Muloongo Muchelemba

Founder & CEO @ongolo_africa • Africa x Gulf Strategist • Rhodes Scholar • Interests: Africa, Art, Business, Learning, Real Estate, Talent, Travel • 🇿🇲🇬🇧

[Muloongo Muchelemba @muloongo]

I was having breakfast in my hotel today when an American asked me about Zambia🇿🇲.

I explained that we have 10 provinces compared to their 50 states:

Lusaka = a mix of New York + the Washington metropolitan area (DMV). Government, finance, embassies, deal-making, networking and everyone acting “busy.”

Southern = Texas + California. Cattle, farming, big land, quiet money, business-minded people, and Victoria Falls & Lake Kariba carrying the tourism economy.

Copperbelt = Michigan + Pennsylvania. Industrial backbone. Mining towns. Old money. Union vibes. People who remember when the economy was “serious.”

North-Western = Alaska. Rich in natural resources, sparsely populated, and everyone believes the future is there.

Western = Louisiana. Strong cultural identity, flood plains, proud traditions, and its own rhythm entirely.

Eastern = Iowa + Kansas.
Agriculture, hardworking people, and quietly influential politically.

Central = Ohio.
Right in the middle of everything. Farms, transport links, mining, logistics. The “swing province” energy.

Northern = Washington.
Rain, greenery, lakes, waterfalls and underrated natural beauty.

Muchinga = Colorado.
Mountains, scenery, adventure, wilderness and people forgetting how beautiful it actually is.

Luapula = Minnesota + a little Florida fishing-town energy. Water everywhere. Fish economy. Relaxed pace of life. Hidden tourism potential.

Zambia is basically America compressed into 10 provinces… just with better weather, less stress, nshima, fewer lights and highways. 🇿🇲

[Muloongo Muchelemba @muloongo]

@Kapilikisha I do not feel sad at all. If someone is shooting daggers at me for driving a nice car or when buying groceries, it’s on them. That’s the level of hostility I experienced.

[Muloongo Muchelemba @muloongo]

I have encouraged many of my Zambian friends to send their children to the @UCT_news .

The University of Cape Town is the best in Africa and a leading university globally.

My Nigerian friends say hell no. The xenophobia puts them off. Southern Africans know how to navigate.

[Muloongo Muchelemba @muloongo]

@Kapilikisha Personal choice. I would live in Jo’burg again.

[Muloongo Muchelemba @muloongo]

@Kapilikisha I have lived in South Africa before and spend time there. Navigate ie most Africans experience some hostility but not everyone is physically attacked.

[Africa Today Media Group @africatodayMG]

Nigeria to evacuate over 1000 Nigerians in South Africa.

Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that it plans to evacuate over 1,000 of its citizens from South Africa due to xenophobia targeting Nigerians.

"South Africa is not as rich and powerful as they think" said one official who was in the meeting organizating the evacuation plan.

[Muloongo Muchelemba @muloongo]

New York money is something else! I do miss my regular trips to Manhattan.

[The Kobeissi Letter @KobeissiLetter]

It's official.

Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs is now the most expensive NBA game in history.

The cheapest ticket available? $10,622 per seat.

This game will shatter every previous record by a mile.

[Sipho Phiri 🇿🇲 @siphophiri]

@muloongo You cam have a PhD and they're worried about Grade 12 🤷🏾

The point is that it is a minimum qualification and any other interpretation is simply interfering with Zambians right to select their leaders

[Muloongo Muchelemba @muloongo]

This means Rwanda’s social capital is high.

[Africa Today Media Group @africatodayMG]

In Rwanda, a truck carrying drinks was involved in an accident, and bystanders helped put the drinks back into the crates.

What happens in your country when this occurs? In Nigeria and South Africa, it’s the opposite.

[Muloongo Muchelemba @muloongo]

In effect, this means anyone who didn’t go to high school in Zambia can stand for the highest office.

The “or equivalent..” is getting lost in translation.

[Diggers.News @DiggersOfNews]

We learnt that Dolika Banda doesn't have a G12 certificate after nomination - ECZ

By Precious Daka

ECZ has told the Constitutional Court that it had already completed the nomination process at the time it received a letter from the Examinations Council of Zambia advising that Socialist Party running mate Dolika Banda did not possess a Grade 12 certificate or equivalent.
In this matter, governance activist Isaac Mwanza

https://t.co/XpQitpfOS2

Read more @ https://t.co/xPDGUNkJay

[Office of the Prime Minister - Ethiopia @PMEthiopia]

PRESS STATEMENT
5 June 2026
Addis Ababa

Statement on Recent Issues

#PMOEthiopia

[Robel @RobelYeshitla]

Impressive what is happening in Ethiopian digital ecosystem. By 2026, Telebirr, launched in May 2021, surpassed 52.5 million users and processed nearly 5 trillion birr in cumulative transactions while moving 7.6 billion birr daily.

