BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR
Money-lending institutions will usually put up mouth-watering adverts in the media purporting to portray that they are the best, most affordable and accessible lenders in the society.
What is disheartening, though, is that they rarely live up to their preaching.
For Matthias Chikoko, money-lenders are becoming stingier with their money each passing day that it would sound miraculous when your application for a bank loan gets approval.
Chikoko, 35, now operations manager for Tumphale Security Guard Services in Blantyre, tried several times, but never got an approval because he did not have collateral.
Job scarcity continues to hound many people both in rural and urban areas. The problem is grinding more on young people who are just graduating from different colleges across the country. And lately, entrepreneurship has been found to be an alternative to the hopeless citizenry.
But collateral security remains one of the major setbacks to potential entrepreneurs to secure bank loans. Poor access to credit, such as bank loans, is one reason why development is slow to occur. Without start-up finance, it is difficult for people to set up businesses.
Besides entrepreneurship, agriculture, too, is another business potential and many farmers want to think of investing in inputs or equipment which could boost their farm productivity.
But banks have not made enough strides, if any at all, to provide financial services, such as loans, to poor people such as farmers. They cite a number of reasons among them lack of collateral, lack of physical infrastructure, such as banks or post offices, in remote areas as some of the reasons why they are failing to reach out to the people.
These plus many more restrictions found Chikoko short of qualifying for a loan, which would have helped him venture into business of some sort.
But this did not stop him from dreaming big. Chikoko hoped against hope and it seems his colour dream of owning a company is fast becoming a reality.
Early last year, Chikoko teamed up with a friend to start a security service company, Tumphale Security Guard Services. They did not need financial resources to start the company.
The problem with security guarding business is that it depends on the security breakdown in a society and Chikoko does not dispute this fact.
But how did Chikoko and his partner succeed in realizing their dream of owning a company, one would be tempted to ask.
“After coming up with the idea start a security company, we went out identifying possible clients before engaging men and women who would work as security guards. Luckily, we managed to convince five customers and immediately we engaged the guards,” he explained.
Currently, Malawi enjoys a certain degree of public security such that services of a security guard for a residential house become unnecessary, if not outright waste of resources, to many. This is the major challenge facing the growth of security companies in the country.
However, Chikoko says it is a wrong assumption to think that security guards are unnecessary in a society where criminal acts are nonexistent.
“People should now look at services of a security guard as a priority in one’s day-to-day living. Even without criminals terrorizing your home, a security guard could be helpful in times of emergencies,” he states.
Chikoko says just like the Malawi Police Service, security companies are there to provide maximum security to the people as well as their property.
“Our aim is to contribute to the societal as well as national security. We work hand in hand with police in achieving this. I should state here that we’re helping government in reducing the number of unemployed citizens,” he said.
“We started with five, but as of today we’ve employed over 20 security guards who provide security services to companies, families and individuals in Blantyre. But we aim at growing big and establish regional offices in Lilongwe and Mzuzu as well,” Chikoko explained
Maybe money is not all that people need to venture into businesses. As Chikoko prides, his business brings enough for his family that no longer needs to be employed.
He is optimistic that, instead of him joining unemployed Malawians in scrambling for the few job vacancies existing in very few companies, his company is creating job opportunities to others thereby reducing the unemployment rates.
END
