By Pemphero Malimba:
The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Institute (Smedi) has said it expects to complete its diagnostic mapping exercise, which seeks to explore investment-worth areas, in March next year.
Smedi Chief Executive Officer Kondwani Kachamba Ngwira said this on Friday after delivering a public lecture titled ‘From Data to Decision: Unlocking Quantitative Research’, at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Luanar) campus.
Ngwira said the exercise, which started three months ago, was being conducted across the country to explore the potential that each district possesses.
“Preliminary findings have shown positive results,” he said, citing Chikwawa, where the institute has found salt deposits worth of investment for local use and exportation.
Ngwira said the institute also inspected 17 abandoned factories across the country, where 10 are now undergoing renovations.
“We extracted some [deposits], came up with samples and sent them to the Malawi Bureau of Standards to see if that is an area of interest for Malawi. The results are very encouraging,” he said.
He said the institute wanted to ensure that Malawi invested in areas which had the potential to boost local production and help substitute the country’s imports.
Ngwira urged those in the education sector to help in providing solutions to challenges the country was facing.
“The academia should go into research, [come up with] solutions and [promote the spirit of] working together. This way, we will bring hope to the nation,” Ngwira said.
Luanar Agribusiness Management Deputy Head Stewart Makosani said the university was working on issues that would help address issues besetting the agribusiness sector.
The event was organized by the Luanar Agribusiness Management research department.