...Developing Country International Business Environment Paper SWOT Analysis of The Republic of Malawi Introduction Malawi is one of the few countries in Africa in which doing business is relatively safe. Located in the southeastern region of the continent, Malawi is landlocked bordering with Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique, and with the Lake Malawi which is the major body of water of the country. It is one of the most densely populated African countries with a regional, young, and patriarchal society. Total population is estimated to be 16,323,044 for a total land of 94,080sq, more than half the population lives below the poverty line. The population suffers from high illiteracy rate and death rate. Christianity is the major religion but Islam is also widely practiced among the people. Chewa is the official language but government and commerce is conducted in English which is spoken on most of the cities but scarcely on the rural areas. Two major cities of importance are Blantyre which is the commercial center and the largest city of the country and the capital, Lilongwe, in which all the government is located with the exception of the Supreme Court, located in Blantyre. Political Malawi is a multiparty democracy with 28 administrative districts which are divided into traditional authorities and then into administrative wards throughout the country. Since Malawi was once a colony of England, the legal system is a mix of English common law and customary law. The official president...
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...classes were held under the trees, and learners were taught without books. As a result, an undesirable education outcome came through; low elementary graduation rate, signaled by poor acquisition of reading skills. The situation is bad both in rural and urban places and other socioeconomic factors compound the situation as well. Blantyre city depicts the effects of poor socioeconomic factors on education. Though Blantyre is not the largest city in Malawi, but it registers the highest population of the 4 cities. The population has been increasing over the last 10 years exerting pressure on the limited resources. In 2008, the city had 661, 256 inhabitants with the population density of 3006 people per square kilometer. Forty eight percent of this population was those under the age of 18. With the steady population growth rate of 2.8 percent, the population will still be increasing (NSO, 2008). Furthermore, Blantyre has an estimate of 90,000 orphans and the majority of them are below the age of 15 (GoM, 2005). The Malawi Integrated Household Survey (IHS) also, shows that almost 25 percent of the population in urban areas is poor. Mostly, these people are in slum locations (IHS, 2005). Records show that in...
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...therefore adding value. In this issue we will be looking at two very different countries, namely, Italy and Malawi. Lets look at the stats’. Italia…. * GDP= 2.194 trillion USD * Infant mortality per 15000= 3 * Pop. Growth rate= 0.5% * Pop. Per doctor= 4.1 * Any period of colonisation= it has never been colonised * Current Pop. = 59.33 million * GDP per capita= 35,925 USD * Literacy rate (average)= 99% * Average life expectancy= Men= 82 Women= 85 * % of Pop. Unemployed= 12.4% HDI (human development index) = very high standard of living. Malawi… * GDP= 3.705 billion USD * Infant mortality= 38 of 1000 * Pop. Growth rate= 2.8% * Pop. Per doctor= 65,000 approx. * Period of colonisation= 1891 - under British rule * Current Pop. = 16,407 million * GDP per capita= 857 USD * Literacy rate (average)= 54.6% * Average life expectancy= Men= 58 Women= 61 * % of Pop. Unemployed= 42.32% * HDI= very low standard of living. More information about Malawi. With its 17,377,468 people, Malawi is the 63rd largest country in the world by population. It is the 100th largest country in the world by area with 118,484 square kilometers. Established in 1891, the British protectorate of Nyasaland became the independent nation of Malawi in 1964. After three decades of one-party rule under President Hastings Kamuzu BANDA the...
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...When someone asks me what I’ve done with my life, its always the same answer, its easy– Malawi. I had long dreamt of Africa and at the age of 20 I packed my suncream and khakis and off I went.. on a Jumbo from Heathrow Airport. The Journey was a like a taster for what would come before. There were the obvious Malawi nationals, no doubt returning home with stories of lands afar to tell their families, there were toughened looking tanned expat types, and a number of what seemed to be Chinese businessmen, likely to be going to sniff out opportunities for investment. I was seated next to two twenty-something’s, each of us travelling for different purposes. One was going for business, he was working for a company which sold water cleansing machinery, one was travelling to meet his brother who had recently eloped to live with his Malawian wife, and there was me.. going to live in the deepest outset of one of the most untouched and rawest areas in the world – on a whim. I had arranged an internship with an Englishman by the name of Geoff who was doing his best to extend a helping hand to the locals, but this was the only security and comfort I had, and any other arrangements would be made by myself alone. What we did all have in common though, was that we had absolutely no idea what to expect! Touchdown. An hour of queuing for Passport control and Luggage claims and I had arrived. It wasn’t the sweltering heat or the fact that Lilongwe airport resembled more of a disused Primary...
