Sylvester Chabuka 

I am addressing problems that I have faced. So, that gives me that desire to get them addressed because I know how they feel. I have experienced these problems. So, giving up solutions to these problems gives me a sense of pride. I feel good that I am able to solve problems which I actually faced.

Paul Meunier 

Hello, I'm Paul Meunier, the executive director of the Youth Intervention Programs Association. And I'm a youth worker at heart. How lucky am I? I have the privilege to meet youth workers from around the globe and learn their stories and share them with the entire world. I'm glad you're listening because together we'll learn how their life experiences shape their youth work. As you listen, I encourage you to consider how your experiences shape what you have to offer young people. Welcome to this edition of The Passionate Youth Worker. Hi, everybody. For this episode, we're joined by Sylvester Chabuka from Lilongwe, Malawi. If you downloaded this episode because you'd like to hear a story about someone who is really making a difference, then listen in because you found one. Sylvester is an award-winning entrepreneur with a food processing and a renewable energy social enterprise. He grew up in a poor village with no electricity that was plagued by malnutrition. Now he's working his tail off to ensure our young people can have it better than he did. Get ready and settle in because his story is quite a story. Sylvester, your country, Malawi, is the poorest country in the world. And to be honest with you, I didn't even know that until you told me and I thought about that and I guess growing up in the richest country in the world, I had the luxury to not even wonder about that. It goes to show how different our lives probably were as children. But what was your life like as a child in Malawi, in a remote village?

Sylvester Chabuka 

Thank you, Paul, for having me. You can just imagine growing up in a low, low village of one of the poorest nations on Earth. It was very hard. When I recall back, when I reflect on what we went through, that's when I see how devastating life was. Growing in the village, we never had access to electricity, renewable energy. I actually knew about the existence of electricity when I was actually 10. So, we experienced all kinds of energy poverty, we never had the luxury to study at night because we never had the lighting to do so. As if that was not enough, we were plagued with malnutrition. So, we suffered. Many of the kids back then we had to experience malnutrition. And we depended on organizations, international organizations, coming into our villages, giving us relief food items. So basically, that was the kind of life I faced back in the village, back when I was young. So, I was characterized by a lot of illnesses. I experienced a lot of tough times when I was young.

Paul Meunier 

Were you ever so malnourished, that your life was threatened? Or did you know of other children who maybe didn't make it just simply because there was not enough healthy food to keep everybody sustained?

Sylvester Chabuka 

Yes. In my case, I would not say necessarily that my malnutrition was that severe. But then, growing up, we never viewed whatever we were experiencing as malnutrition. We never knew that we were actually malnourished, we just thought maybe we are having those kinds of problems. But then after growing up, after I did public health, is when I was able to realize that most of the problems I was facing, they were actually related to malnutrition. So, you talk of the stunted growth, having pale skin, and having a lot of challenges that we faced. They were all connected to malnutrition. And actually, I knew also other friends, other young people back then who were also facing similar problems to mine and then even having worse conditions, having very, very severe conditions than me. And then it's when I was growing up when I was able to appreciate how vast the problem is in our country. As I am speaking right now, 37% of Malawian children, under five children, are said to be actually suffering from acute malnutrition. So, you will see that the percentage is very high, and we have a lot of fatalities. And that come because of what the malnutrition face in our country. So, that was a tough time. But it's just that maybe when we were young and naive, we never knew what exactly was happening. So, just take some of the things as normal illnesses. You'd see how like we're having poor progress, like I was having a lot of difficulties in school. But then you'd see that malnutrition was having a toll on me. I had all those kinds of protein deficiencies. challenges with vitamin C deficiency. I had, like a weak body, like, my dental health was very terrible. And that even affected me to up to this age. So yeah, we had a lot of problems. We had a lot of challenges of which maybe we just did not see them the way they are. We just thought they were normal problems we would face in the village. And then it's now that I realize that no, those were actually very serious problems.

