Vice Chancellor, Professor Isabel Apawo Phiri, the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, Professor MPhatso Kamndaya, members of the Council, all invited guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Congratulations to you parents and guardians, all relatives, all sponsors for the job well done. Good morning once again. When I was called to come here, I think the Deputy General Secretary agreed with me. I was not sure whether he was calling me or he was calling someone else. I’ve been here before, but at a secondary school level. We do come here every year as FDH, supporting education. And we’re almost like inherited synod, secondary school program. We take education seriously. So, each and every year, we do come here. And I was here this other year, talking to those students who just finished their Form 4, a lovely group.
And I must say Synod we appreciate what you do around the education sector. Which speaks to what we believe at FDH and what also I believe personally. I know a bit history with the university. I’m not sure my invitation is to do that, but I doubt. When the university opened, that time I think you may remind me, it was Dr. Howe? He was a VC.
Regardless of the performance of FDH or regardless of our own performance as individuals, we do take education seriously. And that year, personally, I inherited four students. I don’t know where they are. They’ve disappeared. I told them to give me four students who are struggling to pay their fees, but they’re brilliant. I paid for those students. I hope they’re doing well wherever they are. But they’ve disappeared. And I hope they’re so comfortable. And today, VC, I will also take 10 more students to sponsor them. That’s how seriously we take education until they finish their education.
It is both an honour and a privilege to me, VC, to stand before you on this very important occasion, one that marks not only a culmination of years of dedication and hard work, but also the beginning of a new chapter filled with opportunity and this possibility. This is not just a celebration of academic success, it’s also to resilience.
You have got different stories, how you struggled to get to where you are today. I believe it wasn’t easy. Some of you thought of dropping. Quitting is easier than moving the next step. But where you are going, you’re going to cry. It’s worse than your school. Because that’s what we have in the corporate world and that’s what we have in the world. We have to express every day. I’ve got three messages I want to share with you this morning.
The first one is believe in yourself. When we look at the theme of this year, Transform to Transform, I don’t think there’s anything else I need to say other than what has already been said. Otherwise, it’s too long of a message. But he said everything. It speaks to a journey, a journey that each of you, the graduating students, has undertaken. You had a lot of expectations within the university. And we believe today, according to the student representative, you are being transformed with knowledge which is going to sharpen you as individuals, your characters, and face the world with purpose. Gone are the days you’ll be going to dad and mom asking them in terms of what you want to do. We believe the university has equipped you and now you’ll be able to discover your own self and your own purpose.
God created us for a reason, for a purpose. If you die without achieving that purpose, I think he’s going to blame you for doing nothing. You are not productive. You are supposed to be productive. That’s one of the problems Malawi as a country is suffering. We are not productive. We are not. Every day we are struggling with forex, we are struggling with economy, unemployment, all those things. So, coming out of this room, you guys, I challenge you to discover your purpose. The education you have received here is not merely for personal advancement, It is a tool and a very powerful tool that must be used to transform you and the communities around you, not just yourself. I always say and I believe that the success of any individual, and take this word, the success of any individual is seen by the number of lives that individual has transformed, the number of lives that individual has inspired, and the number of lives that individual has uplifted.
If you are not in that bracket, you are not successful. 10 times 0 is what? 0. So is 100 times 0 is 0. So, you might think that you are successful in your own individual capacity, but if no one around you is as successful as yourself, you are not successful. Knowing yourself, that is you to check and understand your potential, your ability, and the power within you. Transformation begins within you but it’s a true impact, the true impact is seen outwardly. Life begins from inside force. We all know the egg story. When the egg is broken by the force from inside, life begins. Not so. When the same egg is broken by the force from outside, life ends. You should always remember that.
So don’t depend on people outside you. Challenge yourself. You are so powerful. Your spirit is very powerful. So, you go out there to save, to build, to transform the communities and to transform lives. And wherever life takes you, don’t forget where you are coming from.
The second piece of advice I want to share with you is around your character. This is what the vice and the chair, even Dr. Chisulo touched on. Now we’re going to enter into that world where there are a lot of people, they are professionals, trained professionals, trained to steal, trained to corrupt people. The corruption we see is not done by people from the villages who didn’t go to school. The investor here is not training people to steal. The investor here is not training people to involve themselves in corrupt practices. Corruption is very dangerous. Opportunities vanish and fairness is out of the day. Talent disappears because we become a hostage to just a few individuals calling the shots, managing everything. And I’m challenging the students to challenge the status quo. Don’t just sit and watch. Neither you should participate.
Don’t participate after you are coming from a university where we believe in Christian values. It’s not a secular university. Practice what you have learned here. It’s a difficult world, but we should be honest when it’s very difficult. We should be disciplined when no one is watching, you know, more or less like dancing in your own room when nobody is watching. That’s how character is demonstrated. Should be humble even when you succeed. Don’t forget those people who are struggling. The world is full of noise. Integrity is going to make us stand out. Discipline provides structure and focus sharpens the aim. Consistency fuels the journey to success.
The last thing I want to share with you is around now your actual beginnings. Do not fear humble beginnings. You might have expectation that today you are going to drive the car I drive. Forget it. It will take time unless you are getting it from somebody. You are going to a world where entrepreneurship will be key for you guys.
