VP Chilima, Finance Minister Mlusu, MP Lipipa, General Nundwe and several corporate executives set for MUST Endowment Fund launch golf tourney Sat

Chilima and Lipipa in a previous charity golf

* Chilima and Lipipa in team MDF v Lab Enterprises Ltd against General Nundwe and Brigadier General Nyamali

* Lab Enterprises has partnered with Chilima before in various charity tournaments

* It will not be a walk in the park because I believe General Nundwe and Brigadier General Nyamali are prepared to give us a good run

* We all believe MUST Endowment Fund is for the good of the nation in as far as enhancing human capital is concerned

By Duncan Mlanjira

Malawi’s Vice-President Saulos Chilima, Finance Minister Felix Mlusu, Blantyre City South Constituency Member of Parliament (MP), Noel Lipipa, Malawi Defence Force (MDF) General Vincent Nundwe and Brigadier General Nyamali and several corporate executives will play in charity golf tournament on Saturday at Lilongwe Golf Club.

The tournament has been organised to launch the Endowment Fund which Malawi University of Science & Technology (MUST) has set up to forever sustain the university’s teaching, research and needy students’ fees.

MUST has invited corporates to the official launch to take place at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) and spiced it up with the golf tournament.

The corporates have been invited to field teams of four players and all participants are invited for the dinner at BICC where modalities of the Endowment Fund will be presented.

Chilima teams up with Blantyre City South Constituency Member of Parliament (MP), Noel Lipipa against General Nundwe and Brigadier General Nyamali in the 4-ball-better-ball format at Malawi’s only 18-hole golf course.

It has attracted major executive golfers from the corporates which MUST saw potential to support the novel academic endowment fund.

The Vice-President and MP Lipipa are under the corporate name of MDF v Lab Enterprises Ltd — which before partnered with Chilima in various charity tournaments.

In an interview, Lipipa said he and Chilima had partnered in over 8 charity tournaments in which they raised over K500 million under the corporate name Lab Enterprises Ltd, a company he founded.

And this is also an interesting partnership taking cognizance that Lipipa is a Democratic Progressive Party MP but leaves politics aside to advance the needs of the underprivileged citizenry.

“I am always proud and forthcoming to assist the underprivileged in whatever way and the VP agreed to partner with me in this noble cause to help needy students and MUST’s development agenda.

“It will not be a walk in the park because I believe General Nundwe and Brigadier General Nyamali are prepared to give us a good run as you know in every golf tournament we are expected to perform better than before in order to improve on our handicaps.

“We are all eagerly looking forward to the tournament as well as the launch of MUST Endowment Fund, which we all believe is for the good of the nation in as far as enhancing human capital is concerned,” Lipipa said.

Lilongwe Golf Club captain, Thomas Chafunya said so far they have about 24 teams. He said this is the 5th time Chilima to be involved in such a noble cause.

“It is always an honour to have Rt. Hon Vice-President Saulos Chilima participating in any charity golf event at the Lilongwe Golf Club.

“It teaches us a lot about selflessness, commitment and good gesture to others who are in disadvantaged spot. We need to stick out heads up and be counted as hope bearers using golf as a tool,” he said.

Through Endowment Fund — whose motto is ‘Create True Legacy’ — MUST aims that at some point it shall be weaned from the dependency on government subventions just as what public universities in the USA achieved through similar approach.

MUST’s strategy is to diversify revenue streams after taking cognizance that universities in Malawi have received annual donations from individuals and corporates in support of tuition fees and living expenses for students.

But whilst this has facilitated education of those supported, it has no assurance of its sustainability and that it benefitted a few whilst the endowment fund is invested with financial institutions to yield interest to cater for its services.

Once a donor offers their gift, it is continually preserved and only the proportion of the yield is spent annually — making the support to go beyond the donors’ lifetime.

MUST’s vision through this fund is to make sure students shouldn’t withdraw because they cannot afford to pay their school fees as this is a loss of resources spent on such students by the university and a loss of human resource for the national agenda.

“The fact that MUST Endowment Fund is held in perpetuity, the society at large benefits the most because, when students graduate, they engage in gainful employment or business and thus contribute to national development,” says the Fund’s brochure.