Paul Meunier 

Yeah, isn't it funny how we grow up and when we're children we don't know any different, right? Because that's just like what life is and we don't have yet a reference point to measure that against something else. I got to believe it sounds like it was difficult, and I'm certain it was, but you probably have fond memories, good memories too of playing and being with other kids and stuff like that. So, is that true, accurate? Do you still have memories that were good memories, too?

Sylvester Chabuka 

Yeah, I have a couple of good memories back then. One of them would be having good time with my grandmother, like helping out helping her in some of house chores, escorting her to the farm. I was always following however she was going. Sometimes I would have like, let's say fun time with my friends playing outside in the moon. Yeah, those are some of the good moments I remember. I also remember moments where organizations, international organizations like World Vision would come and give us food items, nutritious food items, one of which was porridge flour. So, this flour was like so delicious. It already contain the sugar and milk. So, when we receive like this kind of flour, right at the center, I will start eating the flour raw without even having it go home and cook the porridge. So, I would eat the flour raw. So, I remember those fun moments. They were like really cool cool, cool moments.

Paul Meunier 

Yeah, I guess childhood is an innocent time, right? And it despite the things going on around us, I think there's an inherent, I don't know drive in us as human beings to find the best of what's around us and try to make the best of it. And I think of our lives, Sylvester, how different they must have been. I can't imagine experiencing the things that you did. But yet, we both had tough childhoods, but we also had things with great memories in it so even though we're worlds apart, and our experiences were probably very different, somehow there's such a parallel to children and development and to growing up. So, what were your parents like, Sylvester? Did you have a tight-knit family, were your mother and father were they very involved in your life? And how did that go?

Sylvester Chabuka 

Okay, so my mother became sick when I was 14 months old. So, because of her sickness she could no longer be made available to take care of me. So, my grandmother took over the responsibility of taking care of me. So, my mother would be in and out of the hospital, she actually went to South Africa for head surgery. So, she had some brain surgery and all that. So, unfortunately, she lost her sight. Yeah. So growing up, I only have memories of my mother being blind. I have no memories of my mother being able to see. Yeah, so I have painful moments with her, like escorting because she's blind when that when I was just five years old so helping her move around the house, things like those. And then because of the conditions and circumstances we are going through, she had to go to other like, home village. So, like her parent's house, so it's like 700 kilometers away from where I was with my grandmother. So, that's how we separated with my mother. So, I will see her next in the next 15 years after that. When I was five. I saw her when I was five and then I saw her again when I was 15 years old. Yeah. So, I don't have that quite an experience with my mom. Because of the circumstances she went through, we were never together. We were never we were never together. Yeah. And my dad, because of like how young I was, you're only trusted me with his mother. That's my grandmother. Yeah. So it's his mother who took care of me. So she took care of me until I was 10. So, when I was 10, my dad was like, I know, the boy is old enough to come and stay with me. I started staying with my dad when I was after I was 10 years old. So basically, that's how I was. My childhood has been spent with my grandmother and that's the person I bonded with most than all the other people in my life.

Paul Meunier 

What was your grandma like, Sylvester? Did she have kind of an entrepreneurial spirit like you did? Was she a go-getter? What was she like?

Sylvester Chabuka 

Okay, so my grandmother, I tell you, Paul, is like the most amazing person I have ever encountered in my life.

Paul Meunier 

I bet, Sylvester.