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...definition of ecotourism falls somewhere in-between: tourism that has as little impact on the environment as possible, that respects local culture and that helps promote livelihoods. Ecotourism is possible anywhere: travel across Africa, and you can't help but be an ecotourist. You're surrounded by a breathtaking environment, and the rural nature of much of the continent means you'll rarely be far from village traditions. It's then up to you to delve into your surroundings. I crossed more than a dozen countries overland in Africa and nature, or the environment, was the greatest attraction in every single one, whether the national parks in South Africa, the coastal marine life in Eritrea, the Simien Mountains of Ethiopia, or the shores of Lake Malawi. Along the way, I stopped in villages and often stayed in local homes rather than hotels or hostels, providing some income for villagers and living close to the land. I would like to think that my carbon footprint on that trip was minimal. So how can you, as a backpacker, reap the benefits of ecotourism? Here are just a few examples of activities that would involve nature in some way, not endanger the environment, and help respect local cultures: * sleep in a local village rather than an international resort - you'll be helping the economy and connecting with local people; ask one of the women in the house to show you how to cook a traditional dish (and make sure you buy the food!) * visit a national park or protected area: your fees...
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...ASSESSING IMPACT OF DRUG THEFT IN THE HEALTH CARE SERVICE: A CASE OF BLANTYRE CHAPTER ONE 1.1 INTRODUCTION Different authors have defined drug theft differently depending on the context in which they are discussing. Drug theft could be summarized as: “The act of stealing drugs and selling them or using them for other benefits instead of the core purpose of helping the needy (poor) Malawians.” Recently, there have been a lot of cases of drugs stolen from public hospitals in Malawi and other neighboring countries which are either sold in Malawi or outside the country. Some of the drugs are being sold in Tanzania, Mozambique or even overseas. Of late, it has been noted that the county referral hospitals, health centers and dispensaries are the worst hit. Additionally, there are some unscrupulous medical workers in our country who are smuggling drugs from public hospitals to Tanzania through the boarders. In Summary, Once sold, the drugs are then stocked in private clinics. They are mainly sold in Tarime District of Mara Province across the border in Tanzania. Medicines leave the stores as soon as they arrive. Drugs stolen from public hospitals in our country are now finding their way into Tanzania. Unscrupulous medical workers are smuggling the drugs through the border point before selling them to Tanzanian traders. Once sold, the drugs, according to Nation investigations, are then stocked in private clinics, in Tarime District of Mara Province across the border in Tanzania. The...
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...Opgave A Jo Cannon, ”Insignificant Gestures”, a short story, 2007 The narrator is a doctor and after he came back from Africa he retrained as a psychiatrist and in a few years he will be a consultant. When he was twenty-eight years old he traveled to Africa where he was a district health officer. He likes to draw so he not always has to think about his job as a doctor which can be very unpleasant at some times. He says: “As I sketched my intricate pictures my mind moved like a firefly in loops and ellipses away from the day's work”. (p.8; l.17) He does not like the use of servants but a hospital matron takes him aside and explains: “You have lots of money, doctor. You are a single man. Celia’s brothers and sisters and mother depend on her”. (p.8; l.31) and then he decides to make her his servant so she can make some money even though he earlier said: “Servants were a symbol of inequality and exploitation, and I didn’t need one…” (p.8; l.28) which shows that he is a thoughtful man and that he cares of other peoples. When he was in Africa he met a girl named Celia who was about sixteen-eighteen years old. He was forming a very special bond with Celia throughout the story. Celia was very fascinated by his drawings. She was watching with full concentration when he decided to give her a pen and some paper so she could draw with him. He was very astonished by Celia’s drawings. “And so it went on, month after month, with no words exchanged between us, no judgment or calculations”...
