Airtel Malawi has rewarded six Malawians, including entrepreneur Kondwani Kachamba Ngwira, with a total of K15.5 million for making a difference in their communities.
The mobile phone company presented the rewards to the six winners at ZiliMwaife campaign event held in Lilongwe on Friday.
The other five are Kenston Mhango, Mark Christopher, Protazio Jedidiah, Chimwemwe Mwenefumbo, and John Emmanuel.
Ngwira has received K3 million for sharing with Malawians in rural and urban areas knowledge of how to produce various products such as sugar, yoghurt and cement.
Ngwira has also been connecting the prospective manufacturers with various organisations to further their knowledge.
Another winner is Keston Mhango who worked at Ekwendeni Hospital for 38 years and after retirement, used his experience to bring initiatives to improve access to healthcare in his area. Mhango has received K1 million.
University of Malawi student Mark Christopher has been rewarded with K1.5 million for creating several lessons that are shared with students and schools through platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube.
John Emmanuel from Machinga has received K3 million for mobilizing fellow community members to venture into fish farming and this is being done on an area covering 69 acres.
Airtel Malawi has also given K3 million to Protasio Jedidiah who provides counselling to street children and mobilises resources to help the children and their families with basic needs.
The company has further given K4 million to Chimwemwe Mwenefumbo, a farmer at Chigwere in Nkhata Bay who made a pump that pumps water which is used by various people in his area.
Mwenefumbo also built a small power plant using local materials and this provides power that is used for lighting and charging phones.
Speaking during the event yesterday, Mwenefumbo said his plan is to reach as many people as possible.
“The pump I use does not require electricity or fuel so if I can get financial support, I can produce more pumps to reach out to many people,” he said.
ZiliMwaife is a campaign under which Airtel was encouraging people to submit stories of Malawians who are doing extraordinary things for their communities.
Airtel Marketing Manager Thokozani Sande said they received over 63,000 entries and with the help of judges, the company reviewed the stories, verified them and shortlisted those worthy of being rewarded.
Airtel set aside K40 million to reward the extraordinary Malawians and so far, K15.5 million out of the amount has been given to the six Malawians.
The remaining K24.5 million will be rewarded to more Malawians after judges finish reviewing other stories.
“The prizes were recommended by judges based on impact or need and also the main objective of ZiliMwaife which is to give these amazing Malawians a small token of appreciation as well as to promote and elevate their extraordinary efforts so that other individuals and organisations can further support their initiatives,” said Sande.
The winners under the K40 million pot will enter the final phase of the campaign where five stories will be selected and promoted for Malawians to vote. The five will share K37.5 million with the highest getting K12 million.
