1. SEBASTIAN C. KOPULANDE: PROFILE
Sebastian Kopulande is the Chief Executive Officer of the Zambian International Trade &
Investment Centre, a private Consulting firm focused on contributing to Africa’s development
through the promotion and facilitation of local and international trade and investment in Zambia and
the rest of the continent. Some of the services the firm set out to offer include assisting African-based
companies in sourcing equity as well as project and trade finance from both local and international
markets. ZITIC also provides policy advisory services to African Governments on Industrial and trade
policy as well as strategies to increase trade and investment. Sebastian established ZITIC in April
2009 and has so far forged working partnerships with leading international trade and investment
facilitation firms and Chambers of Commerce. The firm has organized numerous international trade
and investment missions for Zambian companies to various destinations including China, USA, India
and South Africa. He is a Founding Member of the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce in
Zambia and serves as Advisor to the Board of the World Trade Centre Africa based in Cape Town,
South Africa. On 2nd April 2012, he was appointed by the World Energy Forum of New York as
Director for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) comprising 15 member
countries. In December 2013, he was identified by the African Union Commission (AUC) as one
of the African Experts on Investment and Business environment and appointed to the team
working on developing the Pan-African Investment Code (PAIC). In January 2014, he was
appointed by the Capital Consulting Group of Cape Verde as Southern African Representative
to promote Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the region.
Sebastian is a Rhodes Scholar and holds the degree of Master of Philosophy (M.Phil) in
Management Studies from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom (1985). Prior to that he had
graduated with a Distinction in Psychology and Public Administration from the University of Zambia
in 1983 where he was awarded Best-All-Round Student in the School of Humanities and Social
Sciences. In 1993 he was elected as a PEW Economic Freedom Fellow at Georgetown University,
USA where he pursued studies in Transitional Economics, which covers managing an economy in
transition from a commandist to a free market system.
In March 2013, he was elected to participate in the CSCLeaders conference in the UK, delivered by
the partnership between Common Purpose and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Study
Conference. The conference is aimed at developing future leadership in the Commonwealth.
In his corporate career, Sebastian has worked as a Management Consultant for Deloitte and Touche,
General Manager for Kapumpe Office and Drawing Limited and later for Edwards Electrical Limited
and FEA Auto Electrical and Rewinding Limited.
Sebastian has very rich experience in Government and Public Affairs through his various
assignments in the sector up to advising two previous Zambian Heads of State.
He entered Public Service on 7th November 1991 as Senior Private Secretary to the Vice President of
the Republic of Zambia, then late Dr. Levy P. Mwanawasa, SC, who later became Zambia’s third
President. He was responsible for the establishment of the Office within the Government
administration system. In December 1993, he was transferred to the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and
Industry as Director of Industry to drive policy development in economic liberalization. In 1996, he
was elevated to the position of Permanent Secretary to establish the Office of the Minister without
Portfolio (as the 3rd office in Government from the Presidency) under the current President Mr.
Michael Sata as Minister. He was later in 1997 moved to State House as Comptroller/Permanent
Secretary where he was in charge of Finance and Administration in the Office of the Republican
President until March 1999.

2. From 2005 to end 2006, he served as Special Assistant to the President (Special Duties), the late Dr.
Levy P. Mwanawasa, SC., at State House with the responsibility of advising the Zambian Head of
State on a variety of national and international policy issues. He was also responsible for writing the
President’s major speeches on various local and international policy matters. Amongst many of his
other assignments, he served as Chairman of the Presidential Task Force to establish Multi-Facility
Economic Zones (Industrial Parks) in Zambia along the lines of South East Asia.
Sebastian has a trail of major achievements in public office and is credited with numerous
milestone innovations in policy development and infrastructure projects that he helped initiate.
These include the development of the disaster management policy and establishment of the
Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit in the Office of the Vice-President, the Citizen’s
Economic Empowerment Policy, Presidential Housing Initiative, Multi-facility Economic Zones
Policy, Small Enterprise Development Policy, Public Private Partnership policy and numerous
others. He has extensive experience in Governance and economic development matters, particularly
in the field of industrial and trade policy, economic policy formulation, economic empowerment,
private sector development and trade and investment promotion and facilitation. He has participated
extensively in issues of African industry and trade at regional (COMESA and SADC) and continental
(AU) levels as well as Zambia. A believer in African Regional economic integration and South-South
Cooperation, he worked with the UNDP office in Zambia to conceptualize and establish the ZambiaMalawi-Mozambique Growth Triangle.
Sebastian is a successful entrepreneur with many years of experience in business. Apart from
ZITIC, he owns Setrec Steel & Wood Processing Limited, for which he is Executive Chairman.
Sebastian’s marketing and management skills have led his company Setrec to win high-level awards
in local and international exhibitions. He has served as Chairman of many Government-owned
companies before their privatization including Kafue Textiles Limited, Kapiri Glass Products and
more recently, Times Printpak Zambia Limited, a Government-owned Newspaper Group
incorporating the Times of Zambia and the Sunday Times Newspapers.
Sebastian has been actively involved with promoting Zambian entrepreneurship, private sector
growth and attracting foreign investment to Zambia. In October 2004, he established the ZambiaChina Business Association (ZCBA), a private initiative, aimed at exposing Zambian entrepreneurs
to business opportunities in China, particularly in the sourcing of appropriate technologies to improve
business productivity. Since then, he has been Chairman of the organization and has led eight
Zambian business delegations to the Chinese Import and Export Fair in Guangzhou (the Canton Fair).
The ZCBA has been recognized as a resounding success. He has also been Vice President of the
Zambia Association of Manufacturers (ZAM) which represents the interests of the Zambian
manufacturing sector and provides various support services for its members including public policy
advocacy.
In his private life, Sebastian is an active Catholic, married with three children, and has exhibited
high-level social responsibility. During the Mozambican floods in 2000, he established SOS
Mozambique, an NGO, which mobilised funds in Zambia for the flood victims. As Chairman of the
organization, he campaigned publicly through the media and the project was a resounding success.
The funds raised were sent to Mozambique through the UNICEF office in Zambia and were used to
construct 16 houses for the displaced flood victims.
Following the Tsunami Disaster in December 2004, he established the SOS Tsunami that mobilized
financial resources in Zambia to support the victims. The funds were handed over to UNICEF in
Zambia for onward transmission to Somalia via the local UNICEF office. He is the Board Chairman
of the Partnership Forum in Zambia, an organization committed to the promotion of partnerships in
development using special competences of Government, Civil Society and the Private Sector.