Demystifying Katondo Street

“You look familiar”, said John Banda (not his real name), when I met him on Katondo Street. He looked like someone I had met before, but I could not place him.

Through a third party, I had arranged to meet John to give me the lowdown on the history of Katondo Street. We had arranged to meet in front of the Lusaka City Council library. No exact time was agreed upon because, as he said, he was not exactly sure what my motive was. He wasn't there when I arrived, armed with just pen and paper. I called him on his mobile phone and he said he was doing some transactions at Farmers' House, so he would meet me in the next 15 minutes. As I waited for him, I couldn't help but notice the predatory alertness of the men idling around Katondo Street. Being a newbie, the suspicious stares made me uneasy but I was determined to wait it out and get my interview and demystify perhaps the most infamous street in Zambia, known for shady fast dealings.

Some old men who knew my contact came and asked me what exactly I wanted and they even tried to help me by divulging some answers. However each one left abruptly during their story-telling and stood at a distance. If I hadn't had my annual shower that morning, I would have thought they couldn't stand my body odour! After ten minutes, John came – he was five minutes early. John is a seasoned second generation veteran trader who has been on Katondo Street since 1969. His family was originally from Kenya. After the usual exchange of pleasantries, I asked him why everyone looked at me suspiciously. He told me they were trying to figure me out, whether I was buying or selling, or whether I was a government 'spy'.

History of Katondo Street
Trading on Katondo Street actually started in the middle of Cairo Road, the main street in the Central Business District of the City of Lusaka, as a curios market. “The curios business started about the time the trees currently lining the middle of Cairo Road were just kneehigh” John quipped as he stooped and put his right hand on his knee to depict the height of the trees. The trees lining Cairo Road are now over 10 metres tall.

Curios were imported from East Africa, mostly from Kenya. Tourists would flock to the middle of Cairo Road and pay for the curios in foreign currencies. The curio traders amassed enough foreign currencies which they started selling to the Indian traders who needed it to finance their imports. Due to foreign exchange restrictions at the time, most of the traders slowly abandoned the curios business and went into the more lucrative foreign currency exchange market. This was the birth of the foreign currency 'black market', as it came to be known. As they were trading illegally, the traders were 'chased' from Cairo Road. So they moved to Lusaka Hotel. Due to the continued 'battles' with the authorities, they later moved to Kulima Tower, Stanley Bar and presently, they now occupy the whole stretch of Katondo Street. The foreign currency business thrived for decades until the liberalisation of the foreign currency market around 1994. This effectively got most of the traders out of business. Due to their resilience, the traders evolved and began trading in other commodities such as cars, phones, cameras and laptops.

“You said you have been on Katondo Street since 1969. Why that long?” I asked, as some of the people I talked to earlier came back and were trying to listen to our conversation.

John explained that Katondo Street can be likened to a commodities exchange market. Most of the traders do not do their actual transactions from Katondo Street, it just serves as a meeting point for transactions and for business networking. Over the years, he has built a large network of clients who, when they want to do business with him, would come to the street. If he does not come to Katondo Street, he would lose out on a lot of business and contacts. That is why he has been there that long, and feels part of the street. He has no kind words for the city authorities who put up a street sign that says “Katondo Road” instead of Katondo Street.

If you want to sell your laptop, for example, you approach one of the traders from Katondo Street who will find buyers for you. If, on the other hand, you want to buy something, anything, you would go to Katondo Street. While the relationships built with the traders are based on trust, trickery still exists especially with the newcomers. The older folk like John dare not risk losing their hard-earned reputation and business contacts. It is from Katondo Street that they have managed to finance their children's education, feed their families and diversify into other businesses. Most of the traders lining the street have businesses elsewhere: they trade in motor vehicle spare parts, buying and selling of maize during the maize marketing season, etc. With no traders association, everyone trades individually.

“Now I remember you”, John said, with a twinkle in his eyes, after I finally jolted his memory by asking about a man who used to trade on Katondo Street some time back. “You came here once to play pool with your Ethiopian friend. About 10 years ago”. I could not believe how sharp the man's memory was. I last went to Katondo Street in 2005 or 2006, and, true to his word, I did play pool for a couple of hours, with a friend of mine who is Zambian but is always mistaken for an Ethiopian. To vividly remember a single incident that happened ten years ago is an amazing feat, a desirable trait for traders on Katondo Street.

Parallels with Wall Street
The history of Katondo Street has characteristics that mirror that of Wall Street in New York, USA when 24 men met under a buttonwood tree in 1792 and banded together through the 'Buttonwood Agreement' to control the securities trading. These men in New York had founded what was to become the New York Stock Exchange in 1817 which is located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York. The New York Stock Exchange has become the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization with average daily trading approximately US$169 billion in 2013.

Unlike Wall Street, Katondo Street has neither cartels nor traders association – everyone trades individually. It remains an informal commodities exchange market. Had the traders on Katondo Street been as organized as those 24 men on Wall Street, things may have been different by now. We would perhaps have had a thriving and privatesector- led Katondo Stock Exchange, way before the Lusaka Stock Exchange came into existence in 1994, as well as banks and other financial intermediaries formed by the resilient street-smart and business savvy individuals who line Katondo Street.