Malawi Observer

By Mc Donald Chapalapata, a Contributor

National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc and the ICT Association of Malawi (ICTAM) have made a call for submissions from Innovators for the 2020 Innovation Jam Challenge, results of which will be announced at the Annual ICT Innovations Awards scheduled for 11-12^th December 2020.

This follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between NBM plc and ICTAM to manage the Innovations Jam from 2019 to 2022 in a bid to enhance innovation of both products or services and processes within industries and societies across the country.

Making the joint announcement on Friday in Blantyre, ICTAM President Bram Fudzulani said the objective of the Innovations Jam is to promote innovative ICT based solutions in the country by encouraging and rewarding excellence in original inventions or innovations.

“We expect the Innovation Jam to provide a platform for the industry to interact and promote innovations that can have a ripple effect on the national economy in accordance with Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS III). This will also serve as a platform for nurturing hidden ICT talent in the country, which can be used to simplify manual business processes and procedures,” said Fudzulani.  

The 2020 Innovation Jam submissions will primarily focus on categories namely Agriculture (Agritech), Health (E-health), Education (Edutech), Financial Technology (Fintech) and Artificial Intelligence.

“As the world recovers from and adjusts to the new normal created by the COVID-19 pandemic, a looming question is how to avoid reverting to the cumbersome and cautious legacy practices and risk-averse decision-making that had hobbled innovation performance in many organizations. The Jam will provide for a platform to engage policy makers on ways in which we can move forward with the local innovations at national level while supporting job creation opportunities,” explained Fudzulani.

Fudzulani said the innovation forum will focus on working with solutions with scalable impact and market ready concepts.

He said among other criteria for submission for the awards are that those submitting must be Malawians and they must be willing to work with hubs if selected for the incubation and acceleration of their innovations. There are no age restrictions for entrants, but the products brought forward should at least have a working prototype.

NBM plc Head of IT John Mitchell said the Bank is keenly interested in leveraging on innovations to drive industries and communities, especially at a time when unexpected disruptions such as Covid-19 abruptly alter market trends.

 “Digital Inclusion is well aligned to the Digitalization focus of our five-year strategy as a Bank and therefore we continue to work with ICTAM on the Innovations jam and other ICT related initiatives. As a Bank of the Nation, we are committed to providing a platform for innovators to reveal work that will benefit the entire country,” said Mitchel.

In 2019, the top two winners in the Fintech category were flown by NBM plc on an all-expenses paid trip to Kigali, Rwanda to attend the Africa Tech summit while the second runner up received a K1million cash prize.

This year, the deadline for receiving submissions for the Innovations Jam is the 16th of November 2020 and the shortlisted innovations will be released on 27th November 2020.

Chipembere Community Development Organization (CCDO) has distributed Personal Preventative Equipment (PPE) to Bvumbwe health facility, Bvumbwe and other support service institutions in rapid response to health threats posed by Covid19 to the frontline health workers in their line of duty.

Other Institutions include Bvumbwe police station and Mphezo, Nyambalo and Ligowe primary schools.

Presenting such PPEs as hand washing buckets, soap and face masks during stakeholders advocacy meeting, CCDO Executive Director , Dalitso Chiwayula said Covid19 has negatively impacted on health care delivery systems by impeding access to quality preventive and curative health services to the general public.

Chiwayula observed that the pandemic has significantly affected levels of access to treatment, care and support among the populations with health pre-conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHIV) in Thyolo district.

“This is mainly due to the shift of focus by the overstretched health service providers whose much concentration is on treating Covid19 cases, with less health attention to other illnesses”, observed Chiwayula.

He said in response to the pandemic, CCDO is carrying out campaign in which it is engaging authorities at the District Health Office (DHO) in a bid to advocate for a multi-month-ARV dispensing through Home-Based health service delivery.

“Adopting this way will ensure social distancing is observed and exposure to Covid19 at the health facility among PLWHIV is reduced. The approach will also enhance ARV adherence for the targeted population in hard-to-reach areas,” he explained.

In response, one key stakeholders from the health facilities around Thyolo district, Lawrence Liffa observed that CCDO’s advocacy agenda was worth considering and said they would liaise with the relevant authorities to fast-track the multi-month dispensing of ARVs process to ensure continued access to ART treatment among PLWHIV Amin’s Covid19.

One of the community beneficiaries attending the advocacy meeting, 30 year old Mary Mulohva, commended CCDO for the initiative saying this would save time and transport cost incurred during her routine visits to the health facility to get ARV.

“I have long waited for such initiative as this: accessing ART right from my doorstep will ease the burden of walking long distances to get ARVs from the health facility,” said Mulohva.

CCDO is implementing the project in Thyolo district in emergency response to Covid19 with support from Frontline AIDS in United Kingdom.

The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) has demanded an investigation into the procurement process that led to the awarding of a contract to Jiangsu Suzhong Construction Group Company Limited/Plem Construction joint venture by the Southern Region Water Board (SRWB).

