• Business Hours
• Industrial Estates
• Telecommunications
• Electricity Supply
• Labour
• Related Links

Business Hours
Normal business operating hours are 07.30 hours to 12.00 noon and 13.00 hours to 17.00 hours with a lunch break between 12.00 noon and 13.00 hours. Most offices close for lunch. Most Commercial Banks open at 08.00 hours and close at 15.00 hours.

Industrial Estates
Industrial estates are available in the major cities and towns. Private industrial land is also available. A privately owned industrial park, Maone Industrial Estate outside Blantyre/Limbe is one such site, with a plentiful labour pool nearby on convenient public transport routes. Most industrial estates are connected to major transport routes with reasonable freight costs by air, water road and rail to major international markets.

Telecommunications
There is only one operator of fixed lines in Malawi, Malawi Telecommunications Limited (MTL) and two cellular phone operators, Telekom Networks Malawi (TNM) and Celtel. Postal services are mainly provided by the Malawi Posts Corporation. There are also two other private postal operators, AIATECH and Post Dot Net based in Blantyre. There are several Internet service providers. Internet cafes or bureaus can be found in all the major cities and towns of Malawi at affordable rates.

Electricity Supply
Malawi’s electrical supply is the 220-240 volts, 50-hertz alternating current system. The three-pin plugs used are of the British “square bayonet” pin type, not the round pin South African type.

Labour
Malawi’s labour supply is excellent with a population of over 10 million providing an abundance of easy-to-train and industrious workers. Additionally, increasing numbers of professional technocrats, are graduating from the five constituent colleges of the University of Malawi and the University of Mzuzu. One college, the Polytechnic in Blantyre, also offers degree programmes in engineering. Training for managers is provided at the Malawi Institute of Management (MIM)

Malawi’s Industrial Development strategy relies on developing skills levels for a labour force that has been no date heavily oriented toward the agricultural sector. The low literacy is being addressed through mandatory, free primary education. As of 1999, primary school enrolment was closed to three million students. Secondary school enrolment reached 200,000 students in the same year.

Training in technical and vocational trades is offered at nine technical schools located throughout Malawi.



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