* EGENCO is proud to contribute to this Fund because we are direct beneficiaries of MUBAS
* Please consider this support as coming from all our employees that have walked through the corridors of MUBAS
By Duncan Mlanjira
Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO) has provided a laptop to each of the five students that the company sponsors at Malawi University of Business & Applied Sciences (MUBAS) — as well as invested K20 million into the MUBAS Endowment Fund, which was established by the university and its alumni community.
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EGENCO Chief Executive Officer, Eng. Dr. Maxon Chitawo applauded MUBAS and its alumni community for establishing the MUBAS Endowment Fund, which is aimed at supporting financially challenged students, saying: “EGENCO is proud to contribute to this Fund because we are direct beneficiaries of MUBAS.
“Please consider this support as coming from all our employees that have walked through the corridors of MUBAS. We are excited to assist in furthering this important and innovative initiative, which will ensure that deserving students have the support they need to complete their studies and contribute to the development of our nation.“
On the scholarship support to the five MUBAS students, Chitawo first described as “a very shocking fact [that] it is widely reported that it is common for girls to drop out of school, with only 15% of girls in Malawi finishing their final secondary school examinations”.
“This figure is significantly lower for girls from poor households, with only 2% completing their secondary school education. Of these girls that make it to secondary school, not many do well in science and mathematics subjects.
“They are discouraged by myths such as ‘boys have math brains more than girls’ and other cultural, social and systemic factors.
“As such, not many girls study science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programmes in colleges,” he said adding that “this problem continues in the industry and corporate world, where we find that women are underrepresented in technical roles, especially those related to science, engineering and technology”.
He thus indicated that for EGENCO, “this is more than statistics – it’s our reality and we have seen it first hand. When the company was starting in 2017, less than 8% of the women were in technical roles.
“Sadly, this is not only our reality, but the reality of the whole country – many of the technical roles in the industry continue to be male-dominated.
“How do we solve this problem? As a company, we have put in place a number of deliberate strategies and policies in order to ensure equality. We have, for instance, established a Gender & Social Inclusion department to spearhead these strategies and policies.
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“I am glad to say that our efforts are bearing fruits — so much so that we now have an increase of female representation in technical, support and leadership roles by up to 18%.
“Nevertheless, we believe that to fully curb this problem, we have to start with the root cause – which is girls’ involvement in STEM subjects during their education. We recognise that the system can only give us what it has.
“If there are less girls taking STEM subjects in secondary schools, there will be less girls in STEM programmes at the tertiary institutions — and consequently less females available for us to employ in our technical industries.”
He highlighted that EGENCO implements a number of initiatives aimed at encouraging the involvement of female students in STEM — among them includes a scholarship programme that benefits female students from Nkula and Chikwawa Community Day Secondary Schools where EGENCO operates its hydro energy generation plants.
“Another one is what we are witnessing today, where we provide scholarships to female students at government tertiary institutions in Malawi,” he said. “The scholarship consists of tuition, equipment (such as laptops), mentorship and internship.
“We want to be a part of the solution to the problem, instead of just watching and waiting. While we strive to achieve ‘Equality’ in our organisation, we would like to see the same in the communities that surround us.
“We believe that these laptops will help them in their various programs of study and also enable them to be up to date with technology. This is important as the world is becoming more and more digital.
“Allow me also to encourage the young women who are beneficiaries of our scholarship programme to keep working hard and strive for a better tomorrow. Just the fact that you are here at college is testimony enough that you have already overcome a number of barriers and obstacles that society has put in place.
“Therefore, keep running your race. You will face hurdles and challenges – but still, keep on until you make it,” Chitawo said with emphasis that education is not only about providing the tools needed for success but also ensuring that “every student, regardless of their financial background, has the opportunity to pursue their dreams”.
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In July last year, EGENCO supported Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) Girls’ science, technology, engineering, arts & mathematics (STEAM) 2024 Boot Camp by hosting its participants drawn from across the country to a motivational field trip at Nkula Hydro Power Station in Neno.
The girls were inspired by EGENCO’s chief engineer, Samuel Ndala and gender equality manager, Ethel Atupele Bvalani, impressing on the young minds to consider studying STEM subjects — highlighting the need for women to take up engineering, saying the sector is mostly male dominated.
Bvalani inspired the girls that there are very few women engineers in the country, thus the need to increase the numbers, saying: “Women are the primary users of electricity and they are also supposed to be part and parcel of decision making in power generation.
“The numbers between men and women are unbalanced, which means that the economic status of women is very low,” she said before taking them on a tour of Nkula A & B intake the generation plants.
