In 2015, Henly Kumwenda (30) and the Kingfisher-Sekanawo team from Malawi, set out to develop an arid piece of land near Lumemo into a camping site to empower the local community.

The community of Lumemo currently faces a number of challenges. Many students are forced to learn under trees due to the lack of infrastructure. Those who are fortunate to have a classroom face over crowdfunding and aren't afforded basic necessities such as desks and chairs.

“Many young girls are entering marriages as young as 13 and a lot of the young men work in tobacco farms as child laborers. With our volunteer programs we hope to address these key issues to allow these 460 students an opportunity to reach their full potential” – says Kumwenda

Henly adds that a lack of education also makes these students vulnerable to their environment.

“In the rainy season, a number of individuals are affected with cholera due to the lack of education around boiling water before consumption that poses a huge health risk.” – says Kumwenda

Hoping to develop the Kingfisher campsite in Thekelo, Henly set up a campaign on donations based crowdfunding platform, BackaBuddy, to appeal to donors locally and abroad for support.

Funds raised will be used to build 2 bathrooms, 3 sleeping rooms and a communal kitchen area for volunteers and is estimated to cost approximately R250 000.

“My vision is that this piece of land will not only be a camping site, but a space where volunteers from all over the world can come to Malawi and invest time into developing and improving our vibrant local community through their efforts. We will also welcome holiday makers for a small fee, which will contribute to paying school fees of orphaned children in our village” says Kumwenda

The campaign went live on the 19 November 2015 and has thus far raised R 193 643.50 with contributions from over 103 donors.

It hass taken nearly 3 years to fund the project, which still needs approximately R60 000 to complete, but Henly hasn’t lost sight of his goal.

“I have a vision to help my people and show them what can be achieved when people work together and the many doors that can be opened through education. I reluctantly had to drop out of college because I couldn’t afford to study further and I wish I had been given an opportunity like this” says Kumwenda

In anticipation for the long awaited campsite, Henly, together with his 5 volunteers have developed a number of programs to teach art, maths, English and physical education.

“From the bottom of my heart, I am forever grateful for the generous donations to our BackaBuddy campaign and for the impact it has had on my community. We hope the public will continue supporting our project so that we can continue building our dream brick by brick and introduce the world to Malawian hospitality.” - says Kumwenda

Kumwenda currently manages a hostel in Muizenberg in the Western Cape.

The Kingfisher team is currently assisting 27 high school students and 1 university scholar with their education fees and has thus far provided over 2400 school students with stationery equipment.

The Kingfisher team have raised over R93 127 for their campsite building this year.

Continue supporting this campaign by donating here: https://www.backabuddy.co.za/kingfisher-volunteer-campsite

BLANTYRE, 5 February 2018, Carrick Wealth has opened for business in Malawi. This brings to five the number of countries in which it operates, including Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mauritius.

Carrick Chief Executive Officer Craig Featherby said Carrick’s Africa 2020 road map also included additional offices in Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Mozambique, and the Ivory Coast.

“We believe that the long-term growth projections for Africa, and especially those we have targeted, such as Malawi, are positive. All of them have shown an increase in GDP over the last five to seven years. And combined with the political stability in Malawi over the last 20 years, we believe this growth bodes well for our new office,” said Featherby.

Since 1993, Malawi held five presidential and parliamentary elections. According to a recent World Bank report, Malawi’s GDP growth in 2017 will be more than 4.5% — a 2% increase over last year. In addition, inflation between 2016 and 2017 dropped by 13.5%, to 9.3%.

Featherby pointed to other factors that would contribute to Malawi’s growth and support Carrick’s decision to open for business, the most important of which was urbanisation. Currently, an estimated 16% of its population of about 17 million lives in urban areas. This demographic is changing rapidly.

“The four major urban centres of Malawi are the economic core of the national economy,” he said. According to the World Bank, they comprise 33% of GDP, despite the small size of the urban population.

“Cities are a key to capturing Africa’s consumer opportunity,” said Featherby, noting out that in Nairobi, Kenya, per capita consumption is more than double the national average, and that the top three cities in Ghana account for more than 65 percent of national consumption.

“Africa’s rapid urbanisation, its young population, and its growing labour force makes it — and Malawi — a highly valuable asset in our plan to realise the potential of the continent’s economies,” he added.

Malawi Managing Director Gomez Kumwenda said that this was an exciting opportunity, for the Carrick team but also for the potential clients in the country.

“We believe that recent events in Malawi have emphasised the need to have in place strong fiscal regulatory controls, and that this has made doing business much more transparent and efficient,” he said. “We look forward to implementing our vision of working with clients on their long-term financial planning, helping to grow their wealth, protect it from excessive and unforeseen risk, and preserve it for their children.”

For more information, please contact:

Lynn Halliday
Marketing Manager
Carrick Wealth Management
+27 21 201 1000 - ext. 1100  +27 82 444 1100
Or visit: www.carrick-wealth.com 

Note to Editors:

Carrick Wealth is a registered South African financial services provider specialising in South African and international financial planning. Carrick is also licensed in Zimbabwe and Botswana, and holds three global licences in Mauritius. Carrick at all times maintains its independence with regard to product providers and asset managers, providing bespoke risk assessment, financial planning and other services to high net worth individuals (HNWI). Through its qualified and experienced wealth specialists, as well as through partnerships with industry leaders in the fields of foreign exchange, tax, international property, offshore bank accounts, trusts, wills and estate planning, Carrick is able to provide the highest levels of service for its clients financial planning and investment requirements, both offshore and domestic.