

As someone who has navigated the crossroads between public service, entrepreneurship, and corporate growth, I often get asked about the value of different graduate degrees—particularly the Master of Public Policy (MPP) and the MBA (Master of Business Administration). While both hold weight and open doors to leadership, the debate often boils down to impact vs. scalability.
For the past few months, I’ve been thinking about economics a lot — not just in the theoretical sense, but in the way it shapes how people perceive and participate in the world around them. I’ve been reading ‘The Econocracy’, but between you and I, I am struggling to make progress in the midst of my MBA, and running my businesses.
In 2025, Malawi finds itself once again at a fiscal crossroads, with a K8.05 trillion national budget unveiled — promising economic stabilization, infrastructure development, and social protection. Yet, beneath the surface of those ambitions lies a hard truth we have avoided for decades: Malawi never had an economy to begin with.
A few days ago, I was invited to deliver a keynote at the Academic & Leadership Conference, to be hosted on the 15th of March, 2025 at my postgrad alma mater, the Malawi University of Science and Technology. As I am currently preparing on what to say, I find myself thinking: How do I explain Malawi 2063 — not just as a policy document, but as a lived reality we are all responsible for building?