Reading Time: 3 minutesThomas Edison is ranked among the greatest inventors of all time, and yet he was acquainted with failure a lot more than most of us. When he was developing the storage battery he conducted over 9,000 (read nine thousand) experiments without success. When his close friend, Walter Malory commented on the lack of results, Thomas retorted, “Results! […]
Failure is not necessarily a negative word Read More »
Reading Time: 3 minutesTo say that my boss in my previous world was a smoker is an understatement. Tobacco was to him what water is to fish. He was a chain smoker. Tobacco fragrance hit you as soon as you entered his office. One day this boss was bereaved and we, the lesser mortals, were duty bound to
Our economy begs urgent attention Read More »
Reading Time: 3 minutesDedza, Zomba and other mountains are not what they used to be. They once adorned what looked like carpets of green from a distance. The carpets covered these mountains so thoroughly that not a single piece of rock could be seen on them, a far cry from the bald features these mountains now are. One of the culprits of
We can, should, turn to gas Read More »
Reading Time: 3 minutesRecently, the World Bank made the suggestion that the power tariff in this country should be revised upwards so that the service providers can gain the capacity to expand the power sector. This is a suggestion that made a lot of financial sense, from a capitalist perspective, but was met with a great deal of
Let us turn to the East Read More »
Reading Time: 3 minutesThere are countries in this world that do not have much by way of natural resources but have adequate exports to keep their economies ticking. They depend on sheer human ingenuity to generate their exports. Japan is one of such countries. According to 2020 figures, Japan’s highest export sales figures were realised from transport machinery,
Over reliance on imports must stop Read More »
Reading Time: 3 minutesLast week I discussed the unstable currency that we have in this country. I stated that this was the case because we do not create adequate foreign reserves. Notice the all inclusive “we” in that statement. It is all of us together, those in government and those outside of government, that should create foreign reserves
Private citizens can make or break an economy Read More »
Reading Time: 3 minutesPilirani (not her real name) is a university student who tries to make a bit of extra money by traveling to Tanzania to buy some goods that are sold to her customers in Blantyre. After the most recent trip she stated that the Malawi Kwacha was not buying much in Tanzania as compared to the past,
Cry, The Beloved Currency Read More »
Reading Time: 3 minutesOne of the least known areas in Malawi is the eastern side of the Eastern Region. I first travelled on the Bakili Muluzi Highway some fifteen or so years ago when I was going to a place called Nampinguja, located a few kilometres away from a trading centre called Mselema. What I found intriguing at
The little tigers of the East Read More »
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe recent report by the National Statistical Office on the state of poverty in Malawi makes bad reading, to say the least. What this column will discuss this week is the reversal of fortunes of some districts, like those that used to be the most “well to do”, in relative terms, are now the poorest.
The Race is not to the Swift Read More »
Reading Time: 3 minutesAs I was growing up I was told that being a boy, it was not right for me to tamper with the cooking process. If I did, so it was claimed, my chest would swell as my breasts grew large like those of females. It was a message that I heard from several people, as
The danger of relying on oral tradition Read More »