kabaza,the new way of life and transport
Kabaza,kapalasa,Njinga are a few Malawian local names for popular and cheapest mode of transport making life easy for both riders and travelers.There is no village without one Kabaza in Malawi to carry you around in the localities and vehicle impassable areas.
Bicycle riding used to be a domestic mode of transport in the early days some of us were growing up.No one thought it could transform the livelihood of owners as being a form of transport business.My first experience of bicycle as a form of paid transport was in 1999 in Karonga District by Tanzanian traders who then called it kago,meaning carrier.It became very famous especially around Mwenilondo to karonga township.Then spread to other parts of the district.Today there is no place in my backyard we don't have a kago rider waiting to ferry you.
"Basically we make around k1000 to k5000 a day,depending on how many people or cargo you have carried/transported in a day",said Lumbani,an area 25 bike transporter told me while carrying me to Nsungwi in the same area."By Malawian standards,am doing better than most guys employed by the Chinese in shops.I have four bicycles,each of them brings me not less than k2000 per day,meaning I make k6000 in a day and k60,000 in 10 days.I have built a modern house and am able to pay my young brother at a private college where he is doing business management and administration". Quiet a fascinating business tale I never paid attention to until now.At the current Forex rates,Lumbani is making US$100 in 10 days,which by Malawian standard,you can afford a descent living.
Lumbani and other young Malawian men like him have only one simple request.They need support from financial institutions to be flexible and lend them money to buy a bicycle and start a bicycle transport business.a group of bicycle transporters echoed in a loud voice after I asked why the local financial institutions wouldn't lend them money,saying,"amatindife mbuli komanso tilibe chilichonse chobweza zitatisokonekela",meaning "they say we are uneducated and don't have anything to offer as collateral security".
This is one of the many little but life changing small businesses that if well supported could change millions of lives both in urban and rural Malawian areas.No special education or real investment in education is required other than the rider's physical strength.We need our financial institutions to try and design better working policies and find ways to help these start ups.If not,Malawi will always remain among the poorest countries in the world.
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