Consumer Choice Awards 2026
When I established my blog… this blog [byntha.com]… when I started using social media around the 2010s, one of the things I really wanted was to see more Black, African, Malawian women — people that looked like me — in the spaces that I wanted to get into.
I quickly realized that the representation just wasn’t there… or, at least, it wasn’t too visible.
It is one of the reasons why, through the years, as my work has gotten busier, as I have had less and less time, I have still made time, and I have still committed to being visible because I still remember what it means to the young Black girl in Malawi that needed to see someone occupying the spaces that she hoped she could occupy.
And through the years, this blog came to grow into Ntha Foundation, which later grew and pivoted into the Kwathu Kollective. And now we have pivoted further into deep tech with Q2 Systems. These are the entities, that you continue to award me for, and I am eternally grateful.
Lessons Conversation
Delve into Business and International Development with Nthanda Manduwi
Book 1 – Lessons [lessonsbooks.com]
Your First [Free] Book Is Here!
Welcome to a new chapter of The Lessons Conversation.
I am most delighted to finally share the first book in the Lessons series with you, FOR FREE.
If you’ve been following the podcast for a while, thank you for staying on this journey with me. And if you just recently joined us, welcome – I am genuinely glad you’re here.
You may have noticed that this week’s post arrived a day later than usual. Typically, I publish the podcast first thing on Mondays, to start the week with you.
I spent yesterday travelling to New York City for the 2026 United Nations High-Level Political Forum [HLPF], where I’ll be spending the week listening, learning, and engaging in conversations about sustainable development from around the world. Thank you for your patience.
Last week, I had hoped to make the first book available immediately, but I ran into an unexpected challenge with Amazon. Kindle promotions aren’t quite as straightforward, and it took a little longer than expected to make everything work. The good news is that we’ve figured it out.
From this week onward, every week you’ll receive one book from the series completely free.
Rather than following a strict sequence, I’ll simply share whichever book feels most relevant or inspired by the conversations, ideas, and experiences of that particular week. Today that is Lessons. Other weeks it may be Systemic Nonsense, Impossible Economies, or another title entirely. I want each week’s reading to feel like part of an ongoing conversation rather than a reading list.
One important thing to know: once you claim a Kindle book during its free promotion, it remains in your Kindle library permanently. Even though each giveaway lasts only a limited time [5 days to be specific], the copy you download is yours to keep forever.
If you find a book meaningful, I have one small favour to ask: please share it. Send this newsletter to a friend, colleague, student, policymaker, or anyone else you think would enjoy joining the conversation. The goal has never simply been to publish books. It is to build a community that thinks deeply about what works, in what context, under what circumstances, and why.
This Week’s Book
📖 Lessons [Book 1]
The opening book in the series introduces the central question that connects every book that follows:
What Works? In What Context? Under What Circumstances? Why?
Drawing on experiences across international development, entrepreneurship, technology, government, and systems thinking, Lessons explores why good intentions alone are never enough – and why better questions often matter more than quick answers.
How to Read
To receive your free Kindle copy:
* Click the Amazon link below.
* Select the Kindle edition while the promotion is active.
* Add it to your Kindle library.
You do not need a Kindle device. The free Kindle app works on iPhone, Android, tablets, Macs, and PCs, allowing you to build your digital library wherever you read.
Helpful Links
📚 Read this week’s book for free [search on Amazon or in Kindle for the book that is free for the week, and feel free to purchase the others]:http://amazon.com/dp/B0FQNJ61SB
📰 Subscribe to The Lessons Conversation:
Africa paperback pre-orders:https://forms.office.com/r/RMRMKTNd1M
A Small Update on the Podcast
Over the past months, The Lessons Conversation has largely taken the form of Lessons Weekly: my personal reflections on current events, systems, and international development.
For the next seven weeks, the podcast will take a slightly different form.
Each week I’ll dedicate an episode to one of the books in the Lessons series. For the first time, these episodes will also be available as full-length videos on YouTube, so you’ll be able to either listen through your favourite podcast app or watch the conversations as they unfold.
