CONCERNED YOUTH ORGANISATION INJECTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP SKILLS IN THE YOUTHS

As one way of making the youths vibrant in entrepreneurship sector, Concerned Youth organization (CYO) is on the run in imparting entrepreneurship skills so that youths can as well be reliable business minded people.

The organization through its United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded project, is striving to provide solutions to the youths as they struggle economically and enabling them to make a living.

In an interview with CYO executive director, Harvey Chimaliro, said youths need to be empowered economically rather than leaving them to wonder idle in the communities.

He said, : "The main objective is to provide skills in youths and women in the communities so that they can venture in either entrepreneurship and set up their own businesses or they can secure employment easily and earn a living rather than sitting idle".

Chimaliro further encouraged youths not to sit on the skills they have obtained in several trainings but to use them for their own benefit and help their families with along the way.

" They should use the skills they have acquired to benefit their lives and even support themselves, they should aim high and become independent financially or become employers so they can employ others and not to think about themselves ". He said.

Bearing in mind the Corona virus pandemic, the youths are being equipped with skills that are enabling them to earn a living and support for their families, like sewing of face masks which they are selling in this time of the pandemic.

So far, CYO has trained youths and women in Mchinji in shoe making where as another training in tailoring and Knitting was held in Blantyre on 12 and 21 August 2020.

During presentation of certificates to graduating trainees, the Blantyre City Council through its social welfare and home economics section commended the project for its impact on the grassroots community members.

LOCAL CURRENCY DEPRECIATES AGAINST MAJOR TRADING CURRENCIES

A monthly economic review for May 2020 by the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) has shown that the Malawian Kwacha depreciated against major trading currencies.

The review which is prepared with the aim of providing current economic information reveals that the Malawian Kwacha depreciated against Euro as it remained stable against the United States dollar.

"The Malawian Kwacha remained broadly stable against the United States dollar and traded at K741.38 per dollar at end May 2020. Conversely, the local currency slid by 2.9 percent against the Euro and traded at K833.38 per Euro, following strengthening of the Euro as most economies in the Euro area  began to relax some of the restrictions which were imposed in light of the Corona virus pandemic". Reads part of the document.

The Malawian Kwacha further depreciated in the SADC region against the South African rand by 3.6 percent and traded at K43.14 per rand, an out turn explained by strengthening of the rand following an announcement by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) that it would purchase government bond directly from the Secondary market to improve the county's liquidity condition.

"The local currency depreciated by 2.4 percent against the Zambian Kwacha (ZMK) and traded at K40.43 per ZMK primarily reflecting the strengthening of the ZMK due to improved investors confidence as the country planned to restructure its rising and unsustainable external debt".

However, the local currency exhibited mixed performance against the rest of its trading partners currencies as  it appreciated against the British pound by 0.9 percent and traded at K920.44 per pound.

The Malawian Kwacha further gained some strength against currencies in the Asian region as most Asian economies currencies weakened due to the effects of Corona virus crisis.

The document reads, ; " The local currency gained value by 0.5 percent against Japanese yen, 1.3 percent against Chinese yuan, and 0.5 percent against Indian rupee and traded at K6.88 per yen, K103.08 per Yuan, and K9.75 per rupee respectively ".

K10.5 BILLION PROFIT FOR FMB HOLDINGS

FMB Capital Holdings plc (FMBCH) has registered a profit after tax of 14.29 million dollars which is about K10.5 billion in the half year period ended June 30, 2020.

According to its published financial statement, in the same period last year, the group registered 5.1 million dollars which is about K3.8 billion representing 181 percent growth.

The company’s assets grew from 950 million dollars to 1.1 billion dollars representing a 15 percent increase.

Reads part of the report, : “The group has witnessed stellar performance from its Botswana subsidiary owing to increased transactional volumes, a growing customer base and a significant foreign currency income”.

“FMBCH’s Zimbabwe business which had a difficult 2019 owing to exchange rate challenges in that market, also performed well above expectation while businesses in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia have remained profitable”.

The statement indicate that during the period under review, the company’s net interest grew by five percent to 29.06 million while non-funded income rose by 20 percent to 23.90 million dollars from 19.95 million dollars in June 2019.