The government digitized roughly 900 public services, issued more than 30 million Fayda digital IDs toward a target of 90 million by 2028, and licensed over 3,000 digital firms.

Mobile connectivity expanded rapidly, with 4G coverage increasing eightfold and population coverage rising from 37.5 percent to 70.8 percent within a single fiscal year. Mobile money adoption, virtually nonexistent in 2020, grew to nearly 60 million users.
https://t.co/tcstHkiC8U

[Zerihun Megersa Jima @CGZerihunDXB]

When one moves across the UAE, it has become common to read a slogan that says;

“IN THE UAE, EVERYONE IS EMIRATI.”

This is not just a rhetoric. It is a fact I proved it by myself.
During the difficult times of this country, my country citizens, Ethiopians, were expressing their commitment to standby UAE whatever it takes.
This is a feeling of almost every expat who knows this country very well.

It came from the generosity and governance system of the people and Government of 🇦🇪 which embraces and treats everyone living here as truly Emirati.

I fully share each words of Her Excellency Reem bint Ebrahim Al Hashimy, in this video.

🇪🇹🤝🇦🇪
@ETConsulateDXB @UAEthio @UAEmediaoffice @UAEmediaoffice @S_almentheri @Mikitango @muloongo

[Muloongo Muchelemba @muloongo]

@MrsHichilema Wishing our beloved President @HHichilema a happy 64th birthday! 🥳

[Zerihun Megersa Jima @CGZerihunDXB]

#IMF is convinced that #Ethiopian Government is serous on its path towards prosperity!
@PMEthiopia @MFAEthiopia @MoF_Ethiopia @EyobTolina @mihretum @BilleneSeyoum

[Zumbunu Milimo @m_zumbunu]

@muloongo https://t.co/TUjoPUyC66 Is our website, can scroll over to our art program tab on the menu )

Also feel free to DM / add will be glad to host you in the “paris of the east “ on your next visit,

[Muloongo Muchelemba @muloongo]

@Amazirostanley @rolandgarros @WTA 💀🤣

[Zerihun Megersa Jima @CGZerihunDXB]

I had the honor of meeting with my Azerbaijani counterpart in Dubai.
We covered ranges of issues mainly the Azerbaijan experience of #COP29 aimed at getting lesson for Ethiopia’s preparations of #COP32.

[Muloongo Muchelemba @muloongo]

@m_zumbunu Amazing! Please send more details.

[Muloongo Muchelemba @muloongo]

No US 🇺🇸 visa? No problem.

Go to China 🇨🇳 instead!

I had the most magical time in Shanghai and Beijing in November 2025 and will visit again.

👉🏾 The best hotels, amazing food and exceptional customer service.

[Zumbunu Milimo @m_zumbunu]

@muloongo Feel free to visit the only Zambian art and Jewelry space in China on your next visit to shanghai, always happy to host 😊💎🇿🇲

[Muloongo Muchelemba @muloongo]

@IanECox @MalolelaVictor Thanks for clarifying.

[Muloongo Muchelemba @muloongo]

Makes you wonder why the US built that big embassy in Lusaka if they are not going to process visas in Zambia anymore.

This decision to cut visa processing will only incentivise more and more Africans to head East to countries that still treat visa applicants with some dignity.

[Saleh Mwanamilongo @SMwanamilongo1]

#EXCLUSIF 👉@AP : Le département d’État prévoit de réduire considérablement le nombre d’ambassades et de consulats américains en #Afrique habilités à traiter les demandes de visa des étrangers souhaitant se rendre aux États-Unis.

Selon trois responsables américains et une note interne obtenue par Associated Press, #AP, près de 50 ambassades et consulats américains qui traitent actuellement les demandes de visa verront leur nombre réduit à seulement 20 dans les semaines à venir.

Selon la note interne, les 20 centres régionaux qui resteront ouverts pour le traitement complet des demandes de visa sont les suivants : Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), Accra (Ghana), Addis-Abeba (Éthiopie), Le Cap (Afrique du Sud), Dakar (Sénégal), Dar es-Salaam (Tanzanie), Djibouti (Djibouti), Johannesburg (Afrique du Sud), Kampala (Ouganda), Kigali (Rwanda), Kinshasa (République démocratique du Congo), Lagos (Nigeria), Lomé (Togo), Luanda (Angola), Malabo (Guinée équatoriale), Monrovia (Libéria), Nairobi (Kenya), Port-Louis (Maurice), Praia (Cap-Vert) et Yaoundé (Cameroun).