Hakainde Hichilema (HH) is a Zambian politician and businessman who was born on June 4, 1962 in Monze, Zambia.
He is a father of three children (Miyanda, Habwela and Chikonka) and is married to Mutinta Hichilema.
HH spent his formative years in Southern province of Zambia, where he attended local primary schools and pursued high school education at Kalomo Secondary School. Upon completion of high school education, he was admitted in the School of Humanities and Social Science at the University of Zambia where he graduated with a BA in Economics and Business Administration in 1986. He thereafter pursued an MBA in Finance and Business Strategy at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.
HH had an illustrious career as a business and management expert that culminated in his rising to the position of Chief Executive Officer of Coopers and Lybrand (C&L) at the age of 26 years and later he become CEO for Grant Thornton (GT) for 12 years. Both C&L and GT are leading international professional services firms providing corporate finance, accounting, auditing, corporate recovery, management consultancy and tax advisory services to several reputable clients. These firms are member organizations of C&L International and GT International respectively which operate in more than 130 countries worldwide.
HH has been and remains one of the leading lights in business with wide experience in Zambia, Southern Africa, United Kingdom and other countries at operational and executive management levels. He served/serves on numerous boards of corporate entities including; as Chairman of the Board of Directors – Barclays Bank Zambia Plc., Sun International (Z) Ltd, Africa Trade Insurance a multilateral Pan African organization based in Kenya, Greenbelt Fertilizers Limited, Media Trust Fund and Export Development Programme II.
He was member of the Board of Directors of ; Zambia Investment Limited, Seedco Zambia Limited, African Life Financial Services, Zambezi Nickel (Bermuda) Limited, Westlake Investment Ltd. (Mauritius), Zambia Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ZACCI), Zambia Business Forum, C&L’s Africa Governing board, C&L International’s Governance Committee, GT International Governance board, Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (Smelterco) Limited and he served on boards of eight other companies.
HH has been active in the business community and has a strong high level private and public sector network locally and internationally.
Over years HH has participated in community work such as building clinics, schools, livestock dip tanks, dams, boreholes and founding a cultural fund that finances the revival of cultural ceremonies in Zambia.
HH retired in 2006 to pursue community service initiatives and within a short period of retiring from the corporate world he entered active politics as a member of the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND), a liberal political party whose formation he supported as a technocrat. Following the death of the UPND founding President Anderson Kambela Mazoka, he was elected as the party’s new President. Within 50 days of becoming President of the UPND, he was elected as the flag bearer of the United Democratic Alliance.