Forty people have dragged social media influencer Kondwani Kachamba Ngwira to court, demanding back their money which they say he collected with a promise to invest in various businesses.
It is alleged that Ngwira collected millions of Kwacha from people as investments in projects that included a filling station, cooking oil plant, TV and Radio Station, Beach House, MicroFinance and what he called Revolutionary Farming.
The investors, many of whom invested between K250,000 and K400,000, started raising concerns after they noted that there was a lack of progress on the promised projects.
Speaking to the Investigator Magazine, a man from Mzimba said he contributed K2.4 million and he complained that he has been struggling to get back his money from Kachamba.
According to the Investigator Magazine, an investor identified Prisca Palasa Chifikana and 39 others have resorted to using legal action in a bid to get their money back.
The magazine reported that Kachamba Ngwira’s representative in Lilongwe received court documents regarding the case on 18th April, 2023.
“Case number 75 of 2023 at the High Court Commercial Division has been assigned to Justice Chifundo Kachale who has since given Kachamba 14 days to file response and provide documents related to the matter,” the magazine reported.
Following the commencement of the legal action, Ngwira presented to the investors a financial statement for one of the projects, Revolutionary Farming Business.
The statement indicates that the business had 205 members and a share value of K75,231 as of Saturday 22 April 2023. The share value is distributed as K3,761 cash and K71,470 as property in form of assets and unsold products.
The company, according to Ngwira’s statement, has a bank balance of K67,000, K3,876,000 in unsold cooking oil, available sunflower cake valued at K1,250,000 as well as a warehouse and tractor valued K11 million. The statement puts the value of the company at K16.9 million.
“Those interested to withdraw can get cocking (cooking) oil equivalent to their current share value of MWK75231.95,” reads part of the document.
Kachamba Ngwira runs Projects Innovations Centre which mobilizes funds from individuals and small scale businesses to invest in large scale businesses. He told the local media in 2021 that 6,000 small and medium enterprises had invested over K500 million in PIC projects.
An insider at PIC told the Investigator that there is no paperwork at the company as all money is controlled and managed by the founder.
“His accounts under Project Innovation Centre which are at FDH Bank show transactions of close to K45 million annually that night have accumulated over a period of 3 years,” the Investigator reported.
After the Magazine published its story and posted the link on its Facebook page, Ngwira commented on the post saying: “We pray with Psalms 91. Politics can’t develop this nation . We need to come together and build this nation not bringing each other down.”
The entrepreneur has over 114,000 followers on Facebook where he posts instructions on how to p make various products such as yoghurt, sugar, bread and shampoo. Somme politicians and organizations also invite him to their areas to provide training to communities. His goal is to inspire the creation of hundreds of companies across Malawi as part of an industrial revolution.
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