It’s so unfortunate that Malawi has just become the poorest country in the world (according to World Bank or whatever). I know a lot of people who are trying hard to dispute this, but that’s none of my business anyways. After all, we have always been in that category.
Reality check, Malawi is not poor, but it’s the people who are poor (a Bingu Woyeee). And now, why are Malawians poor? We can give so many complicated reasons, but that having been said, let me speak to my fellow youth on why they should avoid being poor Malawians few years from now. Let’s say 5.
The first thing that has stopped many young people from achieving their dreams is fear. A lot of young people are none risk takers. They are very fearful and very afraid of everything. (Lack of Faith is the presence of fear) The concept of saying that “Malawians are very peaceful people” is simply a clean version for “Malawian are very fearful people.” Get my point here, am not saying you should take arms and start a war, but take those arms and end personal poverty.
You will see that most young people will stay in their parent’s homes even at 30 not as a saving strategy, No. The main reason is, they are afraid to start a life and that goes to say, they are afraid to start businesses or do some skillful work for fear of failure hence dependency syndrome among many young people. No wonder many young people think it’s okay to browse using free data and all they do is check Fesibuku. It is even okay to stay up late all night waiting for free calls and Yanga/My zone to reach 99.9% just to make a call. I thank God I left my parents’ home to be on my own at the age of 20 and guess what I was doing? Oh yes, selling fertilizer in Mwanza. My humble beginning and am proud to admit it. (Talk for another day).
And again, people are used to problems in Malawi. They normalize hardships. They think sleeping without eating is part of life. Indeed, in Malawi, you can be rich today and be poor tomorrow and that’s normal. We believe problems are part of life and some people don’t even know they are going through problems when “meat” is only eaten on Christmas and it’s a normal thing for them to drink Fanta at weddings. Am not saying eating meat every day is being rich, its simply part and parcel of riches.
And we have this issue saying you can’t start a business without capital. My view: Yes you can start one without capital because capital is not the first thing to be worried of when starting a business. I remember few years ago, we had an idea and our idea (with my friend Pearson Nkhoma) was to establish our own online news website just like Nyasatimes and in the end, we launched Malawi24. What came first? An idea to launch a website seconded by an idea of how to go about it.
Train your mind to think big and find solutions to difficult problems. In this case, be able to say “this is what I want to do and that’s how I will do it.” I don’t think Bill Gates or Steve Jobs had capital first before their inventions. Treat your ideas with care and don’t let them die just like that. Struggle and struggle until you struggle and struggle. The biggest mistake you can make is giving up, because problems will never give up on you.
And again, most people want to do something because somebody did it. Well, I believe best investments should first go to things you can do better without question. If you can sing, then invest in your singing talent and if you can draw, then be like Dalitso Disi. If you take that as a business and be willing to invest in it, it will pay for you. And on this let me say, a lot of people think music industry is an easy ride. Think again and reason your reasons.
And we all want to make money in a clean way. Well, by that we all want to be employed by banks to make money. I feel sorry for you. I know our education structure is a mess but hey, rich people look at opportunities in such conditions. Talk for another day again.
In the end, all am saying is, Malawi can be the poorest country in the world with you as the richest person in Malawi.
Photo: My first contract after establishing Impact Media (Now Impact-Plus PR) in Phalombe with Kurt Dahlin, CEO of Water Wells for Africa making a documentary on Water and Sanitation.
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