Inspired by Chinese technologies, a 30-year-old Malawian man has started making phone accessories with the goal of establishing a massive local tech manufacturing company.
To address Malawi’s power shortages, Sam Smith Silumbu manufactures mobile phone accessories such as low-cost power banks that can be used on a variety of mobile devices.
Despite majoring in civil engineering at Xinyu University in Jiangxi Province, China, Silumbu encountered many Chinese technologies, including techniques for making power banks.
“When I returned from China, I noticed that we had a lot of problems with power outages, which is where the idea came from. So we design these power banks to be both affordable and efficient “In a recent interview, Silumbu told Xinhua.
Silumbu sells low-cost power banks through Kayondo Science Technology, a manufacturer of mobile phone accessories. He stated that he intends to broaden the company’s scope of operations in the future.
“We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback and requests. We are even failing to meet demand due to a lack of supply. However, we are working to find solutions to the problem,” Silumbu stated.
“Our biggest challenge is power. In most cases, our equipment requires an eight-hour continuous supply of electricity to function properly. However, our productivity is always hampered by ongoing load-shedding schedules,” he continued.
Long Zhou, the Chinese Ambassador to Malawi, expressed his country’s commitment to assisting Malawi in achieving its 2063 agenda, among other things, by upholding the various agreements between the two countries.
“We are committed to working with our Malawian friends to further strengthen our political trust, expand our cooperation under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, and in alignment with your own development strategy, the Malawi 2063 vision,” Long said in an interview.
According to Silumbu, his workshop is in line with Malawi’s 2063 agenda, which promotes industrialization; his workshop will create more job opportunities with a broader scope of business.
Malawian Information and Digitization Minister Gospel Kazako has emphasized the importance of young people like Silumbu in achieving Malawi’s Agenda 2063.
“These are the people who will carry out our development plan before 2063. Young people are essential. But it’s not just a matter of having young people; we need well-educated young people,” Kazako stated.
“We need well-calibrated young people, young people who are ready, and young people who are aligned with the vision we have as a country,” he said.