On behalf of the Malawi Government through the Public Private Partnership Commission, Ntha Foundation, in the third phase of the World Bank fully-funded Digital Malawi Project, assisted young entrepreneurs by providing Business subgrants to outstanding entrepreneurs who will take part in the digital skills training and the Nyenyezi Fellowship program through the Bants2Business platform.
Under The Digital Malawi Project, $7,200 was allocated to award outstanding entrepreneurs through several Bants2Business editions. The first edition under The Digital Malawi Project was held on the 16th of December 2022 at the Thanthwe farms. The winners in this edition were sub-granted $2,400. The winner went away with $1,000, the 1st runner-up went away with $800 and the 2nd runner-up went away with $600.
To come up with the 3 winners, the entrepreneurs pitched their innovative business ideas in 5 minutes, to stand a chance to win seed funding and business incubation opportunities to grow their ventures.
OVHILHELHA CHAWAWA, WINNER
Ovhilhelha proposed Ovilhelha Farming as her business idea:
After buying seed and/or soya and groundnut produce from different farmers, the business will capitalize on processing the soya into milk, and the groundnuts into flour. The processed products will then be sold to different regions and supplied to shops. The choices of soya and groundnuts were mainly due to their health benefits for children. Ovhilhelha was inspired by the fact that no one in her region was manufacturing products from soya and groundnuts.
Ovilhelela Chawawa’s pitch was systematically selected from over 60 other pitches, crowning her the winner! You can see her celebrating her win in the photo below.
TIYAMIKE MWALE, 1ST RUNNER UP
Tiyamike proposed the Jatropha project as her business idea:
Jatropha, a crop that produces seeds that can be processed to oil. When mixed with regular fuel you get biofuel. As a bi product a cakey substance is produced that acts as fertilizer. In this business she will engage small holder farmers by giving them seeds and training on how to cultivate and produce Jatropha. In the end she will buy back the product, to give them extra income for them.
DAVIE GREY, 2ND RUNNER UP
Davie proposed Biogas digestion as his business idea:
Biogas Digestion, a process that produces cooking gas and liquid fertilizer from animal faeces (goats, cows, chickens) and rotten things. In this business, I will buy a machine used to digest the materials to produce the products. Since the prize money isn’t enough to invest in biogas digestion, (the materials used are more expensive), my plan will be to start other farming businesses utilizing the prize money like maize, soya, and beans farming so that I can Earn more money to invest in biogas.
Thanks to everyone who took part and helped, the Ntha Foundation staff, the donors, the speakers, the host and most importantly the participants under The Digital Malawi Project for making this contest and event a massive success. Keep an eye on our social media pages for the next contest coming soon.
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