March, 2026
It is Wednesday.
I am in Detroit.
I have just completed my move from the capital of Michigan: Lansing, to the City of Detroit to build my new venture: Q2 Systems—a company of Bien Corporation.
I write these words sitting on the seventh floor of a twenty-five floor high rise on the waterfront.
I have been listening to Driemo and Gwamba’s ‘Yonseyi‘ on repeat since yesterday.
When I look out the window, I see Canada staring right back at me across the river.
Life has a way of arranging moments like this. I am taking this very brief moment to look around for a second.
Twelve years.
That is roughly how long it has taken to get here.
I find myself pulling at the threads.
Small bricks. Small decisions. Tiny turns that, at the time, did not seem important.
Tiny turns that led us to precisely where we are.
Lessons Conversation
Delve into Business and International Development with Nthanda Manduwi
Book 1: Lessons
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
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A small rewind
I have been thinking about March lately.
March seems to be when my life quietly reorganizes itself.
March, 2026
I have just moved to Detroit to build Q2.
March, 2025
I had just landed in Madrid, Spain, for my study abroad with the Broad College of Business at Michigan State University.
March, 2024
I was in Manhattan completing the incorporation of my non-profit, Ntha Foundation, as a 501(c)(3), while preparing to complete my mission with the United Nations.
March, 2023
I was living what was, honestly, a fairly magical life in Manhattan.
March, 2022
I was wrapping up my life in Lilongwe, Malawi, preparing to move to the United States to join the UN in New York.
March, 2021
My organization had just received a $250,000 grant from the World Bank to build innovation hubs in Malawi.
At that exact moment, I had enrolled in my first Master’s degree.
I could go further back.
I probably should.
But for now, 2021 feels like a good place to begin pulling the threads.
The Road to Motor City
There was a time—not too long ago—when all I wanted was to be a travel and lifestyle blogger in Malawi.
To write.
To photograph food.
To tell stories.
Life, as it tends to do, had other plans. Or perhaps it simply had larger versions of the same plan.
The blogging turned into storytelling.
The storytelling turned into organizations.
The organizations turned into companies.
And somehow, one brick at a time, the road lands us here today.
Detroit.
Why Detroit?
Detroit to me feels like a reset.
The past few years of my life have been motion. Constant forward motion.
New York.
Torino.
Pattaya.
Lansing.
Redmond.
Madrid.
Always always moving.
Detroit, however, feels different.
Detroit feels like a moment to pause as my companies scale.
It is a city that understands reinvention better than most places on Earth. It built the modern industrial world. It lost it. And now it is rebuilding something new.
That energy resonates deeply with me.
It is an economy that is not so advanced that everything feels abstract, but also not so fragile that ambition feels unrealistic.
Things here still make sense.
You can see the bones of industry.
You can see the possibility of what comes next.
And somewhere within that possibility, I see a place for Q2.
Q2
Q2 is my new venture—what I went to Michigan State University to build: a company of Bien Corporation.
Bien began as a creative company—an attempt to bring high-quality storytelling and branding to businesses in Malawi and across Africa.
But over time, a lot interesting things happened.
The work started pointing toward larger systems.
Technology.
Infrastructure.
Platforms.
Q2 is the next chapter of that journey.
I am excited to spend the next year [and perhaps more] exploring what this company can become.
The Season Ahead
More than anything, this next chapter feels personal to me.
For a long time, my life has been about building things for others. Communities. Platforms. Organizations.
Detroit feels like a moment to also build something within myself.
Over the next year, I hope to spend time doing the following:
Writing.
Telling the stories I have been carrying for years.
Reflecting.
Pulling at the threads of the last decade and understanding how the pieces fit together.
Resting.
Allowing my mind the space to breathe after years of constant motion.
Building Q2.
Carefully and thoughtfully shaping what this company can become.
Making new friends.
Every city teaches you something through the people you meet.
Finding myself again.
Perhaps the most important work of all.
Spring
I arrived in Detroit at the very beginning of spring.
The trees have not yet bloomed.
The air still carries the last breath of winter.
But something is shifting.
Soon the city will turn green again.
And, if I am lucky, so will parts of my own life.
So for now, I write.
I reflect.
And I look forward to seeing what blooms next.
—
Ntha
Detroit, Michigan
March 2026
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:
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About the Author
