Television personality cum model and fashion designer, Chimwemwe Ngugi Buleya, has donated school uniforms to eighteen needy learners at Chambwe Primary School in Lilongwe.
The donation comes under ‘Wala Initiative’ which was established by Buleya who works with MBC TV 2 On the Go, in the capital city.
According to Buleya ‘Wala’ which was launched earlier this year through her clothing brand N. I designs, is aimed at helping out underprivileged primary school students in rural areas with school uniforms.
Buleya in White
” I saw a growing number of students going to school without school uniforms because their parents cannot afford to buy one. Knowing that uniform is one of the basic requirements for a student, I thought I should use my fashion designing skills to help in this area ,” she said.
Speaking after making the donation, Buleya said she was excited to have delivered the uniforms and said she will work on finding resources to increase the number of beneficiaries.
She said, “Chambwe Primary School has 88 needy students and so far I have managed to deliver 18 uniforms to 18 students which means we have 70 more students to dress.”
Buleya has since appealed to well wishers to support the initiative inorder to reach out to as many needy students as possible.
People can donate to the Initiative using the following details:
President Lazarus Chakwera has told the nation that top priority of his administration is to increase Malawi’s productivity through the promotion of commercialization, industrialization, and urbanization as it remains the key to achieving job creation, wealth creation and food security in the country.
Speaking when he presided over the official opening of the newly constructed Malawi Bureau of Standards Complex and the inauguration of the 33rd Malawi International Trade Fair in the commercial city of Blantyre on Wednesday, 17th May, 2023, Chakwera said he has been doing all what he can in pursuit of increased productivity for the country which include directing the gazette of the SME order to create business growth opportunities for local enterprises, addressing a global forum of international investors, and restoration of the broken relationship with neighboring countries that are Malawi’s first trading partners.
President Chakwera
“The pursuit of increased productivity is the reason I go far and wide to negotiate trade and investment deals and secure new markets. The pursuit of increased productivity is the reason I rolled out the ATM Strategy in December to focus on boosting production in the Agriculture, Tourism, and Mining sectors this year.
It is this reason I am hosting another Investment Summit in the six days to bring local and international investors together to brainstorm on how we can expedite growth in these three sectors, followed by an Investment Forum that my officials will do in South Africa that same week.” Said the President while urging Malawians to focus on economic productivity.
He further said while the past regime through its decisions saddled the country with unsustainable debt that affected the productivity, Covid-19 pandemic, Tropical storms, drought that hit the country, and conflict in Eastern Europe caused enormous challenges on the economic productivity of Malawi. But Malawi leader quickly said time has come for the country to build back the lost economic productivity which he said Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) is a key towards the attainment.
President Chakwera then said he is optimistic that the new MBS Complex will be instrumental in addressing challenges relating to certification of products in the country.
“To put it bluntly, Minister, I want the complaints from the private sector players attending this Trade Fair about the slowness of Government in issuing certificates to end, because in this digital age, no certificate should require a business to walk physically into any office and no certificate should take note than few days to secure.” Added President Chakwera.
He has since urged Malawians to be proactive in taking advantage of trade agreements Malawi has like the COMESA, SADC, AfCTA, and the TFTA which offer the country opportunities for international markets.
This year’s Malawi International Trade Fair is being conducted under the theme “Rebalancing Malawi’s Trade through Industrialization”.
President of Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) Lekani Katandula has commended restoration of power generation especially Kapichira, saying power is critical component in as far as industrialisation is concerned.
Katandula said this in Blantyre during the Commissioning of Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) offices and laboratories.
“We are glad Your Excellency that Kapichira Power Station is now back to full capacity. Electricity is a critical ingredient in the manufacturing process and, as more power is added to the grid in the coming months and years, we should expect the emergence of more manufacturing units that will help in rebalancing our trade position,” he said.
Katandula applauded the Government for introducing a number of incentives through the 2023/2024 National Budget despite the difficult financial circumstances in which it is operating.
“In particular, we noted the introduction of duty-free importation of equipment and building materials, and tax holidays of up to 10 years for mega farms and related agro-processing. We take this as a serious signal of your government’s commitment to reversing the current unwanted economic trend in this country,” he said.
