Africa-Press – Malawi. Nkhotakota-based vegetable farmer Trecio Lufeyo has won this year’s Young Builders Challenge (YBC), walking away with K5 million in start-up capital in a competition championed by the Paul Katema Foundation to empower young people through entrepreneurship.
Lufeyo, who grows cabbage, tomatoes and other vegetables, expressed gratitude to God for the win and described the journey as demanding but rewarding, having emerged top from a highly competitive field of more than 700 participants.
She said the prize money will be invested directly into expanding her farming business, with a strong focus on job creation for young people in her community. Lufeyo added that she plans to improve production and supply high-quality vegetables to local vendors who currently travel long distances to source produce.
“This support will allow me to scale up operations and create employment for fellow youths,” she said.
Lufeyo also praised the rigorous selection process, which saw contestants narrowed down from 700 to 40, then 10 finalists, before she was declared the overall winner.
One of the judges, Vincent Mwenda, described the challenge as a success, saying it adopted a practical and impact-driven approach to youth empowerment. He explained that young people from higher education institutions were invited to submit raw business ideas based on how they would use funding to solve problems in their communities or institutions.
“The process started in September with an open-ended question on business ideas,” Mwenda said. “Over three months, participants refined their concepts, focusing on community, institutional and youth-oriented solutions.”
He said the competition involved 11 higher education institutions alongside an open category and attracted over 700 applications. The final stage featured physical pitching sessions before judges and a live audience.
“The main goal is to empower young people financially and enable them to make a difference in their communities,” Mwenda said. “We want to move youth from just commenting on social media to actively building businesses, creating jobs and developing their communities.”
He added that the judges were impressed by the quality and practicality of the ideas presented, especially considering that many participants had no formal training in business or pitching.
The prestigious competition, organised by the Paul Katema Foundation, is increasingly becoming a key platform in Malawi’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, identifying and nurturing youth-led innovation.
During the finals, young entrepreneurs who pitched their ideas before a panel of distinguished judges walked away with capital prizes of K5 million, K2.5 million and K1 million, as well as ongoing mentorship and capacity-building support aimed at turning their ideas into sustainable enterprises.
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