It was midmorning and I was listening to BBC latest news on the war in Iran when two young men coyly approached me.

“Sorry, Sir, if we have disturbed you,” said the short one, wearing a blue work suit. “We go from door-to-door fixing faulty home electrical appliances at affordable prices.”

I softened up. Actually, I was outside with my shirt unbuttoned because it was hot in the house and a technicians failed to fix my faulty fan.

Tembenuza fixes a cooker at a client’s home. | Gospel Mwalwanda

I went to collect it  and the young man examined it before dismantling the motor where he identified the part that needed replacing and made some modifications so that it could function temporarily while awaiting a new part.

Wow! I was dazzled.

“Exactly who are you, young man?” I asked him.

 “Kondwani Tembenuza,” he said. “ Iam a  technical education graduate from the Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences [Mubas].”

The 26-year-old majored in electrical technology, but is as jobless as his companion, Romeo Langwe, also 26, who is learning on the job.

Thousands graduate from the country’s universities each year, but many stay unemployed for years due to lack of jobs both in public and private sectors.

The 2024 Malawi Labour Force Survey by the National Statistical Office shows that 41.4 percent of nearly 7.2 million Malawians aged 15 to 35 were not in employment, education or training.

For the youthful workforce, the joy felt after graduation is often short-lived and many graduates accept any job that comes their way out of desperation just to earn a living.

But Tembenuza was convinced that he could make money with his electrical skills if he followed the footsteps of women who sell tomatoes door-to-door.

He stated: “These vegetable sellers were not stupid to be knocking on doors. Their strategy works because there are many potential customers who don’t have time to go to the market, yet they want vegetables. These were the people the women target.

“I borrowed a leaf from them.  Instead of establishing a shop, I started going to residential areas and knocking at doors. The strategy has helped me reach many clients with faulty appliances.  I make more money than I anticipated. In fact, I make enough to pay rent and feed myself.”

Tembenuza wants to become his own boss—an employer—by starting a company to be named Smartfix Technology.

 He said the company will be built on honesty, a virtue often flouted by young entrepreneurs.

“I believe in honesty. No business can thrive if the proprietor is crooked in the way they conduct their business,” he said.

 Tembenuza censures crooked technicians who rip functioning components from appliances brought for repair and use them to fix other customers’ appliances.

He usually works in the presence of a member of the clients’ household.

“If a spare part is needed, I tell the customer its price and where to find it. If the job is not completed, I leave the appliance behind until I return to finish it. Some customers stick around and observe me work,” said Tembenuza.

Before, Tembenuza worked as a lecturer at the Solar Energy and Ecology Institute in Nkhata Bay and later as an intern at Soche Technical College in Blantyre.

The second-born in a family of six children dreamed of studying mechanical engineering at the Malawi University of Science and Technology in Thyolo, but does not regret studying technical education after scoring 14 points in the Malawi School Certificate of Education examinations.

“What matters is that I am still a technical man,” he says.

The son of teachers advises the youth to acquire technical skills for self-reliance and to help develop the country.

“It is vocational skills that will move Malawi forward, and not white collar jobs,” he says.