Moving forward, Katandula said the government should continue making improvements in the energy sector in order to improve reliability and access for the wider population as well as promoting fiscal discipline in the use of financial resources in order to reverse the unsustainable debt position.
He also urged Government to prioritize procurement of domestically produced goods and services to boost local production and save foreign exchange.
Silver Strikers Football Club head coach Hendrikus Pieter de Jongh has today formally released for sale a book that tells a story about his football coaching career.
According to De Jongh, the book which is titled “The Champ” also has some chronicles of his experience with Malawi football.
The title of the book comes from the nickname ‘The Champ’ which is a short form for The Champion which he earned while in Zimbabwe due to the numerous silverwares he won during his stay in the country.
According to De Jongh, he was inspired to write the book to reflect on his journey and achievements during his coaching career as well responding to several well known authors who contacted and encouraged him to document his life as a football coach
“One time an author flew all the way from Europe to my house in Kenya asking me to write a book about my coaching journey.
“So i have bowed down to pressure from him as well as thousands of social media followers who acknowledge my influence in the beautiful game of football. I am a big influencer back in Holland. I am a Tik-Taka kind of football coach, i have included that in the book. So far i have already sold a lot of copies through pre-orders,”he said.
On the inclusion of Malawi in some pages of his book, De Jongh said regardless of the fact that he has had a short stay in the country he has seen a few interesting things that were worth noting and including in his book.
“I came here and observed a lot of things about the game and how it is played over here. I have written about the fans, the weather this side and everything to do with how football is run in this country,” he added.
The book which is currently in Dutch is expected to be translated into the queens language for the English audience. Currently, about 6000 copies have already been sold online.
Meanwhile, a documentary highlighting his coaching career is also in the offing for the world to see.
The Dutch who holds a UEFA A coaching license has had a coaching career spanning from the early 1990’s as a Youth team coach until now. De Jongh has been a coach for Botswana and Somali national football teams, Director of football at the Rwandan Football Association, head coach for clubs such as FC Platinum and Highlanders Fc in Zimbabwe as well as AFC Leopards in Kenya among others.
During his tenure in Zimbabwe, he managed to win the Chibuku Super Cup in 2019 for Highlanders FC before moving to FC Platinum where he guided them to win the Castle Challenge Cup.
He came to Malawi in February this year to take up the Head Coach role at Silver Strikers ahead of the 2023 football season.
The Malawi’s servant leader President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera on Wednesday May 17,2023 officially opened the new high tech Malawi Bureau of Standards Laboratories under its new office complex in Blantyre.
Initiated under the Standardization Quality Assurance, Accreditation and Metrology (SQAM) project, the new facility, worth 18.4 billion kwacha gives the Bureau capacity to test and certify products according to various international standards.
In his speech, President Chakwera said the new constructedMBS office and laboratories complex is going to boost the country’s export potential by reducing the cost of doing business for Malawi’s companies who have been spending a lot in re-testing, re-inspection and re-certification in foreign markets.
Chakwera thanked the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Government of Norway, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and European Union for their technical and financial support towards construction of the facility.
“This is the right time to utilise the new standardization facilities to open new and sustainable export markets for local products.
“This year’s theme: ‘Rebalancing Malawi’s Trade Through Industrialisation’ reinvigorates our resolve to open new frontiers on the international stage for our products and services,” said Chakwera.
He promised that his administration will continue putting in place business-friendly policies and all requisite infrastructure to help local businesses harness opportunities in regional markets and the Africa Continental Free Trade Area.
The Board Chair of Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS), Davlin Chokazinga said the construction of the facilities is timely as many of their operations needed the same.
“Therefore, in order to provide internationally recognized services, the MBS needed to have facilities and competent human resources that are at par with the international best practice,” he said.
He thanked the State President for the support rendered to them to finish the project.
In detail,the MBS modern laboratory facilities will upscale Malawi’s capacity in conforming with global standards in terms of measurements and tests.
This will advantageously facilitate trade between Malawi and other economies by reducing costs of doing business for local businesses and providing common reference points for Malawian products in regional and global markets.
Export products from Malawi will not have to go through strenuous re-testing, re-inspection and re-certification before entering these foreign markets.
The construction of the MBS facility was financed by the Government of Malawi with support from the United Nations Development Programme and the European Union.
