Picture this: It is Wednesday, 05, July 2012 morning. Malawian and South African dailies are carrying the following story:
Answers—quick, prompt and away from the tobacco vexation—are needed and everyone is lightly talking of diversifying Malawi’s ‘export bouquet’. Agriculture appears to be the quickest means out of the current balance-of-payment maze [see Maravi Post, 13 May 2011]. For good reasons too; given we are generally a mineral-challenged system.
But if there is one thing we have in abundance: its lots of hardworking Malawians—and full of ideas too! The only problem is that we are not sufficiently vocalizing these. Worse we are generally bad on follow up.
I’m sure—going back to their delivery fleets—the two giants are aware of the need to find some back-haul cargo. It simply doesn’t make economic sense to run empty one way even if the empty-run cost has been factored into shelf prices. However, it is us who are ‘imva-ring m’mimba’! So let’s us point out the opportunity.
Others may argue about ‘complementarity problems’—that South Africa produce literary the same—if not better agricultural goods—to Malawi. But I can reassure you they don’t produce their products as efficiently and cheaply as hardworking Malawians do. It’s the transport cost that makes us expensive and less competitive—silly! We have always had a natural low-production-cost and competitive advantage in almost any agro-processed good you can think of. Meantime, the two South African shopping groups have fleets—‘going-back-empty-anyway’. Thus the true shipping cost—if they agreed to do their CSR part in kind—would be pretty much close to zero, isn’t it? But to ensure we do not break WTO and Malawi-South Africa Trade Agreement rules [we could be accused of dumping!] we have to be seen to contribute something towards transportation costs of our goods. So we are still going to pay a single leg transportation cost on their vehicles.
Of course, there is a further CSR sweetener involved. Once our goods are down there—Ssss for example—will ensure our products are sold in their outlets. I see no problem here. I know of certain South African outlets already involved in similar regional agreements. On the other hand—GK could try the Pepsi textbook case where they promoted a ‘barter’ agreements in another country just so they could sell more Pepsi Cola while supporting that country’s balance of payments problems. Imagine GK allowing farmers to bring in bales of tobacco in exchange of TV sets. Of course, not in exactly those terms! But, it is the way forward. GK and/ or Ssss cannot expect to maintain or even grow their profits when Malawians can’t export or earn forex? It’s called ‘khonza kapasi!’
Come YAMBAs let us put our shoulders to the wheel!
While we feverishly work to sort out the "comments' problem, please feel free to contact the author at zivaiclaude@gmail.com
‘…In an audacious regional cooperation deal, Sss Malawi, GK Malawi and a renown consortium of YAMBAs [Young Ambitious Malawian Business Achievers]—popularly known as “DziYambakata”—have entered into a Twenty-three billion Malawian Kwacha deal per year. It is part of the Malawi-South Africa duty-free trade agreement… The deal involves Malawians exporting quality and reasonably priced agro-processed products into South Africa—to be disposed in South Africa by outlets belonging to the two organizations…
’…As part of their social corporate consciences, GK and Ssss will allow the YAMBAs to use their fleets’ idle back-haul capacity to carry Malawian products and distribute in GK and Ssss outlets in South Africa... Described as an innovative coup fleets of these two have been running into Malawi—month-end and mid-month—restocking their shops but running empty back to South Africa. Now, that will be a story of the past—!’
Cut.
Back to present day Malawi with the economic situation worsening due to lack of forex and shortage of fuel. Authorities—the central government, NGOs and many others—continue agonizing on how to resolve the problem in the face of falling sales of tobacco—Malawi’s main forex earner whose doors as a forex earner are all but closed.
Looking more like a designer ‘kantini’ or ‘spaza’ [to use a South African parlance], the Malawian economy is increasingly a designer shop with hardly any customers looking in. Meantime, the kantini-owner—faced with a bevy of hungry children screaming hunger from behind the counter—has to contemplate some alternative solutions just to keep the once-renowned quiet in the home!Answers—quick, prompt and away from the tobacco vexation—are needed and everyone is lightly talking of diversifying Malawi’s ‘export bouquet’. Agriculture appears to be the quickest means out of the current balance-of-payment maze [see Maravi Post, 13 May 2011]. For good reasons too; given we are generally a mineral-challenged system.
But if there is one thing we have in abundance: its lots of hardworking Malawians—and full of ideas too! The only problem is that we are not sufficiently vocalizing these. Worse we are generally bad on follow up.
Indeed if there was an area we failed was to harvest on the ‘corporate social responsibilities’ [CSRs] of Ssss and GK as they entered the Malawi market. Today walk around South Africa—the home country of these two—and everyone will proudly point out for you:
‘GK built that school... Ssss donated that and that and that…’ Firms in South Africa are tripping over each other ensuring they give back to communities supporting their business success stories.
But not here in Malawi—it was business unusual as they arrived. They came, they built shops and we were all excited out of our gums. We enthused: “we can now locally get what we used to trek across borders to buy”. And the story ended. No one bothered to ask for their CSR share. And I can reassure you the two organizations would have readily obliged. I can bet those resources—already earmarked—probably disappeared into their fat bottom lines.
But this piece is not about acrimony but to seek alternatives for our dire importing tendencies. CSR is their birth gift to us: we just didn’t ask when opportunity came knocking. And all is not lost because we can still approach them—not to demand what we failed to ask before now—but new forms of cordiality between us.I’m sure—going back to their delivery fleets—the two giants are aware of the need to find some back-haul cargo. It simply doesn’t make economic sense to run empty one way even if the empty-run cost has been factored into shelf prices. However, it is us who are ‘imva-ring m’mimba’! So let’s us point out the opportunity.
Others may argue about ‘complementarity problems’—that South Africa produce literary the same—if not better agricultural goods—to Malawi. But I can reassure you they don’t produce their products as efficiently and cheaply as hardworking Malawians do. It’s the transport cost that makes us expensive and less competitive—silly! We have always had a natural low-production-cost and competitive advantage in almost any agro-processed good you can think of. Meantime, the two South African shopping groups have fleets—‘going-back-empty-anyway’. Thus the true shipping cost—if they agreed to do their CSR part in kind—would be pretty much close to zero, isn’t it? But to ensure we do not break WTO and Malawi-South Africa Trade Agreement rules [we could be accused of dumping!] we have to be seen to contribute something towards transportation costs of our goods. So we are still going to pay a single leg transportation cost on their vehicles.
Of course, there is a further CSR sweetener involved. Once our goods are down there—Ssss for example—will ensure our products are sold in their outlets. I see no problem here. I know of certain South African outlets already involved in similar regional agreements. On the other hand—GK could try the Pepsi textbook case where they promoted a ‘barter’ agreements in another country just so they could sell more Pepsi Cola while supporting that country’s balance of payments problems. Imagine GK allowing farmers to bring in bales of tobacco in exchange of TV sets. Of course, not in exactly those terms! But, it is the way forward. GK and/ or Ssss cannot expect to maintain or even grow their profits when Malawians can’t export or earn forex? It’s called ‘khonza kapasi!’
Come YAMBAs let us put our shoulders to the wheel!
While we feverishly work to sort out the "comments' problem, please feel free to contact the author at zivaiclaude@gmail.com