Sylvester Chabuka 

My grandma, Paul, was someone who would easily tell someone to be confident enough. So, somebody who believe in you, and help you build your own self-confidence. So, she normally had to give us a phrase whenever we were faced with an obstacle, or we had a task to do, she would always tell us that whatever does not have hands, cannot be difficult for someone who has hands. So like, she lived by that kind of philosophy, she lived by that way that she believes that she believed that if something does not have hands, it cannot be difficult for any person who has hand. So, she made me believe that I am capable, I am capable of doing things, I am capable of getting things done. And trust me Paul, since that time, since my interaction with my grandmother, I've never seen a challenge in my life that I think I cannot solve. So, whenever growing up my entrapreneurship journey, whenever I come across a challenge, I always remember what my grandma said. She taught me that there is nothing difficult for a person who has hands. So, I know I have the heart, I can never fell. So, she installed in me confidence. The best investment she did in me is to install confidence. And I tell you Paul, I am very confident. I get things done because I know I am capable of getting things done. And this is what she teach to me . Besides that my grandmother was a very caring person, very kind person. In fact, in the village, if they were like visitors or people who needed to shelter or people who needed some assistance with food, they will always direct them to our house. They would  always direct them to my grandma. She was, she never had any position in the village like being a village leader. But then she was the one providing shelter to people who like were stuck or needed accommodation in the world in the village. So I grew up with that kind of experience having strangers around the house, who were well accommodated for by this woman who was just also struggling to sustain us. So, that's what I saw from her and that's what I benefited most from her and something that I live to emulate.

Paul Meunier 

Sylvester, is your grandmother still with us?

Sylvester Chabuka 

No. Unfortunately, my grandmother died in 2011.

Paul Meunier 

I'm sorry to hear that because look at what she's given you, the gift she's given you of confidence that you can be a change maker in this world and do wonderful things for children who need somebody like that. And, Sylvester, I bet there's a lot of young people in your village that didn't have somebody like your grandmother. And so they never got that confidence and that drive and that determination to try to make their world a little bit better.

Sylvester Chabuka 

No, Paul. They never did Paul and it's unfortunate I'm the only one who made it out of the village to this kind of level education-wise profession-wise. All my mates are just in the village living in poverty, doing farming, and they never went far with their education. It's very very, very painful. When I go back, see people I started with, the primary school with the young people I did play with they're just in the village, they never came out of the village, they never came out of that kind of life experience. Yeah. So, it's just very unfortunate.

Paul Meunier 

And that's what so many of our youth workers do is they take that role of your grandmother and instill confidence and hope in young people. And it is so great that we have young people all over the world experiencing something like what your grandmother gave you, because there's a youth worker in their life and I'm so grateful for your grandmother, and I'm sorry for your loss. That must have been devastating for you.

Sylvester Chabuka 

Yes, thanks, Paul.

Paul Meunier 

Sylvester, we do need to take a short break. But when we come back, I want to start talking about your work now that you're doing because it is blowing me away how you are trying to make a difference. So, we'll be right back.

Jade Schleif 

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Paul Meunier 

Sylvester, right before the break, I started talking about the work that you do now to make the world a better place and to help these young people in these villages. You've got these two social enterprises, businesses per se, that are trying to keep people alive and provide electricity to the communities that they live in. Can you just briefly, we don't have a lot of time, Sylvester, but can you briefly tell me about what you're doing with your two businesses and how they interact with each other?

Sylvester Chabuka 

Awesome. Thank you, Paul. Yeah, so because of the problems I told you that I experienced in the village, they inspired me to come up with solutions. So, because I faced malnutrition, I suggested the solution of registering and running a food processing company that is designed to make highly nutritious food products that can help address the problem of malnutrition. So, I run a food processing company called Mtengo Wakumunda. At Mtengo Wakumnda, our model is very simple and straightforward. We work with farmers, we identify farmers, give them farm inputs. Once they harvest we buy the farm produce from there. After buying the farm produce, we process this farm produce into highly nutritious food products. One of them is porridge flour. So, this porridge flour is a product that is designed and targeted at children who are malnourished to make sure we help reduce cases of malnutrition in Malawi. So, we sell these products directly to individual households through retail shops, we also sell the products through NGOs who do relief food donation. So, there are NGOs who buy the nutritious products and distributed them to needy children or children who are malnourished so that they recover from malnutrition. That's one enterprise, on the one side. On the other hand, Paul, because of my challenges in the village of not having access to renewable energy or electricity, I founded the Clean Heat Solutions. So, Clean Heat Solutions basically works to advocate and promote accessibility of renewable energy solutions in Malawi. So, basically what we do, we identify communities who are having challenges in accessing cleaner cooking fuels, communities who are involved in cutting down trees to produce what to produce charcoal. So, we help these communities to move away from charcoal production and to venture and or to start using other renewable energy solutions, one of which is carbonized charcoal briquettes. So, we produce the charcoal briquettes which are made from waste to replace charcoal that is destroying the environment, that is leading to deforestation. Besides that, we also identify people who are doing charcoal production, the people who are involved in destroying the environment. So, we identify these people. We equip them with other skills that they can use to earn money instead of destroying the environment. So, we teach them welding and fabrication. We teach them tailoring, we teach them waste recycling, we're teaching them business management so that we divert them from charcoal production so that we conserve the environment. We are also introducing solar technology, solar irrigation farms. We are introducing portable solar systems for rural farmers so that they should be busy farming throughout the year instead of just relying on rainfall and when they do farm, when they use this clean energy to help them in their farming, once they harvest, we buy the harvest, we buy the produce and we process that produce into nutritious food which we use to target and address malnutrition. So, these enterprises, they kind of relate, they kind of link up. They are more similar and they help collaborate and solve these problems.