The demand follows revelations that SRWB awarded Jiangsu Suzhong Construction Group Company Limited/Plem Construction Limited joint venture at $16.3 million, leaving a local company, Kuwait Dynamic Limited/Fisd, which quoted the contract at $12.3 million.

This means the project will go at a cost of MK1.6 billion more than what the lowest bidder had offered.

CDEDI Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa, in a statement released on Saturday afternoon, expresses concern that the multi-million Kwacha contract is being awarded at a time when the Malawi government is struggling to provide essential services to its citizens such as drugs in our public health facilities across the country.

 The country is further struggling to offset the huge external debts from international financial institutions.

“And yet SRWB can afford the luxury of offering a contract to a very expensive bidder! It is a well-known fact that the loan for the project from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, will be paid using taxpayers’ money,” reads the statement in part.

Namiwa says it is high time the country started reducing its external debts through prudent use of funds, and not by being extravagant, thereby exposing Malawians to more untold misery.

He acknowledges that there are some technicalities in procurement process, which enabled SRWB to award Jiangsu Suzhong Construction Group Company Limited.

 “However, the reservations that have been expressed by the local procurement experts, have prompted CDEDI to speak out on the matter. What is more surprising is that the SRWB evaluation report, which the newspaper was privileged to have gotten hold of, shows that the lowest bidder “passed both preliminary examination and detailed technical evaluation, but was not picked purportedly because the bidder’s pricing offer showed lack of understanding of the “technicalities and complexities of the project.

Such a justification has been shot down by local procurement experts who say that at financial stage, the evaluation should’ve considered financial related matters and not technical issues.  From this school of thought, it is crystal clear that some corners have been cut,” suspects Namiwa.

He says investigations CDEDI conducted revealed that the lowest bidder has done a similar job for the SRWB before, an indication that the bidder is well conversant with the job in question, if the bidder’s track record is anything to go by.

 He stresses that what SRWB has done to award a contract to a foreign based bidder, is similar to a decision made by the Ministry of Health to award a contract to a foreign based bidder to supply ambulances to the ministry, of which scenarios, the decisions have been made under the administration of the Tonse Alliance government.

 “In the SRWB scenario, the decision to award a contract to a foreign based bidder has been made at the watch, and/or with consent from the parastatal’s cohort of board members who have just been recently hired by President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera.

 Ironically, the Tonse Alliance government was ushered into office on trust that the administration would honour its promise of creating one million jobs in the country. On the contrary, the one million jobs are now being exported to foreign based bidders, and in the process the country is also losing the much-needed Forex,” Namiwa states.

 “It is against this background that Malawians who are taxpayers and CDEDI as an advocacy institution feel duty bound to demand the SRWB to reconsider its decision to award a contract to a foreign based bidder, and save MK1.6 billion.

RWB should further consider waiving some procurement procedures to enable local contractors to have a fair share of the project by either awarding them the contract wholly, or pairing them with the foreign based contractors, in the spirit of promoting the indigenous business people, and abiding by the Tonse Alliance philosophy.”

Lastly, but not the least, CDEDI is asking the Anti- Corruption bureau to zero in and investigate the whole procurement process at the SRWB, since it looks very suspicious, and with very flimsy justification from the concerned staff at the parastatal,” he concludes.

By Mc Donald Chapalapata, a Contributor

National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc has partnered with a cancer awareness and rights organization, Think Pink Malawi to hold this year’s annual breast cancer awareness virtual walk slated for this Saturday (tomorrow).

NBM plc Marketing and Corporate Affairs Manager Akossa Hiwa said in an interview yesterday that due to Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, this year’s walk will be a ‘virtual’ one where people are supposed to observe social distancing rules.

“As you are aware, the month of October is the Breast Cancer awareness month and each year, Think Pink Malawi holds an annual breast cancer awareness walk where women, men, boys and girls wear pink and walk distances to bring awareness of the disease. This year due to Covid-19, we will be having a virtual walk where people will be walking for at least 2 kilometres in their preferred environment,” said Hiwa.

She said people can walk alone or with friends as long as they observe the social distancing rules.

“People are urged to take selfies or videos of themselves walking or running and post them on social media with the hashtag #ShowYouCareBeAware. They can then tag NBM plc and Think Pink Malawi social media pages to further raise awareness,” said Hiwa.

Think Pink Malawi Co-Founder Eleanor Nkosi said pink T-shirts for the walk are available for sale at K6,000 at Urban Café in Lilongwe or August House number 242 Tsoka Road Area 10 in Lilongwe. Those looking to purchase T-Shirts from other cities may call Think Pink Representatives on 0885 134 269.

“Others can also get sponsors to sponsor them for every kilometer they walk for K2,000 per kilometer and donate the funds raised to Think Pink Malawi for use in planned outreach programs,” said Nkosi.

Earlier this month, NBM plc donated K2.5 million towards cancer screening and treatment of vulnerable men and women through Think Pink Malawi.

Nkosi thanked NBM plc for the support and reiterated that Think Pink Malawi, which was established in 2014, will continue advocating for inclusive healthcare for all cancer patients. She emphasized that the support from NBM plc was an encouraging gesture in creating awareness to the public on breast cancer.

