The challenge

Customs clearing in Zambia is a relay race. A single consignment passes between registration clerks, filing officers, finance and the facilitation team on the ground — and traditionally that hand-off happens across WhatsApp groups, shared spreadsheets and paper files. Nobody could answer the two questions that matter most: where is this entry right now, and who owns the next action? Clients called for updates the team could not confirm, duty payments were reconciled after the fact, and mistakes surfaced only when a shipment stalled at the border.

Our approach

We spent the discovery phase sitting with the real process rather than an idealised one — mapping each stage, the documents that gate it, and the person accountable for it. That map became the spine of the product: four stages, explicit ownership, and no way for an entry to move forward with a missing document. The interface was deliberately kept plain and fast, because it is used under pressure, often on a phone, sometimes at the port.

Rather than replicating ASYCUDA, Clearway sits alongside it: the SAD is prepared and its reference recorded in the system, so the operational record and the statutory filing always agree.

The workflow

1. 1

   Registration

   Consignments, importer details, HS codes and shipping documents captured once, at the source.

2. 2

   Filing

   SAD preparation, ASYCUDA reference capture and document checks before submission.

3. 3

   Finance

   Duty and VAT tracked against ZRA payments, then invoiced to the client without re-keying.

4. 4

   Facilitation

   Release orders, gate passes and delivery confirmation close the file cleanly.

What we built

• Registration: consignments, HS codes & documents
• Filing: SAD preparation and ASYCUDA references
• Finance: duty/VAT tracking to ZRA and invoicing
• Facilitation: release orders, gate passes, delivery
• Role-based accounts, audit trail & client portal