etc. To date many businesses especially in the
commercial city of Blantyre are Indian owned
and are the bedrock of the local economy.
However, for Malawi to accelerate her growth
moving away from agriculture and base metals,
there must be an accelerated programme to
harness the power of the ICT industry to unlock
the potential of the economy.
Malawi needs a specific tailored and
designed digital industrialization policy where
the ICT industry will play a pivotal role.
Farmers need access to markets as well as
having up to date information on the market
landscape, such as understanding the best time
to trade and what specifi c spot prices could
be of commodities on the market. The supply
chain and logistics tail end also is an important
catalyst as the infusion of ICT will shorten cycle
time, transport bottlenecks and reduce shelf life
of the cold chain as well as create visibility of
products and services.
India’s broad-
based investment
approach can
help compliment
the trade growth
between India-
Malawi, and help
expand the range
of goods and
services traded
between the two.
India has been recognized as a major and
global player in the ICT industry. Annual
fi gures released on trade between Malawi and
India focusing on the ICT industry is relatively
scant, but imagine the potential growth in
the telecommunications infrastructure and
development if this potential could be enhanced
and explored.
In order to create a strategy for growth and
have a stretch paradigm shift, Malawi will
need to create specifi c trade and development
focus spearheading the ICT industry to unlock
the potential of nascent industries that rely on
this sector to spur growth and enhance access
to information, technology and application of
resources within the ICT industry.
The major challenges faced by exporters and
importers from India and Africa are primarily:
transport and logistics costs; poor business
environment (lack of ease of doing business);
corrupt practices; and access to trade fi nance. In
all but one of these challenges, ICT can play a
signifi cant role to curtail the current bottlenecks
or to curtail the appearance of such.
The Indian government from a trade and
development perspective has taken signifi cant
steps in engaging the Indian private sector to
partner with African countries for investment
opportunities and contribute to value addition
and economic growth on the continent. Malawi
is but no exception. India’s broad-based
investment approach can help compliment the
trade growth between India-Malawi, and help
expand the range of goods and services traded
between the two. In order to further investments
and achieve common goals of development,
there is a need to remove bottlenecks such as
the protection of investments, access to capital
and an improved business environment. The
analogy would be that of how the ICT industry
spearheaded the growth between the two
trading partners to a common goal of growth
and development.
* The author is Senior Business Development
Manager at Farmyard Projects
2019 • INDIA-MALAWI • 17