Paul Meunier 

Wow. Sylvester, I know, we could talk for hours about your social enterprise because there's so much that goes into it. But that was a wonderful overview. You are feeding malnourished children.

Sylvester Chabuka 

Yes.

Paul Meunier 

You are saving the environment because people aren't cutting down trees and burning them as charcoal to produce heat and energy. And you are providing them with electricity through solar power. This is fundamentally going to change the lives of many, many people. And do you see it as the big scale that I do, how fundamentally this is going to change people's lives? Do you see it that way or are you just so buried in your work that you sometimes don't come up for air and just take in the totality of what you're trying to do?

Sylvester Chabuka 

Yeah, that's very true, Paul. Sometimes when we're doing these things, we just see them normal, we get used to whatever we are doing. But then looking at how the things I am doing, they get recognition like being recognized by the president being, recognized by the US Department of State, and other recognitions, you would now come to appreciate that whatever we're doing is big. And then mind you, this is just the beginning. We have bigger plans for Malawi, bigger plans for Africa, and bigger plans for the entire world. And we believe these ventures would get us there, We would be able to reach out to millions of people.

Paul Meunier 

And it is amazing that all this stuff is sustainable, too right? It's not like gifts or charity that is keeping people alive, which is what people are dependent on now, large organizations bringing in flour or different kinds of things to eat. You are working with the farmers to produce the product, you're then manufacturing the product and distributing it out and the sales that you get from distributing it out, you're giving back to give to the farmers so they can grow more. And it just perpetuates itself. How close are you to taking this to scale, Sylvester, to where it can be really widespread?

Sylvester Chabuka 

Paul, I am ready to take this to the next level. What I'm currently looking for is external investors. We want to release shares because I currently run the businesses as sole proprietorship, I want to have external investors, we should do equity investment, I should release some shares so that we get enough capital investment into this so that we reach out to more people. And then I will see these ventures, these enterprises in the next 10 years going public. So, they will become publicly listed companies, they will become huge companies. And we will reach out to other parts of Africa, not just Malawi. So, I am so certain we'll be able to expand go beyond Africa as soon as five years from now. So, as I am speaking right now Paul, I've been working with consultants trying to develop our strategic business plan so that we see into the future and we approach equity investors who come on board, buy some shares, and we run this vision together so that we should reach out to a lot of people. Because I know I won't go that far alone. I need other minds. I need other investors on board so that we get this thing going big, get the solutions to as many people as possible. So, that's the direction I want to take. I want these ventures to go big and reach out to a lot of people.

Paul Meunier 

You have a huge vision and any business or any social enterprise needs venture capitalists. They need money to take things to scale. You can develop a model and you can prove it works. But to really make it grow you need an influx of financial capital to make that go to scale.

Sylvester Chabuka 

Yes.

