NICO honours Nyasa Times scribe Mlanjira for Completing Financial Journalism Training

NICO Group has honoured Nyasa Times’ seasoned scribe, Duncan Mlanjira accepting to pursue a virtual Sanlam Summer School for Financial Journalists, which due to vigorous learning process is usually held physically in South Africa.

For years, NICO Group has been offering this scholarship to one journalist to attend a physical training course in South Africa which was however not the case for the 2020 intake that Mlanjira attended due to CoVID-19 pandemic.

NICO’s media liaison officer Mbumba Mlia, explained during the event, at their refurbished NICO House in Blantyre, that since Mlanjira accepted not to travel it was something they appreciated and in his honour decided to make the official handover of the certificate, which could have been presented with the same glamour in South Africa if he had attended the course physically.

“This is also to emphasize our commitment towards working together with the media in Malawi, which plays a huge role in informing the public, not just NICO events, but in general terms as a whole,” said Mlia.

Sanlam sent Mlanjira’s certificate after successful completion of the course.

In his remarks, Mlanjira said it was such an honour to have been nominated for this prestigious course whose main theme was overcoming challenges being faced due to the CoVID-19 pandemic and how to report and do business post CoVID-19.

“It’s an honour,” he said. “I never expected to be accorded this opportunity until Mbumba called to inform me of the opportunity and to find out if I would accept because I was not going to travel.”

He said he wouldn’t have denied such an opportunity although “virtual conferences were a novelty then for most of us and I was excited to go through such an experience that going forward I might consider interviewing my sources the same way.”

Mlanjira also grabbed the opportunity because he said he wanted to experience what other Malawians that had gone through the Sanlam Summer School for Financial Journalists had gone through.

NICO Group has been awarding this scholarship in conjunction with their South African business partner, Sanlam since 2014 — starting two candidates — Lorraine Lusinje then working for the Times Media Group before she moved to AHL Group but now with FDH Bank as well as Innocent Helema who was working with the Nation Publications Limited now with Competition and Fair Trading Commission (CFTC).

Times Media’s Chimwemwe Mangazi, then working for Capital FM, represented Malawi in 2015 followed by Aston Gondwe of MBC in 2016, George Lumwila in 2017, Times Group’s William Kumwembe in 2018 while in 2019 it was John Paul Kayuni from Zodiak Broadcasting Station.

“I enjoyed myself throughout the course, I made contacts with several journalists from Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and South Africans. One of the course facilitators had visited Malawi before and we talked more of his experiences in Malawi,” Mlanjira said.

“We shared a lot of information amongst the participants which I have used in some of my reports, especially reporting African situation on CoVID-19 and a lot more and we continue to interact.”

Mlanjira thanked NICO for empowering scribes to be the best through such courses.

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