These videos are something I’ve wanted to create for a while – not simply to introduce the books, but to build a lasting body of work around the ideas behind them.
Once we’ve completed this seven-week series, The Lessons Conversation will evolve again. We’ll move beyond solo reflections into conversations with remarkable people whose work is shaping the future of development, technology, entrepreneurship, public policy, and society.
I’m excited for what comes next.
As I spend this week at the High-Level Political Forum here in New York, I’m already finding myself inspired by the conversations taking place. I’m curious to see which ideas stay with me; and, perhaps more importantly, which book feels like the right one to share with you next week.
Thank you for reading, thank you for subscribing, and thank you for being part of this community.
Enjoyed listening to the Lessons Conversation? This post is public, so feel free to share it.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit podcast.lessonsconversation.com
![Book 1 – Lessons [lessonsbooks.com]](https://byntha.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/podcast-episode-image-ec73ae16c46f1aff1930c01c9b6afbc7-768x768.jpg)
July 13, 2026
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Through my journey with entrepreneurship, I’ve seen myself go from being a basic content creator, to working with some of the biggest hotel chains in Malawi, to establishing a nonprofit that has trained thousands of young people in Malawi and beyond, to establishing companies and systems that continue to serve millions of people across continents.
And now, having done my MBA and completed my MSc in Entrepreneurship, I see the world as much deeper, I understand that we need to create even more essential technologies for the people that need them the most.
For a long time, as I grew, my limitations mentally were still around what entrepreneurship as a woman was supposed to look like. I was just a social media content creator. I built non-profits [first]. In my mind, that was somehow, still, what a woman could do.
And now I find myself pushing into spaces of engineering: managing teams of incredible scientists, building systems, and stepping into rooms I never even imagined I would belong in.
I read an article that a friend had shared with me a few months ago by Rizine Mzikamanda, talking about imposter syndrome, and he, in his own wonderful words referred to me as some shape or form of 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴. I paused for a while… shocked really, when I read it, because he had placed my name in context with Michael Jordan, Lionel Messi, and Steve Jobs.
This award hits different because:
1. it finds me newly finding my footing in Detroit. Q2 Systems as a company is just 1.5 years old;
2. We are [still] pre-product [albeit piloting some good MVPs] and prerevenue. DeepTech is HARD!;
3. We are building Q2 in extremely male-dominated fields, and it is never lost on me when I am the only woman in the room [we are continuously fixing that through the Kwathu Kollective]; and
4. It is my first time building businesses in foreign lands and I am, contrary to what I may show, still VERY scared.
I think it is important for me to word that in this moment: that I am scared. Very scared.
Entrepreneurship is a journey of endless fear. It is ever my joy, to do the scary stuff, and it is an even greater joy, to have the slight chance at sharing some of those fears with you.
And I hope that the girls and boys that come after us, by seeing us, know that they can go further.
Thank you so much for voting for me as the Most Inspiring Business Female Leader at the 2026 Consumer Choice Awards.
I dedicate this award to my late mother: I am all that I am today because I was born of her: Africa’s first inland female marine captain.
I grew up in her light, and it was through seeing her visible to me and everyone around us that I understood that I could be and do anything. She inspired me enough, to be able to inspire an entire nation.
This award, to me, is for every little Black… Africa… Malawian girl… and boy… that has dreams, that wants to achieve everything, that wants to be more than the world that they see.
I hope that by sharing my little light, you draw just a little bit of inspiration to be light, too.
Read my Published Works:
If you’d like to go deeper into my journey — from Malawi, through the United Nations to Microsoft, you can find it in my books.
P.S. for 2026, you can get any of my books via Kindle for only $2.99.
This offer is valid till the end of the year.
Links to purchase are as below:
Get a Snippet of and Preorder My Upcoming Books:
CONNECT WITH NTHANDA ONLINE:
About the Author