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...Sub prime mortgages The origins of the current crisis lie within the ashes of the equity bubble and subsequent collapse of the equity markets at the end of the 1990s With the collapse of the dot.com bubble, capital began to flow increasingly toward the real estate sectors in the United States The U.S. banking sector found mortgage lending highly profitable and saw it as a rapidly expanding market As a result, investment and speculation in the real estate sector increased rapidly As prices rose and speculation continued, a growing number of the borrowers were of lower and lower credit quality These borrowers, and their associated mortgage agreements (sub-prime debt), now carried higher debt service obligations with lower and lower income and cash flow capabilities New market openness and competitiveness allowed many borrowers to qualify for mortgages that they would not have qualified for previously Structurally, some mortgages re-set a high interest rates after a few years or had substantial step-ups in payments after an initial period of interest-only payments Housing bubble The bursting of the U.S. (United States) housing bubble, which peaked in 2006, caused the values of securities tied to U.S. real estate pricing to plummet, damaging financial institutions globally. The financial crisis was triggered by a complex interplay of policies that encouraged home ownership, providing easier access to loans for (lending) borrowers, overvaluation of bundled sub-prime mortgages...
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...MALAWI 1 INTRODUCTIONLe Malawi est un petit pays dont la superficie est estimée à 11,8 millions d’hectares, dont un cinquième est occupé par le lac Malawi. Sur 9,4 millions d’hectares de terres, environ 5,3 millions d’hectares, soit 56 pour cent sont cultivables. L’économie du Malawi est caractérisée par un important secteur agricole, un secteur industriel réduit et de faibles liens intersectoriels. Le secteur agricole représente actuellement environ 42 pour cent du PIB (12 pour cent du PIB pour le secteur manufacturier) et 81 pour cent des recettes. Environ trente cinq ans après l’indépendance, l’économie du Malawi est encore fragile, axée sur la subsistance et non concurrentielle. Le pays, dont la balance des paiements est négative en raison d’échanges médiocres, est aussi entravé par une dette importante, comme l’indique la progression du taux du service de la dette (14,7 pour cent en 1994, 20,6 pour cent en 1998). Le recul de la productivité agricole s’est traduite ces dernières années par une hausse des importations de maïs, principale denrée de base (sauf en 1999 et en l’an 2000). Le déclin de l’économie s’est traduit par une détérioration des conditions d’existence des habitants qui pour l’essentiel (85 pour cent) vivent dans des communautés rurales. Le PIB du pays par habitant a diminué (210 dollars E.-U. en 1992, 200 dollars E.-U. en 1997, et 160 dollars en 1999) et parallèlement les écarts de revenus se sont dégradés comme l’indique le coefficient de Gini (0,48 pour...
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...The research focuses on investigating the factors affecting broadband connectivity in Malawian ordinary schools with the aim to understand the challenges that characterizes the current low broadband penetration. The aim of this study is to use the research instruments to derive critical information (from data collection sources), that will inform the development of relevant measures and recommendations required to address the challenges in providing broadband connectivity in schools. The premise for this research is that Malawi has policies and regulations that support the provision of broadband connectivity in schools and that these policy and regulatory tools should advance the roll-out of broadband in schools. In investigating the challenges with the broadband provision in Malawi ordinary schools, the study will focus on examining the institutional arrangements, strengths and weaknesses of the existing policies and regulations that seek to promote broadband provision in schools. It will look at the effectiveness of the existing funding and investment mechanisms that aims at supporting schools connectivity to determine the appropriate funding model. The study will also examine the adequacy of the available broadband infrastructure to connect schools, focusing on infrastructure roll-out challenges. It will also focus on identifying other key barriers in providing broadband connectivity to schools, with a view to understand both education and ICT related factors that brought...
