Want to be rich?
… or “WHY DID I NOT THINK OF IT?’

How many times have I met with Malawians who lamented: “I am poor”, “How can I start a business without money?”, “We are a landlocked country without natural resources”, etc etc etc ………….

Our President made the famous statement: “Malawi is not poor, Malawians are.”Let us give you a few examples how people got filthy rich from humble beginnings anywhere in the world. Hopefully some of our readers get the hint: Get off your ass, get going and create a fortune – right here.

Take Ingvar Kamprad of Sweden who peddled matches, fish, pens, christmas cards and other items by bicycle as a teenager. He started selling furniture in 1947. Now his company IKEA, which sells hip designs for the cost conscious, is one of the most beloved retailers in the world from Sunrise, Florida, to Guangzhou in China.

Or Howard Schultz who was rejected by Starbucks, the world’s biggest coffee chain and who now owns it.There is Jeffrey Bezzos who decided to sell books on the internet and created the largest book selling business: Amazon.Sheldon Adelson was the son of a taxi driver. He borrowed $ 200 from his uncle to sell newspapers. He is now a hotel magnate and the 12th richest man in the World. But also here in Malawi you have examples how enterprising people make it big.

Mike Chilewe borrowed some welding equipment because he could not afford one as a meter reader for ESCOM. Now, some twelve years later he owns and runs the highly successful ‘Mike’s Trading” company in Blantyre, which built storage facilities for Illovo and supplies other well-known organisations with steel manufactured products.Mulli Brothers are icons in Malawian business, helping to empower would be entrepreneurs.

Mark Katsonga created Candlex and has now started the country’s foremost coach company AXA whilst his successful farming company produces millions of chickens and eggs.

There are numerous examples of compatriots who without decrying misfortune are moving ahead with vision, vigour and a hands-on attitude in the pursuit of prosperity. Talk to them.

The world's richest man lives in the same five-bedroom, gray stucco house he bought in 1958 for $31,500. That's right. Legendary investor Warren Buffett, 77, still calls his humble digs in Omaha's Happy Hollow suburb home, despite a $62 billion fortune that eclipses the gross domestic products of Croatia and Jordan combined. That famous folksiness is, of course, in keeping with his investment philosophy. "If you don't feel comfortable owning something for 10 years," he once told a reporter, "then don't own it for 10 minutes."
Of course, few billionaires live as simply and frugally as Buffett, who also professes a love for pub fare like burgers and Cherry Coke. Not coincidentally, Buffett is a long time investor in beverage giants Anheuser-Busch and Coca-Cola.

After 13 years on top,

Bill Gates is no longer the richest man in the world. That honour now belongs to his friend and sometimes bridge partner Warren Buffett.

Riding the surging price of Berkshire Hathaway stock, Buffett has seen his fortune swell to an estimated $62 billion, up $10 billion from a year ago. Gates is now worth $58 billion and is ranked third richest in the world. He is up $2 billion from a year ago, but would have been as rich--or richer--than Buffett, had Microsoft not made an unsolicited bid for Yahoo! at the beginning of February. Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helú now ranks as the world's second richest person with a net worth of $60 billion

Lakshmi Mittal
the 4th richest man in the World with a fortune of $ 45 billion

industrial firms of pre-independence India. They eventually moved to Calcutta where his father, Mohan, became a partner in a steel company and made a fortune.