Dr Nankhumwa meets Be Forward Management in Japan, courts for more business ventures in Malawi

Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Dr Kondwani Nankhumwa on Wednesday, June 7, 2023 met the President Be Forward Hironori Yamakawa, Manager responsible for Malawi and East, Yoshihiro Aounima and other top managers in Tokyo, Japan with an aim to woo them to scale up its investment in Malawi in order to create more employment opportunities for Malawians towards socioeconomic transformation.

Speaking with Malawi Voice, Nankhumwa said he has discussed with special business arrangement with the management which can uplift the lives of poor Malawians including those in villages to purchase vehicles like minibuses for business from the Be Forward with low cost loans from local banks.

“It could be one way of reducing motorcycle accidents which have claimed several lives in the country as most motorcycle operators will have to get upgraded to vehicle commuter business, such as minibuses and other small touring cars,” said Nankhumwa who is also Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Vice President for the Southern Region.

Nankhumwa further narrated that the statistics indicate that accidents involving motorcycle taxis locally known as ‘Kabaza’ have increased by over 1700 percent between 2014 and 2022, a trend he he said is worrisome.

Nankhumwa also hailed the management for its special interest in promoting football in Malawi after it sponsored one of the local leading football clubs Mighty Football Wanderers.

In his response, the Be Forward President, Yamakawa said that they will be more than happy to scale up their investment in the Malawi, including entering into business frameworks to sell its vehicles on loan as long as there is a well structured repayment system.

On top of this, the President and his team suggested the introduction of inter-city buses, which they said can benefit Malawians in the long term through reduction of transport fares.

However, the company decried the challenging business environment in Malawi, particularly lack of access to Forex, which it said makes expanding difficult as most Malawians are failing to buy vehicles due to unavailability of forex.Whereupon the company urged Nankhumwa to use his role as Leader of Opposition in Parliament to urge the Malawi government to find ways of making forex more readily available to more Malawians and businesses.

The other challenge that the company pointed out was the poor state of the road infrastructure, which it says cannot accommodate as many vehicles, which contributes congestion and road accidents.

In his response, Nankhumwa said he will be urging the government to scale up funding on infrastructure development, especially towards the development of a durable road network across the country.