Success story of a positive dreamer Michael C Walker from street kid to author and business guru
Michael C Walker is a star-performing business development and marketing consultant, one helping small & medium enterprises (SMEs) in business development and he is author to two financial books — ‘Top Money Making Ideas You Can Try Today’ and a special one targeting 6-11-year-olds entitled ‘How To Earn Money as Kid’.
One attribute that is admirable of Michael C Walker is that he does not hide that he once spent a terrible period as a street-begging child.
He came to detest his terrible experience in which he became very violent that he rose through the ranks to become a gang leader commanding his own territory of any notoriety one can think of.
What circumstances led him to become a street child and at what age? we asked: “I was born Michael Chauya. I have never seen my both parents in my life. I was told my father was the first to die.
“I was told that my mother took all of us as her children when our father died — myself, my 4 sisters and a brother — into streets of Lilongwe where we became street kids by default.
“We were a poor family — we lacked every basic need such as shelter, food, and social security and that’s why my mother took us to the streets. I do not know when I was born but I am a 5th born.”
He also does not remember how long he was in the streets but it ended in 2005, adding: “I was there for quite a long time that I thought that’s normal life.
“Life in the streets is tricky, it’s about survival of the fittest. The weak die of cold, violence, diseases and hunger. The environment was tough because I was sleeping under bridges, markets such as Mchesi and Area 24.
“In the streets, when you beg and get food or money, gang leaders or those who are powerful confiscate it by force and I got tired of it.
“I survived on begging, attacking people at same time not trusting anyone. I became a prominent gang leader, I enjoyed the street life because I was born there, but I got worried about my future.
“I wished I could be rich as life in the streets was getting tougher and above all our future was guaranteed death or jail. I was not happy — I wanted change.
“Lucky enough, one of my sisters recognized me and took me to her home to start a normal life but I ran away because I wasn’t been provided for the way I wanted.
“But another sister came to my rescue and took me to Salima where my life then changed. I went to school where I did my primary education in just 5 years as they made me skip some classes because I was a genius.”
He went further to reveal that he did Standard 3 in just a single term while also staying in streets “since old habits die hard but after that term I went to Std 6 where I continued scooping first positions”.
He went on to enroll into Soche Technical Collage where he did information & communication technology (ICT) before attaining BSc in IT at Blantyre International University and later BBA at Exploits University.
His journey to becoming a business development and marketing consultant started in 2019 when he decided to develop himself into a brand.
“I combined my IT skills and Business Administration to make it a brand to be helping SMEs in business development, business plans, proposals, business models, sales and marketing strategies digitally or on site.
“I have developed most of my skills through online learning because I didn’t learn in school much of the work I do.”
He realized that he couldn’t do it alone knowing he couldn’t survive for long and he enlisted a partnership with two experts — Anganile Lwesha, who handles most of career development programs and Ghaddson Standy, who handles digital marketing, business plans and proposals.
He also has a Facebook page, Michael W Chauya, that assist him to get business, saying: “It is a powerful tool, and a brand as well as a school. I normally post personal finance, business development, sales, marketing and career development lessons for people who love success in those fields.
“Most of my clients find me through social media — my Facebook page, Instagram, and LinkedIn.”
He authored his first book ‘Top Money Making Ideas You Can Try Today” in 2022, which about business ideas that can work anywhere despite an economic crisis.
“Throughout my work as a consultant, many people have been approaching me or just seeing them on social media asking to buy them”.
He said CoVID-19 pandemic great affected SMEs: “So I decided to help by writing a book with business plans and industries that works.
“‘How to earn money as kid’ is a version of business ideas that children can do to earn money. My understanding is children must learn we don’t grow money but we make them and it was written in 2022.”
He is currently selling in ebooks at K2,000 as well as hard copies at K3,000
Going forward, Walker says his plan is to strongly mark his brand as “a top 5 consultation company in Malawi in field of business development and marketing”.
“I would want to help over 1,000 SME’s in 2023 to establish their brands and scale their businesses to dominate the market. I want my social media pages to be ranked as the most educative in business development and marketing.
“I plan to release 4 more books, turn them into digital courses that people can enroll and develop themselves. Of course, I already manage how to start a business mentorship program.”
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