Africa-Press – Malawi. The demand for creativity and risk taking topped with a heaping of hard work is paying very well for youth in Malawi. Many young upwardly mobile, college educated or not, deciding not to seek formal employment but rather venture into creative and oftentimes risky business ventures are reaping beautiful and bountiful results. Such a result may just be the boon the country needs to get out of the poverty stokes to which Malawi is currently manacled.
The country must relieve itself of the myth that outside injection of cash or investment is the answer to the doldrums of poverty, or that investors who get tax holidays will help the country. A backward look in the past 25 years has not yielded any such dream-come-true that policymakers in the government would have us believe will take place. In fact the opposite has happened whereby foreign “investors” enter Malawi, borrow money from local finance institutions, open a five-year granted tax holiday, and within a few years declare bankruptcy and then flee the country.
But eureka! There is some joy to dispel our gloom at the shark-like foreign investors, there is a rising wave of youth in the country that are not only refusing to seek formal employment and instead jump into the risk environment of business ventures. They are doing this with awesome and praiseworthy tenacity. six brief celebratory examples will suffice to highlight the enthusiasm that is afoot in the country. These are: windmill maker William, Chaz, gasman and solar panel distributor Mfundo, agricultural engineer nerd Providence, drone start up Dumisani, and tiptop cobbler Chimwemwe.
Windmill maker: William Kamkwamba was 14 years old, out of school in 2000, the year when there was famine in Malawi. His desire to read led him to books about windmills that generate electricity. Articles about his invention were in all newspapers in Malawi after young William took scraps and built a windmill attached to a 16-foot pole that generated electricity for his parent’s house, pumped watered the family maize garden and soon electricity for the village. William won the attention of donors who took him to the US. He not only graduated from high school but attended his tertiary education at Dartmouth University. Today he lives in the US with his wife, and they run an NGO, continuing to help his family and community.
Film Producer: Chaz (that’s his full name) is Malawi’s latest buzzword around filmmaking. While citizens may recall the Aubrey Kalitera experiment in this genre of the entertainment sector (To Ndirande Mountain with Love), Chaz has all the promise of staying power. Based in the US, Chaz this year has taken things to another level with his latest film Misnomer. Promising to be a trailblazer, the film stars a bevy of Malawian actors starring Gordon Timothy Kumbatira and Ian Simbota. Like his 2021 production (Cashgate), Chaz’s 2023 Misnomer, deals with Malawian issues: the plight of persons living with albinism.
Gasman and solar panel distributor: Mfundo Mbvundula vehemently stayed away from employment after his college education. After giving some serious thought to his “what next?” question, Mfundo set up a gas distribution company in Lilongwe. The canisters for his gas are painted a deep purple. But perhaps due to all the yakati-yakati chatter on climate change, Mfundo has also ventured into solar panel provision. His growing list of clients are mostly from the private sector and NGOs.
Agricultural engineer nerd: Providence Maliro has developed a computer program that monitors the temperature and humidity in a smart greenhouse. The greenhouse uses sensors that send information to his computer. Providence has a smart pond that also has sensors that send data to his computer. No longer is it necessary to measure temperature or humidity by hand or manually. This new way is more efficient. Providence, who gets his training at NxtGen Labs, a coding school and digital skills training center, benefits greatly because it offers training in robotics with elements of machine learning or artificial intelligence, with the goal of preparing Malawi’s young agricultural engineers for the ‘fourth industrial revolution’. This revolution has the potential to impact on farming and has come at a good time because of various natural occurrences like Cyclone Freddy.
Managing director of NxtGen Labs said that” Combining artificial intelligence and big data will evolve into a high-tech industry,” explained Eugene Maseya, managing director of NxtGen Labs.
“These technologies allow for precision agriculture, such as yield monitoring, diagnosing insect pests, measuring soil moisture, diagnosing harvest time, and monitoring crop health status.”
Drones start up manufacturer: As if the use of technology to boost agricultural output, Dumisani Kaliati CEO and founder of MicroMek, is the first Malawian based drone startup. He joins the continental buzz about. MicroMek, the manufacturer of the Malawian drone, is a low cost, autonomous, fixed wing UAV for delivery of remote medicine in hard to reach areas.
Design shoemaker: Cobbler specialist Chimwemwe Mwenyemasi is making quality designer shoes of export quality that cost MwK39.99. Move over Bata shoes, a new kid is in town!
Other than our support through buying or sourcing their products and services, what else do these entrepreneurs do? They young upwardly mobile need numerous interventions, to enable them reach their next levels, for Malawi to continue to reap bountiful benefits. Parliament could make laws that level the playing field. This would enable other youths to take such risks. Such laws that protect them; laws for the government to take part through such ways and means as minority shares. This would get more youth engaged; it would also create more jobs.
This government and private sector support would likely encourage other youth to venture into similar projects or think outside the box. Malawi needs genuine friends from outside the country. Real friends and not just the fly by night group of unscrupulous inverters that wind up defrauding the country. As a country, Malawi must stop believing that our help will come from outside help, good help is within the country’s border.
The Malawi government must get to the pres-1994 years when a government investment meant holding minority shares (10% to 49%) and the youth entrepreneurs holding the majority shares. Such action would ultimately lead to the ventures becoming national entities.
Government owning minority shares would create massive jobs. Government would also assist youth ventures to access raw materials and at the same time lead to transfer of knowledge.
Alas! The country would be transformed. The future has landed squarely on the laps of Malawi youth. I prophesy and encourage Malawi youth to put their hands in the pockets of your creativity and bring out the brainy venture. Malawi shall bounce back out of poverty and into the marvelous middle income status. Youth must arise!
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