Working in Malawi

A good working week to report.

Busy all week preparing and then delivering a 2 day business planning workshop to local businesses, all of whom are involved in the grain trade in some way. Many were large companies with estates, some were smaller and buying and selling grain and others were small farmers. They were all members of a trade association, who engaged us to do the training, and seem to be very positive about helping the sector to progress. I had been co-opted on to the team as one of the local consultants was taking an external exam on the second day of the workshop.

It was a tiring 2 days, but the team, expertly led by fellow Brit Mike Mytton, did a good job of engaging the various types of businesses there. From a personal perspective it was good to be able to do some client facing sessions before the end of my time out here, which is now fast approaching.

Amazingly I have less than 4 weeks before I complete my Malawi Malarkey. It seems in many ways that I have been here far longer as the routine seems normal and, whilst certainly not at the stage of being 'old hat', the first excitement of being in a vastly different place has worn away a little.

In other ways the time has flown past and I seem to have been busy since I got here, with different types of ways to spend my free time than I have experienced anywhere else. I'm lucky in that I've managed to do all the things I set out to complete, with the exception of visiting a tea plantation, but I hope to rectify that on my last weekend here. However, if I don't manage to get to the tea area, I will not worry as Malawi has given me more than enough to remember it by already!