FDH Financial Holdings Limited group employees led by their youthful Chief Executive Officer William Mpinganjira on Wednesday wore pink attire to lend their support towards the Breast Cancer awareness campaign which is running through the month of October.

In his message, Mpinganjira said October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and a good time to learn more about breast cancer, starting with prevention and screening. 

“Leading a healthy lifestyle and exercising regularly can help reduce the risks. I urge all Malawians to strive to be informed about cancer and all women to routinely go for screening and talk with their health professionals. Early detection is important in the fight against Breast Cancer. As FDH Group, we are committed to the fight and together let’s defeat breast cancer,” said Mpinganjira.

FDH Group Head of Administration, Procurement and Operations Mwiza Madanitsa said being a woman, she regularly goes for screening to guard against breast cancer.

“As a woman, I go for screening regularly to guard against Breast Cancer. I urge my fellow women to be proactive and go for regular screening,” she said.

Joining the cause, FDH Bank plc Head of Personal and Business Banking Kawawa Msapato said he stands with women and all Malawians in support of Breast Cancer Awareness.

“Life first, go for regular screening,” said Kawawa.

FDH Bank plc Public Relations Officer Lorraine Chikhula said the FDH Group stand with all women in fighting breast cancer.

“This is why you have seen that starting from the Group Chief Executive Officer of FDH Financial Holdings Limited William Mpinganjira to all employees are wearing pink attire to express their support to breast cancer awareness campaign. Even some male employees had to put on pink to show that this issue is not for women only, it affects everyone,” said Chikhula.

She also said apart from supporting the breast cancer awareness campaign, FDH has also been supporting the health sector through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy.

“We support the Barbara Mpinganjira Cancer High Dependency Unit (HDU) at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital and this year we procured new machines namely an oxygen ventilator and patient monitor and we also serviced existing machines, repainted the Ward and continue to pay the lead nurses’ allowances at the Cancer HDU to ensure round the clock patient care,” said Chikhula.

National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc Wednesday donated K1.5 million towards this year’s Economics Association of Malawi (ECAMA) annual lake conference slated for November 19-20 this year.

Presenting the cheque in Blantyre, NBM plc Service Centre Manager for Henderson Street Service Centre, Tamara Mtuwa said the conference is coming at a time that the world economy including Malawi’s economy is under intense pressure as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We are all aware of how the outlook changed in March this year. As we speak, many businesses have closed, companies have undergone both job and pay cuts and the economy world over has taken a knock.”

“Therefore, as a Bank of the Nation, we feel that it is critical to support our Economists as they deliberate on possible survival strategies for the resuscitation of the economy,” said Mtuwa.

She said the conference is very important, not only to NBM plc but the whole nation as the economists discuss ways and strategies of bouncing back the economy.

“We need to keep abreast with global economic trends but also engage with key stakeholders in government, parastatals, development and international partners, NGOs, micro finance firms, insurance companies and many others who will be a part of this conference,” said Mtuwa.

Receiving the donation, ECAMA Executive member Maleka Thula hailed NBM plc for the donation saying the bank has been a good partner since the establishment of the association in 1999.

“The theme for our conference this year is ‘Going beyond macro-economic stability; the need for building resilience to external shocks. We know that after the Covid-19 pandemic we needed to sit down and discuss the state of our economy because we know that if the economy thrives, the banking or financial sector will also do well. So we are very thankful to NBM plc for this donation towards our conference,” said Thula.

By Mc Donald Chapalapata, a Contributor

National Bank of Malawi (NBM) plc has partnered with retail giants Shoprite and PEP stores to run the Go Cashless and Win promotion in which customers will win shopping vouchers worth K4 million if they use their NBM plc visa cards at NBM plc Point of Sale (POS) devices to pay for goods and services in the two retail stores.

NBM plc Head of Digital Banking Services William Kaunda said the Bank is running the promotion as one way of helping customers embrace cashless transactions.

“We would like to remind our customers of the convenience and safety that cashless shopping brings. In the awake of Covid-19, we have been encouraging our customers to transact via our digital platforms a lot more. This includes the use of cards when purchasing their products either in Shoprite or PEP Stores,” said Kaunda.

PEP Malawi General Manager Obino Mwamba said they are excited with the promotion and that it would increase traffic to their shops as customers have a chance of winning amazing prizes in the promotion.

“We are extremely happy to partner with National Bank of Malawi plc and look forward to welcoming more customers into our stores. As a brand whose customers are central to all that we do, we are excited for the opportunity to present this promotion to our remarkable customers,” said Mwamba.

Shoprite Malawi Manager Mutana Aneru said they too are excited with the promotion.

“We have also allowed NBM plc to deploy their in-store branding within Shoprite to provide customers with adequate information on how to take part in the promotion,” said Aneru.

The Go Cashless and Win promotion is scheduled to run for two months with 4 fortnightly draws where at each draw; 10 winners will cart home Shoprite or PEP Stores shopping vouchers worth K100,000 each.