In his remarks, FMBCH group managing director, Dheeraj Dikshit, said the results are an encouragement to them and are in line with the company’s 2020 financial and strategic goals.

He added that in the earlier months of 2020 when the covid-19 pandemic became more pronounced, the group prioritized the safety of its colleagues, customers, partners, suppliers and the local communities in which they work in.

“I would like to largely thank the extraordinary efforts of all our people who delivered a resilient first half performance in the face of challenging economic environments. Disciplined execution and fast innovation in the face of a crisis contributed to improved organic growth and profitability”. Said Dikshit.

The group plans to end the year in a strong position following a number of initiatives that have been implemented across its market.

FMB capital holdings plc operates in five Southern African Development Community (SADC) markets : Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

PROJECTIONS ON MW GREEN GOLD MEETS

Recent figures from the country’s Tobacco market regulator, Auction Holdings Limited (AHL) indicates that revenues from the crop could be relatively low by the end of this year’s season.

The figures indicates that by the end of week seventeen, which is about two weeks to the closure of the season, the country has realized 168 million dollars which is about K126 billion.

From the same period last year, the country had realized 204.3 million dollars which is about K153.2 billion. This represents a difference of about 36.3 million dollars which is about K27.2 billion.

The figure projection corresponds to the remarks made recently by TC executive director, Kaisi Sadala that the commission is expecting a drop in this year’s Tobacco final output.

On a current note, Sadala has expressed shock that the drop in volumes is happening earlier than usual even though Tobacco inflow contraction is normal.

He said, : “Tobacco volumes in the fields are coming to an end but this year it is happening earlier and it goes back to what we said earlier that it seems like this year, the Tobacco volumes are much lower than we thought”.

He added that the early drop could be as a result of an overestimation of Tobacco output in the country and across the region.

By the end of seventeenth week, about 109.7 million kilograms of all types of Tobacco had been traded whereas the same period last year, 138.6 million kilograms had been traded.

The country planned to produce 155 million kilograms of Tobacco against a trade requirement of 161 million kilograms.

Tobacco is the country’s leading forex exchange earner but it has been falling gradually over the past Ten years. 

RED CROSS BOOSTING BUSINESSES AMIDST CORONA

The Malawi red cross society has engaged into a covid 19 response program in which it is distributing cash to 3,150 households in some boarder districts.

The humanitarian organization says due to boarder restrictions imposed in the districts, businesses have shrunk which has resulted in a lot of people facing financial hardships.

The organisation's national Covid 19 coordinator, Roster Kufandiko said when distributing cash to some households at Ntaja in Machinga that communities in rural areas need urgent support to boost their businesses amidst the virus.

He said, : "Covid 19 has come with different effects which some are social and some are economical, so when we did a study on  how some of the areas have been affected alongside Malawi government, we discovered that due to the restrictions in movement, some of the boarder businesses have been affected and people are not doing their businesses"

"Therefore, we thought of providing them with top up cash so that they can caution the loss that is coming because of the restrictions which are coming because of Covid 19."

According to Kufandiko, providing support to the communities will help limit people's movement in search of finances for their families if among the beneficiaries will be people who tested positive to Covid 19 and are not able to do their day to day income generating activities.

During the program, every household is to be given K15,000 for a period of 12 months in districts of Machinga, Mangochi, Ntcheu and Mzimba. 

HOPE TO FLY AGAIN

Government has announced the reopening of airports which were closed the to the covid-19 pandemic by the end of this month.

The announcement has come at a time when the airports have remain closed for five months as one way of containing the pandemic.

Director of air transport, James Chakwera, said the actual dates for the reopening will be announced later as they are still engaging with the ministry of health.

"We really don't know an end to this pandemic and somehow life has to go on. We have seen that all around us most of the airports have been opened, we have been discussing the issue and we are still discussing. I think there are one or two issues outstanding that will be guided by the ministry of health otherwise we are ready to go. We believe that may be before end of this month we should be opening the airports." Chakwera said.

Businesses have been on a stand still as there was no coming in or out using the airports and now hope  is popping as sectors are being revived slowly.

In his remarks, Joseph Josiah, Malawian airlines spokesperson said the impact of the closure has been unprecedented.

