Artist Kalawe spearheads ‘Unity is Winning’ initiative
Chimaliro’s representative
Lilongwe-based musician Francis Kalawe better known as Kalawe has started an initiative known as ‘Unity is Winning’ which has seen youth benefiting financially.
The initiative recently saw Kalawe hand over K1 million to Cynthia Chimaliro from Mzuzu City.
But how did this whole initiative start?
“I told people on my social media page that if each of the 6,000 followers would contribute K500 each, we are going to make K6 million,” Kalawe said.
He said people started contributing to the initiative that was answering the business financing needs of youth.
“The banks hardly give youth loans because they do not have collateral. The government funds are usually mismanaged and there are very few youth, if any, who benefit and those that may, most likely have party affiliations,” Kalawe said.
He said rich Malawians can also empower the youth but he observed that not many come in to help.
“So as it is, the options for the youth to get resources to start businesses are not there. In a creative bid, banking on unity and innovation by using digital platform, we came with a way of connecting thousands of people,” Kalawe said.
“Many are struggling with school fees, unemployment and hopelessness. So to select the winner, we invited business plans. The platform in this regard provided an opportunity for the youth to discuss and debate business idea. We learnt that social media platform can be used for beneficial purposes other than gossip,” he said.
Kalawe, who has also used music to reach out to the needy, said Chimaliro got one million.
“Cynthia was struggling financially and two of her sisters were forced to early marriages because of lack of support but she will be able to support them now. Her business idea is to sell fresh food delivering on doorsteps in the wake of Covid-19,” he said.
According to Kalawe, Chimaliro intends to reach out to clients through digital marketing.
“We encouraged her to look back and assist others especially those outside her household considering that her opportunity has come from people not from her household. Individually we are weak but united we can on our own make a million, we can make a billion,” Kalawe said.
He said going forward, the initiative will be handled by a team of leaders and that it will also provide business education.
“I am personally thankful to everyone, who supported and special mention should also go to HD Plus Creations, who gave us K200,000,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kalawe is today premiering a new song titled ‘Life Time’ in which he has featured Smacks.
