MALAWI: New Business Licenses & more – 1st Oct 2024

also need to get annual licenses, which cost 105 thousand Kwacha, which is a little over sixty dollars.

There were questions about what benefits the Council would give photographers for paying for licenses, and what the new development meant for hobbyist photographers.

The Council also introduced business licenses for private media houses. The cheapest license costs 200 thousand Kwacha or around 115 dollars, while the most expensive one costs a little over one million Kwacha, or nearly 580 dollars.

The policy was put into question as media houses already pay the Registrar of Businesses and the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority for licenses.

To make matters worse, people were not given a heads-up about Car Free Day, held on Friday the 27th at the Lilongwe City Center. They were forced to leave their cars outside the City Center’s premises, and walk on foot or use a bicycle. The Road Safety Alert Foundation organized the event, which was meant to raise awareness of alternative modes of transportation to help reduce carbon pollution and road accidents.

Meanwhile, the Malawi Revenue Authority (or MRA) reimplemented excise tax stamps, which they had agreed to pause for a while. As a result, on Monday the 30th, annoyed members of the Cross Borders Association took to the streets in Lilongwe to protest against the tax stamps because they thought they were too expensive.

Richard Kampanje, the Chairperson of the Association, told local media that they would present a petition to the MRA’s offices to find out why they are enforcing the tax stamps and betraying their agreement.

The excise tax stamps control the consumption of unbranded and counterfeit products and ensure that product sources are verified and authenticated. The MRA is yet to comment on the matter.

On the flip side, there were nods of approval as the Malawi Bureau of Standards certified nearly 900 locally-made products.

Thom Senganimalunje, the Deputy Director General for the Bureau, presented the certification awards to the companies in Blantyre on Saturday the 28th. He told local media that about 560 certificates were given for new products, while the rest were for renewals.

Clement Phangaphanga, the Director of Industry at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said the certifications indicated patronization of local products on the market. He thought it was encouraging, and urged the awardees to aim for international markets too.

The Ministry of Information and Tourism was also in high spirits after China handed them satellite television equipment, under the Access To Satellite TV For 10,000 African Villages project, which is currently in its second phase. This will allow the Ministry to provide TV access to 200 villages. In the first phase, the Ministry reached 500 villages across the country.

David Pan, the CEO of Star Times Malawi, said that 4,000 decoders will be distributed in the 200 villages.

Baldwin Chiyamwaka, the Principal Secretary at the Ministry, said the development is remarkable as it will help them achieve Malawi twenty sixty-three’s digitalization goals, which focuses on access to information to help bridge Malawi’s digital divide in rural areas.

Malawi has one of the highest maternal mortality rates globally, and unsafe abortions are the leading cause of these deaths. A new study by the Guttmacher Institute and the Center for Reproductive Health at the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences revealed that each year, 144 thousand women and girls get abortions locally. Since abortions are illegal in Malawi, the government spends about a million dollars on treating complications that come with unsafe abortions.

Given these recent statistics, health advocates such as the Coalition for the Prevention of Unsafe Abortions are fighting to change anti-abortion laws. On Tuesday the 1st, Francis Makiya, the Secretary General of the Coalition, told local media that restrictive abortion laws don’t stop abortions, but instead force women to resort to unsafe procedures.

Abortion is a sensitive topic as there’s a belief in children being a gift from God.

In other news, The Higher Education Students Loans and Grants Board awarded nearly twenty-nine thousand students from both public and private universities with academic loans that they will use during the twenty twenty-four/ twenty twenty-five academic year. The Board is expecting to spend twenty-nine billion Kwacha or a little over twelve million dollars on the loans. The funds cover students’ tuition fees and upkeep.

Henry Chingaipe, the Chairperson of the Loans and Grants Disbursement Committee at the Loans Board, said this approval rate represents ninety-nine percent of total applicants. He said this is a ten percent increase from last year’s approvals.

Still on education, some alumni of the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (or MUBAS) aren’t waiting on the Board to give loans to students; they have created an endowment fund that will support financially challenged students from MUBAS.

Wisely Phiri, the President of the MUBAS Alumni Association, said they don’t want any students withdrawn from the university due to unpaid fees. They want to ensure access to education for all students at MUBAS. He also said their initiative aligns with Malawi’s Vision twenty sixty-three, which advocates for self-sufficiency.

The endowment fund will be largely funded by the alumni, and will also get resources from private sector organizations.

On another note, Smart Deliveries, a service that sends and receives parcels, introduced a new system that will help them track parcels from departure to arrival.

Dennis Bvalani, the CEO for Smart Deliveries, said the innovative electronic system is called Zadigito. He told local media that the Smart Deliveries team noticed rising concerns over missing or misplaced parcels in the courier industry, and introduced this solution to ensure safety of the parcels and give their customers peace of mind.

Unfortunately, the development was only announced on Thursday the 26th, and there’s no feedback yet on whether it really works.

In sports news, Rose Kadzere, an eighteen-year-old football player, left for France on Thursday the 26th where she is expected to play for the Montpelier team. Local news said Kadzere signed a three-year contract with the team after Montpelier bought her from Ascent Academy, which is Malawi’s only full-time soccer and scholarship.

Kadzere has joined Tabitha Chawinga, a prominent footballer, as one of the country’s players who are based in France. Hopefully, she will make headlines like Tabitha.

Speaking of Tabitha, she shared on social media that she was rated as one of the Top Fastest Female Players on the Electronic Arts Football Club twenty twenty-five, or the EA Sports FC 25 Ratings.

EA Sports FC 25 released a list of twenty players who are the fastest worldwide, and Tabitha ranked 8th on the global list, and first on the women-only list. Her name appeared alongside notable footballers, including Kylian Mbappe, who came out top of the list with ninety-seven points. Tabitha has ninety-four points to her name.

Malawi is also making headlines in the bodybuilding world. Wellington Mwangonde or Bulldozer became the second Malawian to secure a professional bodybuilding license from the International Federation of BodyBuilding and Fitness in Luxembourg. This comes after he relocated to Germany last year, after competing for Mr Malawi three times.

The license is a big deal for bodybuilders because it opens up both professional and financial opportunities. Mwangonde told local media that the license will allow him to compete in professional bodybuilding competitions that are considered Pro League. He said he’s also looking forward to sponsorship deals that the license will afford him.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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