Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprise Development (MSMED) has disclosed that it registered 15,262 cooperatives as of 11th December 2025, generating non-tax revenue amounting to over K12.6 million.
This is compared to the more than K6.8 million raised during the 2024 fiscal year, representing nearly double the non-tax revenue. The main sources of revenue were registration of cooperatives and annual returns, which constituted 66 percent and 33 percent of the total revenue, respectively.
The registered cooperatives include 15,233 primary cooperatives made up of individuals and 29 cooperative unions comprising primary cooperatives.
“The year 2025 has seen an increase in the number of cooperatives registered from 12,236 in 2024. The total number of registered cooperatives now stands at 156,699. The formalization drive has generated nearly double the non-tax revenue. A total of K12, 674, 472.57 was raised as at 11th December, 2025 compared to a total of K6, 881, 733.47 realized for the whole 2024 fiscal year,” Minister in charge, Eng. Elias Mubanga revealed.
Speaking during the end-of-year ministerial press briefing, Eng. Mubanga disclosed that 85 percent of the registered cooperatives are in the agricultural sector, 8 percent in various cross-cutting economic activities, 3 percent in the mining sector, another 3 percent in financial service provision, while only 1 percent are involved in the marketing of various products mainly derived from agriculture.
“As a Ministry, our primary focus for the year was connecting cooperatives to sustainable markets. The Ministry successfully facilitated market linkages for 5,074 cooperatives, with a substantial 1,595 cooperatives formally linked to off-takers within the domestic market. This critical effort ensures that cooperative production meets real market demand, enhancing their commercial viability and income stability,” he added.
Eng. Mubanga attributed the achievements to strong collaboration with financial institutions, the private sector, cooperatives and development partners, demonstrating a strategic and results-driven approach to fostering an inclusive, resilient and diversified economy through Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and cooperatives.
“In terms of Micro, Small and Medium enterprise (MSMEs) Development, let me begin by indicating that despite having faced challenges such as access to finance, MSMEs have proved to be resilient. In addressing the challenge of access to finance, parliament recently approved an unprecedented allocation of K515 million to CEEC for the budget year 2026,” he said.
The Minister noted that this represents a 31 percent positive boost of support to targeted citizens, cooperatives and MSMEs compared to the K392 million allocated and fully released by the Treasury in 2025.
He stressed that this will bring the total economic empowerment funding to the CEEC to K1.5 billion from 2022 to date under the current government, with the recovery rate currently standing at 74 percent.
Eng. Mubanga further disclosed that from January to date, a total of 83,722 individuals and businesses have benefited from the empowerment funds, with agriculture accounting for 30 percent, manufacturing 25 percent, services 20 percent, tourism 10 percent, and other sectors 15 percent.
Meanwhile, the Minister unveiled 24 CEEC economic empowerment loan and grant financing products for 2026, designed to focus on key sectors of the economy. Some of the products include Presidential irrigation system support, agricultural production and mechanization for high-value crops and plantations loan products, as well as loan products for cage fishing and cold chain systems, among others.
“To ensure fairness, transparency and effective alignment with the newly introduced 2026 economic empowerment products, my Ministry through CEEC has cancelled all pending applications up to December 2025 and will commence the process afresh under a new product framework and process. This has been done to provide a level playing field for all prospective applicants. The call for applications will commence on 29th December 2025 and will close on 13th February 2026,” the Minister revealed.
At the same event, CEEC Director General, Dr. Muwe Mungule, revealed that the Commission has recovered over K19 million in terms of empowerment loans, while over 84,000 MSMES and cooperatives have been supported.
