Youth empowerment restoring hope: the transformative journey of Ackim Matafale

LILONGWE (ILO News) - A young man from the Malawi’s rural area had his dreams shattered when he failed his form 2 examinations. For him repeating was not an option as he had no more hope of doing well with his grades. Lost hope can be restored if action if taken to save those who lost it. The story of Ackim Matafale youth empowerment brings hope and a new dimension of life.

© ILO/Chisomo

© ILO/Chisomo

Born to parents who are smallholder coffee farmers, Ackim is the last of 7 children. Going up life was not given to him on a silver platter; however, his parents did their best to fend for their family from what they could make from the farm proceedings. Though his parents wanted his to get educated at all cost, he was a troublesome child who easily gave up on that dream.

Life brought him to his knees and he knew he had to generate income no matter what. He started doing small businesses such as bicycle transport in the community though was not making much money. The start-up capital was given to him by his parents using the money they got from the coffee sales. This business did not work out for him considering it was in the rural area.

The ACCE Africa project financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, supported Ackim’s community, and he was privileged to be one of the 150 (95 male, 55 female) from the coffee growing Districts of Mzimba, Chitipa and Ntchisi to have benefitted from the youth empowerment initiative through a 3-months vocational skills training in various trades, and provided with start-up toolkits between 2022 and 2024. Implementation was done in collaboration with Impact Center for Economic Empowerment and Development (ICEED), an implementing partner responsible for livelihoods improvement; TEVETA; and District Councils (including the following offices: Labour, Youth, Community Development, and Social Welfare).

After the training in 2023 Ackim started his welding business at Chinthembwe trading center. He has been making various items for customers, frequently demanded are window frames and steel doors. He makes atleast MWK360,000 (USD 205.60) in a month.

In January 2025 Ackim opened another welding shop at Mponela in Dowa district, which is a busy business area, where he employed a man to be running the business for him. He used the proceeds made from the initial business to buy additional equipment, welding machine and grinder, which is being used in the second shop.

Ackim has also built a semi-detached shop at Chinthembwe trading center which he plans to use for his business in one room and rent out the other.

About the transformation in his life, Ackim confidently said:

I am financially independent now; I am able to support myself and my parents whenever need be.

For Ackim, diversification is the key to success. He also ventured into livestock rearing for business; he bought one female pig and now has 7 after selling 2.

Ackim has opened up to training other youth within his community based on interest and demand. He only accommodate those who have are shown keen interest and have shown him that they are serious with being trained in fabrication and welding. He has so far trained one of his friends for four months who had completed his secondary education but could not secure a job. This helped his friend to secure a job in Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. He provided this training for free just to showcase to the community his ability to train others.

Ackim envisions himself scaling up his business where he will be training other youth within his community.

I would love to buy more equipment, employ more people and start training people at a fee”