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From Blog Posts to Boardrooms
By Nthanda Manduwi
In 2012, I started writing… online. I was one of Malawi’s first travel, tourism, and lifestyle bloggers.
I grew up in Mangochi, by the lake. I knew Malawi first as beautiful. That was my reality: blue waters, mango trees, and warm light. To me, Malawi was soft and alive.
But as I grew older, and specifically as I studied Economics and Demography in my undergraduate studies at the University of Malawi, I started encountering a very different version of my country: one shaped by headlines, reports, and statistics. โPoor.โ โCorrupt.โ โUnderdeveloped.โ
The language jarred me. It was not false, but it was not the whole story either.
And so… I started writing.
One of the earliest sections of my blog was called โThrough My Eyes.โ I wanted people, especially outsiders, to see Malawi the way I saw Malawi. Not just through the lens of poverty or policy, but through beauty, spirit, and complexity.
Writing became a way for me to reclaim narrative. It was about presence. About perspective. About power.
I didnโt have a strategy. I wasnโt trying to go viral. I just had thoughts… many of them… and writing helped me survive them. I was a student at the University of Malawi, studying Economics and Demography, trying to make sense of systems, identity, and the future of our continent.
Back then, I wasnโt trying to build a brand. I wasnโt even sure I had a voice. I just knew I had something to say. And I said it.
So I wrote… about love, heartbreak, spirituality, grief, womanhood, and power. I wrote about what I saw and what I felt. Sometimes I was eloquent. Sometimes I was messy. Always, I was honest.
And slowly, what began as a personal outlet turned into a body of work. That blog became the root of a life I still do not yet have the words to describe.
Fast forward to today, and Iโve now spent over a decade building in public. Sharing my growth online. Living, failing, and evolving in real time. Iโve outgrown so many versions of myself… sometimes quietly, sometimes painfully. But I never stopped creating.
This May, I received the Consumer Choice Award: ‘Most Inspiring Female Corporate Leader in Malawi’: a recognition I never thought would carry so much emotional weight. Because itโs not just about visibility. Itโs about being seen. Itโs a reflection of the impact thatโs been quietly taking shape behind the scenes for years.
But to understand what this means, you have to understand where Iโve been.
***
In 2018, I founded the Ntha Foundation โ an organization born from deep frustration. I was tired of watching brilliant, talented Malawian youth being left behind by systems that werenโt built for them. I didnโt want to just train people. I wanted to transform environments.
That dream grew. Over time, we developed two flagship programs:
- The M’mawa Apprenticeship Program, which supports graduating university students in transitioning into the professional world; and
- The Nyenyezi Fellowship, which nurtures young entrepreneurs through digital transformation and business model training.
These two streams (one focused on employment, the other on entrepreneurship) came to represent the dual heartbeat of the Ntha Foundation. In time, both were integrated into the Kwathu Upgrade initiative, and now operate under Kwathu Kollective, our pan-African innovation ecosystem.
The name โKwathuโ means home. And thatโs exactly what I wanted to build โ a home for young innovators, dreamers, and doers across Africa.
Alongside my entrepreneurial journey, Iโve built a professional career rooted in systems change.
- I led a World Bank project โ Digital Malawi โ where I worked to expand access to tech and training.
- I joined the United Nations, first with UN Women, and later as Knowledge Coordination Analyst for the Global SDG Synthesis Coalition, where I worked across 45+ agencies to unify our approach to digital development.
- And in 2023, I began my MBA at Michigan State University, a decision grounded in my commitment to becoming a more effective strategist and leader.
Each of these steps helped me develop tools โ not just digital, but structural. And now, Iโm applying them at a global level.
Earlier this year, I accepted a role as a Business Development Manager Intern at Xbox (Microsoft) for my summer MBA internship. I presently work at the intersection of gaming, market strategy, and innovation โ shaping products that reach millions.
At the same time, Iโm building Q2 Games, our pivot into gamified learning and civic engagement, and piloting (still) the Lessons Conversation platform: a podcast and upcoming magazine capturing systems-level conversations with global voices and leaders.
And yet… despite all this expansion, Iโve never stopped writing.
Because the writing is what anchors me. Itโs how I remember who I am.
***
This award comes at a time of personal reflection.
This May, I made the difficult decision to move our operations from Lilongwe to Mangochi, the region that raised me. I wanted to return to the water, to the community, to the version of me that still believed in magic. It wasnโt a business decision. It was a soul decision.
It was also a decision shaped by grief. In the past few years, Iโve lost more than Iโve posted. My mother โ Malawiโs first female marine captain โ passed away, leaving behind a legacy Iโm still learning how to carry. The grief has been quiet, but constant. And still, the work continues.
Because even in my hardest moments, Iโve known: the vision is bigger than me.
That is the tension I live with โ to be visionary and human, ambitious and exhausted, joyful and brokenhearted. To be human.
Receiving the Consumer Choice Award is a reminder that the work matters, even when itโs hard. Even when no one claps. Even when itโs just you, your laptop, and your vision at 3AM.
Itโs also a reminder that the people are watching. That community is real. That my story, in all its complexity, resonates.
So, to the young Malawian girl starting a blog todayโฆ this is for you.
Write. Share. Build. Even if no oneโs watching yet.
Because sometimes, the blog becomes a company.
Sometimes, the post becomes a policy.
Sometimes, the girl with too many thoughts becomes a leader.
And the version of you that starts?
Wonโt be the version that finishes.
Sheโll be softer. Stronger. And sheโll know her voice is her power.
with Deep Gratitude,
Ntha
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