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Showing posts from 2010

To the students at Bunda College

by Greenwell Matchaya Dear beloved students This might sound unusual especially coming within this festive season however real learning doesn’t and mustn’t stop until you stop breathing (Lol). You can, and should be proud that you have made it to a UNIMA college that is very good and progressive, with a reputation of producing some of the finest minds of our society. The fact that you have made it to Bunda is an indication that you can also ‘found’ in yourselves great leaders, entrepreneurs and researchers of the future. As you are already aware there at Bunda you have programs that each of you belongs to such that some of you are pursuing BScs in Irrigation Engineering, Crops Sciences, Agribusiness, Agric Econs, Aqua-sciences, Social forestry, Animal science etc. These are fantastic programs that are tailor-designed to impart in you some of the rare core transferrable skills that you need for the future soon to come. As a member of the Bunda alumni community I would like to advise y

Ownership Structure and the Performance of Air Malawi

Greenwell Matchaya, PhD Leeds University-Business School-UK __________________________________________________________________________________ In this article effort is made to highlight some theoretical mechanisms through which Air Malawi’s ownership structure could affect its very ability for innovation and ultimately, performance. The article further considers some of the many possibilities that Air Malawi may need to try in order to survive these hard times. If records are correct, Air Malawi became independent in 1967 following the dissolution of the Central African Airways that year and since then the airliner went through a series of tough and good times. A number of aircrafts were bought and added to the airliner’s fleet and at the turn of the political upheaval in 1993 the company had just acquired the Dornier 228, Boeing 737-300 and the ATR 42. It appears however that the dawn of the many changes in the political ecosystem in the mid 1990s also marked the e

The Potential Role of Local Currencies Payment Systems in Trade between Malawi and Regional Partners

A summary of the paper by Dr Greenwell Matchaya, presented at public seminar organised by Ecama at Cresta Hotel in Lilonge on firt July. Guest of Honour : Minister of Finance, Hon. Ken Kandodo, MP Presenter : Ass. Professor Charles Mataya (PhD) Discussants : 1. MEJN Executive Director, Mr. Andrew Kumbatira, 2. Chair, Trade and Industry Committee of parliament, Dr. Cornelius Mwalwanda, MP _____________________________________________________________________________________ Author: Greenwell Collins Matchaya, PhD , Leeds University-Business School, June, 2010 Summary The recent foreign exchange shortages in the country point to the economic threats that exist for economies that solely rely on foreign exchange in their daily trade. A study of the literature shows that foreign exchange problems could partially be reduced by carefully establishing local currency payments systems with significant regional trade partners. At the local scale, such arrangements are not rampant at present, howev

Fish consumption drops : a reply

(Fish consumption decline: hypotheses.) GC Matchaya, PhD This note is in response to the article ‘Fish consumption drops’ that appeared in the nation paper of Friday, 18 June 2010 published online at http://www.mwnation.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1206:fish-consumption-drops&catid=66:business-news&Itemid=64 The said article is interesting and tackles an issue of importance for health and general societal welfare. The annual fish catch figures it presents are enlightening and helps readers to understand the fish availability problem in Malawi in a proper context. Nevertheless the article seems to present otherwise simple facts in a manner that may get the readers confused. Firstly the characters mentioned in the article seem to insinuate that the decline in fish per capita consumption is due to general disinterest in fish consumption by consumers, so that there should be policies that seek to encourage fish consumption as perhaps in fish importance

Grandpa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCuErm9RqSY "I still worry and stress about what I had with you I still feel the pain as it is ceaseless since my heart is mute, the burden is on me eyes get shy but heart still feels and stays your only courage (oh my love) I have done everything I can, but you still mad" Blandine, prittynae2008

tribal groupings, politics and development in Malawi

what is the role of tribal groupings in Malawi's present and future politics? what is the potential role of such groupings on development?

dedicated to childhood friends

This is a song by Noel Ngiama http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D5kq-BqeYE while this is by Rochereau and sung by Mbilia Bel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D5kq-BqeYE

friendship

As they say friends aren't jumper cables, you don't throw them into the trunk and pull them out for emergencies. True friendship should be perpendicular to achievements in areas of power, wealth, education or religion. It must show up regardless of conditions, it must edure misfortune, it must conqure distance, and must pass a test of time, otherwise, it is fake, or thinly veiled opportunism!

On Choosing a Chief Executive for ESCOM

Greenwell C. Matchaya A slightly modified version appeared in the Nation news paper’s Business section on Thursday 04/03/2010 I am pretty sure that for most government theorists, executive search agencies, management consultants and those of us with some advanced level of management theory it is platitudinous that the quest for any company’s CEO is probably the single most important decision that a Board of Directors has to periodically make. The decision of a CEO is very critical to the immediate and inter-temporal health and productivity of any organization. CEOs can, and do, make or break organizational fabrics and integrity conditional on their style of leadership, foresight and dynamism. It is hence so obvious that boards ought to usher themselves into robust search for the right candidates for the job while bearing in mind the larger goals of the organisation. The recent media debate on the choice of the CEO for the troubled ESCOM, partly tackled by MIE staff (referring to The N

tip

The pursuit of wealth and that of education aren't necessarily complementary. You can either become a billionnaire, but without too much formal education or you may become a professor but without the tambalas. It's all to do with how we invest our time.....sad reality, isn't it? The implication though is not that we should not endeavour to achieve excellence in academia, or in business, but that we should realise that we need to search for an optimal combination of the two given the scarce resource of time.

the rules

1. If you don't believe in yourself, no one will 2. Keep your value or get a paid job 3. Thrive to exist between the extreme of greed and stupid altruism 4. 'closing deals' is very different from having a 1000 leads 5. set the price as high as you possibly can at the pre-existing market conditions.

Mpira Africa Cup of Nations. Will Malawi qualify for the second round?

lets see the olds by clicking in this below cheers

Selection to secondary schools: More questions than answers

Question: is it possible to get the names of students and primary schools they attended to put these results in perspective as this is the only way we could know whether the percentages presented to all of us mean something? any comments are welcome.