"To us it means five months of no operations and no revenues. We are excited with the news but we are still waiting for the official communication from the authorities." He said.

The country's airports have been closed since 1 April 2020 and now African countries are reconsidering resumption of air travel.

LIMBE - NSANJE RAILWAY TO SAVE 3 DOLLARS A TURN

The minister of transport, honourable Sidik Mia has remarked that the 72 kilometres railway line which is being rehabilitated from Limbe to Nsanje will reduce cost by 3 dollars which is about K2,250 per turn.

Mia made the remark when he was on a tour to appreciate the progress of the work where he said government have plans of making sure that the line connects to Beira in order to reduce transportation  costs of imports for Malawi.

"The ministry of transport is entrusted in making sure that the transport cost be reduced and mach that of the SADC region which is about 7 dollars per turn. Currently, we are about 10 dollars a turn so we want to make sure that is achieved so that our partners, exporters and traders get maximum profits without being hindered by transport cost and of course imports should also be cheaper for the benefit of all Malawians."

The dorsility of the line has made business activities difficult over the time as people from lower shire could do business easily before proceeding to Limbe market.

Commenting on the progress of the railway, Central East African Railway (CEAR) project manager of the line Chrispine Kapalamula said the work which is in phases will see them to next year  before completion.

Kapalamura said, : "We've done about sixteen kilometres in the first phase out of the 23 kilometers and for the second phase, we've done about six kilometres of the 21. For the earth works we've done about fourteen kilometres of the 21 which represents a good percentage of all."

The 23 kilometres which is from Limbe to Nansadi station is expected to be completed by December this year and from Nansadi to Luchenza by next year.

NBS BANK REGISTERS 102% UP PROFIT

NBS bank- a listed organisation on the Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) has recently announced that it has registered a 102 percent profit in the first six months of 2020 ended June 30.

According to a statement released by the bank, during the same period last, it recorded K1.4 billion profit after tax, a situation which has popped up as it has now registered K2.8 billion profit after tax.

The banks statements of financial position indicates that net income rose by 38 percent whereas customer deposits increased by 22 percent.

“Net interest income grew by 55 percent in the first half of 2020 as compared to a similar period in 2019 largely as a result of prudent management of investments in money market instruments and loan book growth.” Reads part of the statements.

An increase in the share price to 44 percent has qualified it as one of the top performing entities on MSE movement this year.

Its capital ratio now stands at 24.6 percent with an annualized return on equity at 31 percent.

Chief Executive Officer of the Bank, Kwanele Ngwenya says the results are evidence of all the hard work and diligence that has been put into turning around the organization.

He said, : “The management team has maintained a steady course in the fulfillment of the banks five year strategy in which good governance, risk management, growing a quality loan book, money market investments, robust ICT systems and hardware, and investing in the banks staff were the core of the agenda.”

Ngwenya added that the ground work for the bank has been laid and its time they start building on it.

TOBACCO THIRD ROUND WORRIES TC

The Tobacco commission (TC) says preliminary figures from the third round of Tobacco estimates foretells that Malawi will produce less Tobacco at the end of the season than expected.

Speaking in Lilongwe when Deputy Minister of Agriculture Agnes Nkusa Nkhoma toured the Lilongwe Auction floors, TC executive director Kaisi Sadala, said shifts in the weather pattern has been a major skylocating factor to the shrinkage in total tobacco volume.

“It’s not only for Malawi, it’s a regional problem. Even our friends in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Zambia are facing similar challenge.” Said Sadala.

Sadala added that the anticipated shrink has increased competition among buyers on the auction market leading to improvements in prices on the market.

In her remarks, the deputy minister said she was impressed with the prices at the market but stressed that farmers under contract farming were being forced by buyers to buy expensive inputs from them.

Nkhoma said, : “We need to review some of the charges so that at the end of the day the grower benefits. Growers could realize more earnings from their toil if some of the charges were minimized or eliminated.”

Last year, the country sold 165.6 million Kilograms of tobacco making $237 million which is about K 177 billion.

Initially, Malawi planned to produce 155 million Kilograms of tobacco against a trade requirement of 161 million Kilograms.