matters for beverage makers as Africa’s drinks sector courts investors. Energy reliability, local sourcing, logistics and export competitiveness all shape factory performance.
What comes next
The award gives Zambian Breweries outside validation of its manufacturing effort. The harder test is whether the plant investment and efficiency gains keep lifting productivity and securing supply while profit after tax remains under pressure.
Source: This report draws on a LinkedIn post by Chipego Zulu of Zambian Breweries, supplemented by coverage of the ZACCI event, company results and industry data.
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