Hundreds of people, mostly women and youths, attended the free training for products manufacturing using locally available raw materials which entrepreneur Kondwani Kachamba Ngwira hosted at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe today.

Ngwira was seemingly overwhelmed by the turnout. Writing to his 37000 Facebook page followers, Ngwira said: “BICC is full please stop coming please.”

During the training, the overly anxious participants were drilled on how to make cakes, sausages and tomato sauce among other products.

Speaking as he kick-started the training, which saw crowds gathering as early as 5am, Ngwira said his target was to see Malawians create 5000 small scale manufacturing companies by December this year.

Pictures of multitudes attending the training went viral on social media with a majority of commentators praising Ngwira for the initiative.

The National Economic Empowerment Fund (Neef), state controlled institution tasked to disburse loans to youths and women, rallied it’s support behind Ngwira.

“Ngwira is not alone in this industrial revolution. The micro-entrepreneurs he is training embody Neef’s mission of empowering economically poor and underserved Malawians,” Neef wrote on its Facebook page.

One of the participants, a Kawale based resident Jerome Kaunda, said he aspires to become a sausage production entrepreneur but has been unable to get the skills.

“Most people I approached asked me to pay around K30,000 or more so they can train me. That’s too much for my pocket. So, when I learned through a friend that there is this free training I decided to come. This is a good starting point for me,” he said.

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