President elect Hakainde Hichilema gives a press briefing at his residence in Lusaka, on August 16, 2021. [AFP]
Hakainde Hichilema, who secured a second term as Zambia's president on Tuesday, built a business empire before first winning the presidency in 2021, but says he remains at heart an ordinary "cattle boy".
Known simply as "HH", the 64-year-old tycoon first came to power after defeating his longtime rival Edgar Lungu in a landslide win on his sixth run for the top job.
He won the August 13 poll with around 60 percent of votes against his closest rival, Brian Mundubile, who mounted a spirited last-minute challenge for the presidency in a bitter accusation-filled election.
Hichilema entered the race as the clear favourite after steering Zambia through a major economic turnaround, restructuring its debt, restoring ties with international lenders and courting millions of dollars in investment, particularly in the country's valuable copper industry.
He had also made primary and secondary education free.
But while inflation has eased, the economic gains have not been felt evenly for the more than 70 percent of the population which lives on less than $3 a day, according to World Bank data.
"We love you so much and this is why we are working round the clock to lower the cost of living," Hichilema -- often affectionately referred to as "Bally", or Dad -- told supporters ahead of the August 13 election.