* The bank is the lead financier for Malawi’s first six-lane highway of Dr. Saulos Chilima Highway through to Mzimba Street
* The commitment is part of the Bank’s climate resilience and environmental conservation programme named Mtengo Wanga
By Duncan Mlanjira
Standard Bank Plc has decorated Dr. Saulos Chilima Highway with ornamental trees as part of its climate resilience and environmental conservation programme named Mtengo Wanga (My Tree).
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It also marked the recognition that Standard Bank is the lead financier for Malawi’s first six-lane highway that stretches through Dr. Saulos Chilima Highway (formerly named as Kenyatta Road) through to Mzimba Street.
Kenyatta Road was renamed in honour of the country’s former Vice-President, late Dr. Saulos Klaus Chilima for his substantial contributions to national development, particularly in infrastructure and modernisation efforts.
The tree-planting ceremony, held on World Earth Day, April 22, brought together leadership from Standard Bank, Lilongwe City Council, Road Fund Administration, stakeholders and community members, that marked a significant step in the bank’s environmental commitment.
The leading financial institution has allocated an additional K50 million towards supporting the Roads Fund Administration in recouping the tree cover that was replaced by the additional lanes of the road.
Mtengo Wanga programme is aligned with Standard Bank Group’s Blue Roots, a collaborative effort to restore tree cover in key areas within countries and Malawi’s activation represents one of its most integrated expressions — combining infrastructure, community impact, urban greening, and institutional partnership in a single, coherent programme.
The Dr. Saulos Chilima Highway and Mzimba Street, which provide spatial connectivity between the City Centre, Kamuzu Central Hospital and the Capital’s central business district (CBD, is one of the many infrastructure developments that have been financed by Standard Bank Plc over the years.
Recognising that infrastructure development often comes at an environmental cost, Standard Bank has taken deliberate steps to restore the natural landscape alongside these development projects.
Chief Executive Phillip Madinga said the tree planting initiative underscores Standard Bank’s holistic approach to economic sustainability: “As we invest in Malawi’s growth, we recognize that development must go hand in hand with environmental responsibility.
“Mtengo Wanga is not a symbolic gesture — it is a commitment to ensure progress is accompanied with environmental stewardship. We are not only building Malawi’s future, but an entire sustainable macro economy in which infrastructure is environmentally suitable.”
The bank has partnered with Lilongwe City Council to re-afforestation the tree cover forming the second partnership under the Mtengo Wanga programme, which builds on the first partnership made with World Vision International Malawi.
The three-year partnership with World Vision aims to restore 350 hectares of land in Lilongwe and benefit over 10,000 community members, 40% of whom are school-going children.
The programme supports forest regeneration, forest-based enterprises, and environmental education through direct student engagement and yesterday’s launch extends this impact into the urban environment, connecting community-level forest restoration with city-wide greening and institutional partnerships that ensure sustainability beyond any single event.
Lilongwe City Mayor, Councillor Peter Banda planting his tree
Gracing the occasion was Lilongwe City Mayor, Councillor Peter Alex Banda, who praised Standard Bank’s exemplary gesture, saying: “We are delighted for the support we’ve been given to replant trees along this road.
“As you remember we had good tree cover along this road before its reconstruction. In our efforts to make Lilongwe City green and clean, it is initiatives like this by Standard Bank that makes it become a reality. We want more partners like Standard Bank to change the face of the city.”
For his part, Roads Fund Administration Chief Executive Officer, Stewart Malata emphasised the need for approaching infrastructure investments with environmental considerations in mind.
“This tree planting exercise is important. Infrastructure development should be sustainable,” he said. “During the construction of this road, we removed trees and this exercise is about restoring what we destroyed. We need trees to sustain our environment and the structures we build.”
The milestone underscores Standard Bank’s belief that meaningful development must leave a positive legacy for both people and the planet — recognising that by investing in re-afforestation alongside critical infrastructure, the Bank is demonstrating that economic progress and environmental stewardship are not mutually exclusive, but mutually reinforcing.
“Through Mtengo Wanga and its alignment to the Group’s Blue Roots programme, this initiative moves beyond symbolism, embedding sustainability into the fabric of urban development and community partnership.”
In February 2023, Standard Bank signed and agreement with the Roads Fund Administration (RFA) as lead financier of the country’s largest-local-currency-financed-arrangement-with-government-at-k34-5bln-investment-for-the-Kenyatta-Mzimba-rehabilitation-works road-network.
At the signing of the agreement Chief Executive Madinga emphasised that Standard Bank’s capability to finance a project of this stature highlights commitment to contribute to economic growth in line with the institution’s purpose; ‘Malawi is Our Home, We Drive her Growth’.
When renaming Kenyatta Road to Chilima Highway during a memorial ceremony for SKC and eight others — who died in a tragic plane crash in Chikangawa Forest, Mzimba, on June 10, 2025 — former State President Lazarus Chakwera highlighted that it was to leave a lasting legacy of the former Vice-President’s service to the nation.
