Poverty forces Malunga to start his own company ‘Banthu Arts & Crafts Limited’

By Orchestra Kamanga

Born 37 years ago in the village of Makwale in Traditional Authority Kapeni, Blantyre Edward Malunga established his own company of manufacturing footwear and leather called ‘Banthu arts and crafts limited on 2001 in trade fair ground stand number 6.

“After seeing that my background was poor I thought it was wise to establish my own company. I started with two employees and we were making 3 shoes per day but now we can produce more than 50 shoes,” he said adding that he has 13 employees at the moment.

He said despite coming from poor background family he went to college in Ethiopia where he did designing course then he was employed as a tutor at one of country’s private colleges and after 7 years he quits to start his own company.

Malunga who is also the President of Leather Industry Association of Malawi said he was distributing shoes to Securicor Malawi that time but currently he has more customers.

“At the moment we have 15 machines and within 2 years from now the company will migrate or expand to industrial site and I will employee more people in different departments which include Accountant, communications, General Manager among others,” he lamented.

He said his vision was to contribute in country economic development and he therefore urged Malawians to support and promote his initiative.