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...Case 1- Malawi Business Decision Against Corruption Corruption is not just the clearly “bad” cases of government officials skimming off money for their own benefit. It includes cases where the systems don’t work well, and ordinary people are left in a bind, needing to give a bribe for the medicine or the Licenses they need. Even if you don’t come direct with corruption it is still affects everyone. Corruption reduces wealth in a country because it will disclose business from operating there. In countries with high level of corruption like Malawi has a level of average income three times lower then your average country as ours being one of them. This hurts business because even if you think you can get around the corruption the government cant either because they now have lower cash flow to pay the good workers and purchase suppliers. Corruption as a whole harms the environment and undermines trust in government. So for a company operating in international surrounding with corrupt business practices I think is a huge problem and even though it is just an acceptable way of doing business in some parts of the world not something I would put my business into. For this case we see a company take the negative effects of corruption that are readily apparent and were willing to abstain from corrupt practice to make a personal gain from them. We see that corruption is widespread in Malawi but then with leadership from the private sector, a cross-societal coalition called Malawi Leaders...
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...The Function and Governance of IMF Lending Policies in Malawi The International Monetary Fund was established at the United Nations Conference held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States in July, 1994. The IMF's goal is to build a framework of cooperation between nations into hasten up post-war reconstruction, to aid political stability, and to encourage peace (Lele 154). The IMF membership is at 188 countries. According to the organizational structure, each participant country in the organization is allocated a quota according to its contribution to IMF reserves. The IMF performs economic survey of its members in order to provide technical assistance and training to its member states to help them build strong economies. Its main objective is to safeguard the stability of the international financial system which is essentially the structure of monetary transaction between countries that enable them to interact with one another. Other functions of the organization include monitoring and preventing international financial crises as well as cooperation with the member countries to promote the development as well as to eradicate poverty. The IMF has three areas of focus in implementing its mandate and these include, surveillance of global economies, providing technical assistance and training to member states as well as providing financial loans. The work of the IMF includes promoting global economic growth and stability and it accomplishes this goal by insisting that...
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...VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS COUNTRY REPORT - MALAWI November 2009 This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development. It was prepared by Chemonics International Inc. The author‘s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ACE AGRA AISP ADMARC CISANET CPL CHDI COMESA COMPETE EAC FEWSNET FNSJTF GAC GMAC GOM GTPA ICRISAT MACE MBS MoAFS MoIT MRA NASFAM NEPAD NFRA NPQS NSO SMIP SPS SABI SADC SFRFFM USAID VCA WFP WRS Agriculture Commodity Exchange for Africa Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa Agriculture Input Subsidy Program Agriculture Development and Marketing Board Civil Society for Agriculture Network Chibuku Products Ltd. Clinton Hunger Development Initiative Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa Competitiveness and Trade Expansion Programme East African Community Famine Early Warning System Network Food Nutrition and Security Joint Task Force Group Action Committee Grain Marketing Advisory Council Government of Malawi Grain Traders and Processors Association International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics Malawi Agricultural Commodity Exchange Malawi Bureau of Standards Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security Ministry of Industry and Trade Malawi Revenue Authority National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi New Partnership for Africa‘s Development...
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...Tourism Business Environment This article is based on two countries with two different geographical locations and two different economies. I will be looking at are the UK and Malawi and how the travel and tourism business environment is run, with different types of organizations. Public organizations get their capital from local or central government and usually aim to provide a service. Examples include the national and regional tourist boards and some visitor attractions. In The UK funds for public sectors tourism organizations can come from many sources but a common one is usually from local councils and Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS). Visit Britain is a nation tourism agency and is funded by DCMS. One of Malawi’s agencies is Wilderness Safaris. Public organizations are judged by the number of visitors they’ve received/attracted rather than the financial success. Most organisations in the travel and tourism industry are privately owned. These organisations may be huge companies, such as British Airways, or small businesses. They usually aim to make a profit and are commercial companies. When they fail to make a profit over a period of time they are likely to cease trading. All theme parks, restaurants, tour operators and travel agents in the UK are privately owned. There are different types of private ownership, ranging from sole traders to public limited companies. The different organizations operate in geographically diverse regions. There are also private...
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...cramped cage of an airplane will turn and look, “I’m sitting next to William Kamkwamba! He built his own windmill! He’s going to help fix this broken Earth!” That’s not who I am, though. My father raised me to be kind, respectful, quiet. But now I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me start back at the beginning, both of my life, and of the path of coincidences that would lead to my sitting next to a miracle. I was born in Malawi. To most of the world, and most of the people in Malawi, that’s not a good thing....
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