In February 2015 at the US embassy organized trade fair at Malawi Sun hotel in Blantyre, Henry Kachaje told us that if you have a thousand kwacha (1 pin), ukhonza kupita ku Limbe kukagula ma neck tie 20 costing MK50 each. Then ukhonza kukayima pa Ginner coner and sell each one of them at MK500. If you repeat the process, you will soon become a millionaire. I didn’t do it, but the logic and reasoning behind greatly helped me and it shaped the way I look at things including life today.
With the 90 days aid freeze by the US government, what came to my mind was what if this freeze is permanent? What will happen to all those working for the US govt funded institutions? Their dependents? What will happen to those on ART etc with funding from the US government etc? I then realized that it is time for development institutions including government to innovate and handle resource mobilization differently. It is time for NGOs to adopt a social enterprise model that combines both the traditional way of resource mobilization. It might nor produce immediate results but is worth doing overtime. The reality is that aid can disappear at any moment, will we be ready?
By the way Henry K sees my statues and he will also see this one
In February 2015, at a trade fair organized by the U.S. Embassy at Malawi Sun Hotel in Blantyre, Henry Kachaje told us that with just a thousand kwacha (MK1,000), one could go to Limbe and purchase 20 neckties at MK50 each. Then ukhonza kukayima pa Ginner corner and sell each one of them at MK500. If you repeat the process, you will soon become a millionaire. I didn’t do it, but the logic and reasoning behind greatly helped me and it shaped the way I look at things including life today.
In the same line, with the U.S. government's 90-day aid freeze, a pressing question came to mind: What if this freeze were permanent? What would happen to the thousands of people employed by U.S.-funded institutions? Their dependents? Those on life-saving ART and other critical programs supported by U.S. aid? It will definitely send millions into abject poverty.
I think this is a wake up call for development institutions, including governments, to rethink resource mobilization. We need to start thinking and doing things differently. It is time for NGOs to embrace a social enterprise model—one that blends traditional funding approaches with sustainable income-generating strategies. While the shift may not yield immediate results, it is a necessary step toward long-term resilience. The reality is stark: aid can disappear at any moment. The question is, will we be ready?
By the way HK sees my status and he will definitely see this one too
