Q: Can you tell me why many of the local companies fail to thrive?
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| Lington Phekani |
A: There are several factors, but the principal one is lack of management skills. Some people think to own a company is an ultimate goal one can achieve in life and thus they give themselves too much respect so much so that they don’t want to mix with common people.
Once they’ve acquired a little wealth, some entrepreneurs stop interacting with a certain section of the society saying they’re not necessary in the running of their business. This is bad because even a messenger at your company can finish you if you don’t know him well.
Q: Is that the only reason?
A: No! Another challenge with Malawian investors is they seem to be compromising their businesses on simple issues like sex. Many entrepreneurs have their businesses and companies closed for sacrificing their efforts with sex (promiscuity).
Q: And how have you managed to escape these temptations?
A: I don’t mix business with my social life. These are different and need to be treated as such. The other thing is that I attach greater importance to managerial issues. I ensure that I’m always there to run the business and not let someone run it on my behalf while I’m enjoying full health. I offer advice to my workers on what needs to be done. My workers are free to consult me and I freely mix with them. This helps us work well and hence the growth of our company.
Q: Your company has been there since Kamuzu Banda’s era and it continues growing. This is not easy in a country where even business is connected to politics. Do you have any political connections that help you survive the test of time?
A: As a citizen, my responsibility is just to vote. I’ve no political connections. I’m not demonizing businesspersons who are supporting politicians, but for me, I have nver been involved in politics. And I’ve never secured business using politics. The secret to my business is hard work. It’s not easy to reach where I’m, but I’m happy that I can now compete with some foreign investors because of my hard work.
Q: Is government doing enough to support the local entrepreneurs?
A: Not much! I can say government has been very hostile to the local investors who usually don’t have enough capital for their choice businesses. Tax on imports is mostly prohibitive to starters. For those who choose shortcuts, they’ve to corrupt Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) officials to import goods at a cheaper price.
Q: Have you ever corrupted one?
A: No! I’ve always resisted this because I know corruption can ruin my business. It’s very unfortunate that government is losing millions of Kwacha to corruption right at the tax-collecting body.
Q: How can government control corruption at MRA?
A: In South Africa, all departments and authorities tasked to collect government revenue are computerized and any payment made at such institutions is receipted. This is not the case here in Malawi. I wish government here done the same to fight corruption.
Q: Let us go back a bit, you said government is not doing much to promote local entrepreneurship. What exactly would you want government to do on this issue?
A: Government should consider reducing excise duty on imports local businesspersons make. This will help entrepreneurs make a significant profit on the imported goods and, therefore, grow in their businesses. The current trend where we pay exorbitant excise duties doesn’t provide a favourable environment for local businesspersons whose capital investment, in most cases, isn’t that much.
Q: How big is your company?
A: We’ve three outlets, three butcheries and a wholesale. All these outlets are based in Blantyre. We’ve also gone into transportation. We’re known as Chitawira Transport. We’ve bought a fleet of trucks, which will be plying the streets transporting people’s goods at affordable prices. We’re expanding within the parameters of my financial capacity. But I have plans to expand to other parts of the country in the future.
Q: What’s the size of your workforce?
A: I’ve got over 30 members of staff.
Q: What role does your wife play in this business?
A: My wife is managing the wholesale. I’m doing all I can to make sure there is no succession gap hence I want to involve everybody in my family into this business. Even my children take part in the running of this business.
Q: Is there anything you would like to tell me?
A: Yes! I want to thank Malawians and all my customers for offering me support by buying their daily needs from my shops. I don’t take this for granted.
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