Paul Meunier 

And I sure hope you find that venture capitalist who sees the humanity and the value of what you've come up with. It is just an ingenious idea. And it's time somebody promotes this and takes it to this other level so that you can do all these things that you want to do to change the lives of these children in these villages. And the world would be such a better place. It will be a better place when you find that person to help you go to scale. Sylvester, where do you get this passion from, where do you get this drive from? How do you just keep going? Where does it all come from?

Sylvester Chabuka 

Paul, I guess this comes from my personal experience, and my grandmother like I told you. So, I am addressing problems that I have faced. So, that gives me that desire to get them addressed because I know how they feel. I have experienced these problems. So, giving out solutions to these problems gives me a sense of pride. I feel good that I am able to solve problems which I actually faced. Besides that, we face challenges when running these enterprises, when doing whatever we are doing. But then my grandmother has been always my role model, has been always my source of inspiration, and motivation. I always remember what she taught me, the kind of confidence she instilled in me so I don't bow down to challenges. I don't bow down to obstacles. I always remember her words and I always think of ways of how I can navigate through problems. And trust me, Paul, so far has been so good. We have faced so many, many, many problems. Running a food processing company is not easy, you have all the regulatory issues, you have challenges in the value chain, you talk of the materials, you talk of the marketing, and there are just so many numerous challenges that come along the way. You are talking of dealing with baby food which is highly regulated. But then Paul, we have been able to solve the obstacles that we have been coming against. So, I get my motivation from personal experience and my grandmother.

Paul Meunier 

What is your grandmother's name? I feel like we would be not doing her service if we didn't just say her name. What is it?

Sylvester Chabuka 

Elizabeth.

Paul Meunier 

Okay, I'm glad we were able to finally say her name. What have you learned about yourself through this whole process? What have you grown to understand about you, Sylvester, as a person in taking on this enormous challenge?

Sylvester Chabuka 

Paul, I've come to realize that I am indeed capable. You know, many people tell you you're capable. My grandmother would tell me I am capable, I am capable, I am this. But then now finally having to do the things and experience the life, I have come to the realization that I am capable. And whatever great men did before me or they're actually doing right now, I am also capable of doing that, Paul. I have all the blessings that I need to get things done. That has been my greatest realization within myself. Because I have realized that I have actually been able to set my goals even higher because I know it's doable. Because I know I have all the senses, I have all the skills, I have all the blessings, I need to get things done. So, Paul, having to realize that I am capable has been one of my best moments within myself.

Paul Meunier 

I understand your capabilities. And I also see just grit and determination and perseverance, and the ability to view obstacles as opportunities, all these things that are inherent traits of people with entrepreneurial spirit. You embody that so well. And I, for one, am really grateful for all you do to help our young people. Whether it's in Malawi or the United States, I think that they're all our young people, people collectively need to view young people as our own. And you are making such a difference in your country and in Africa and I am grateful to have met you and I wish you nothing but the best and I can't wait for that day you find your investor. Maybe we'll just be lucky enough that that investor is listening to this show because somebody who is understanding who you are, will take a gamble on you, Sylvester. Maybe they might see the spreadsheets and the financial return of your business. But what it takes is somebody to believe in that person to solve it no matter what the problem is. So, when you find that one investor that's willing to take a chance on you watch out world because you're going to change a lot of people's lives. So Sylvester, thank you for doing all you do. And thank you for being a guest on The Passionate Youth Worker.

Sylvester Chabuka 

Thank you, Paul. Thank you so much, Paul.

Paul Meunier 

Sylvester, before we go I always like to give our guest the last words to close out their episode. What words of wisdom or inspiration would you like to leave with our listeners?

Sylvester Chabuka 

Dream. Believe. Achieve.

Paul Meunier 

Beautiful. If you would like to share your passion for youth work, we'd love to spotlight you as a guest. If you have feedback about the show, please let us know. Just visit training.yipa.org, that's training.yipa.org and click on the podcast tab. This podcast is made possible in part due to a generous contribution from M Health Fairview. I'm your host, Paul Meunier. Thanks for listening to The Passionate Youth Worker.