As Malawi is struggling to absorb a lot of graduates from different universities in the country. And I don’t guarantee that you’re going to be employed tomorrow, day after tomorrow. So, you begin with small pieces. It’s brick by brick. Don’t take fast lane. The challenge is taking fast lane, where you’ll be tempted to be like the elders here. It took time for them to be wherever they are today. So, appreciate that it’s little by little, step by step. A day will come where you’ll cry because you are struggling to fix something. But it’s a lesson. It’s not the end.
Actually, that should give you energy to move the next step, next step, and next step. If you give up, you are defeating your own inner feeling. You are letting opportunities to go. We all say, when the pain is now hard, that’s where opportunities are. So don’t rush. Allow yourself. Give yourself time to build up. Give yourself to acquire the knowledge. If you are employed, allow yourself to understand the systems. Learn and learn and learn from all those mistakes. I’ve made all those mistakes in life. I’ve made a lot of mistakes. I’ve learned from those mistakes. And when I was coming here, look at this table, I was like, what I’m going to say, some of these people, they know the mistakes I’ve made in my life. I hope they’ve forgotten all those mistakes. But to me, they’re lessons. That’s why I’m standing before you and trying to challenge you to get prepared for the next course of action.
Now talking about FDH. At FDH, as I said, we believe in education. We take education seriously and we do participate in such kind of activities. That’s why I said earlier on that we are participating in a lot of activities at the senior level and we’re also going to participate now with the university. At the moment we’ve got a program because we know that our level of employment, the rate of that employment and employment rate in Malawi is high. We don’t go to employ, but we do have different programs supporting young graduates like you, and I want to extend the same to this university. Instead of the guys asking me or my email address to send their CVs, I want them to regroup and come up with different ideas, these ideas to do entrepreneurship. So, the bank is going to give you the support in terms of how you manage your businesses. I’ve got a department specifically for that because I’ve gone through all these challenges in terms of commercial business, setting up business as long as you tell us the idea we don’t own individuals but should be in the groups probably five six individuals coming together as a team different disciplines come out ideas in terms of what they’re going to do next and at the bank we’re going to give you that capital.
We are not going to ask for any collateral when it comes to capital we’re not going to ask for your dad you’re not going to ask for your mom we’re not going to ask for your grandparents we’re going to ask for your ideas. We believe in innovative ideas. So, if indeed the university has transformed you, come to us with those ideas. We’ll support you. If your ideas are going to challenge us, that we’re going to need to require 50 million kwacha to start the business, we’re going to give you. If you need 100 million kwacha, we’re going to give you, as long as they’re bankable ideas. But the money is meant for you to create employment and uplift others around you. That’s the whole idea. So, VC, l will get in touch in terms of how we can run that program, supporting these fresh graduates instead of them being on TikTok, WhatsApp, Instagram.
You know, when you are spending time on WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok. You are enriching somebody who is running that platform. You know that? And we are busy pushing the bottom line of TNM and Airtel. But if you buy that airtime doing research in terms of what kind of business you want to learn and reach out to us, we’ll give you that money, we’ll give you that money, we’ll give you the business discipline. And we’ve also got what we call TFM Center of Excellence, where the individuals are asked to go through that kind of program, training program in terms of how to run their business. And if you qualify, you have challenged us and will take you through all those programs to make sure that you are able to do your own things. What I’m saying is create your own portfolio, laws, challenges, and ideas will listen to those ideas and will fully, fully support you
Madam VC, to the university and to everyone in the academic circle, we appreciate the role you play. It’s not easy to come up with 150 plus graduates. University which you started, so it’s piece by piece. Otherwise, you would have given up. 20 students, 18 students would have said no. I think we have taken a wrong direction. But we believe in your story. Continue believing in your story. We know the challenges around education. And Chair, together with the VC, also want to make another pledge of the view that we need to set up an endowment fund together with the university, which will support the needy students.
That endowment fund, to support the needed students, need to bring more students. Underline the word needy students. Those students who come here, you transform them, they’ll have their own ideas. Don’t be in those classes looking for employment guys. Every day we do get those applications. Lots and lots, hundreds and hundreds of applications. What I’m asking the university to do is to do more of entrepreneurship programs. Train the guys. They’re brilliant guys.
So, to set up that endowment trust, endowment fund, I believe the investors are aware of how the endowment is supposed to operate and work together. And as FDH, we are going to put a seed of 100 million kwacha in that endowment fund to support the needy students. That’s how serious we take education. And we want to see full utilization of the fund and the fund should grow, not be depleted. When you talk about the Endowment Fund, it means it should be growing to support the students, but not that once the 100 million is exhausted, then the Endowment Fund dies. I’m challenging the university to come up with ways and means of supporting that fund.
Finally, to the graduating students, welcome to the world. The world is waiting for you. We’re all happy. It’s a choice. You can do it, it’s possible. You choose whatever you want to do. But we are ready to support you. We are ready to listen to you. Don’t be afraid of people in positions of influence. They are there because God asked them to be there and to work for you. So, if God asked them to be there to work for you, why should you be afraid of them? Reach out to them. Ask them for the support you might be looking for. We are talking about transforming. We are talking about uplifting lives. We are talking about creating that conducive environment. We are talking about creating a better Malawi. Once again, congratulations, Class of 2026. Your future starts now. And may the good Lord be with you always. Thank you so much.
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