UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

Regulating Social Enterprises in Zambia: A Comparative Analysis of the Societies Act of Zambia and the Public Benefits Organisation Act of Kenya

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.67317/ijmsrt26sep067

Authors

Chisopa Banda · Mildred Muhyila

Reported year

2026

Reported language

en

Source type

article

First detected

2026-11-09T19:04:47.929175+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:04:47.929175+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

Zambia Centre for Accountancy Studies

Reported affiliation countries

ZM

Documentary abstract — original language

The study addresses the absence of a clear and enabling legal framework for social enterprises in Zambia, particularly under the Societies Act, which does not recognise social enterprises as a distinct legal category and therefore limits their legal status, governance structures, and operational effectiveness. It examines the adequacy of the Societies Act (Government of Zambia, 1957) in regulating social enterprises and compares it with Kenya‟s Public Benefits Organisations Act (Government of Kenya, 2013), which provides a more structured and facilitative legal framework for organisations operating for public benefit. This study employs a qualitative doctrinal legal research methodology, involving an analytical review of primary legal sources, including the Societies Act of Zambia (Government of Zambia, 1957) and the Kenyan Public Benefits Organisations Act (Government of Kenya, 2013), as well as secondary sources such as journal articles, policy papers, and scholarly works. The findings reveal that Zambia‟s legal framework is largely compliance-oriented, does not confer separate legal personality on social enterprises, lacks provisions on profit reinvestment, governance standards, and social impact reporting, and provides no dedicated regulatory institution, thereby constraining the growth and sustainability of social enterprises. In contrast, Kenya‟s framework provides clearer legal recognition, structured governance requirements, and accountability mechanisms that support operational autonomy and public benefit objectives. The study further finds that these differences reflect divergent policy approaches, with Zambia favouring administrative control while Kenya adopts an enabling and facilitative model. It is therefore recommended that Zambia introduces a dedicated legal framework for social enterprises, confers separate legal personality upon registration, establishes mandatory profit reinvestment and governance standards, introduces social impact reporting obligations, creates an independent regulatory authority, and develops a national social enterprise policy to foster a more enabling environment for social entrepreneurship and socio-economic development.

Identifiers

OPENALEX

W7213748527

DOI

10.67317/ijmsrt26sep067

Documentary context

Documentary family

Scholarship

Source-reported types

article

Jurisdictions studied — explicit sources

KE · ZM

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.67317/ijmsrt26sep067
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W7213748527

Documented bibliographic relations

Source-declared references and links; they do not establish legal support or UGLC qualification. Up to 20 outgoing references are displayed.

• openalex:w2085524443 · CITES
• openalex:w2089229253 · CITES
• openalex:w2871618751 · CITES
• openalex:w3214576910 · CITES

0 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.