Name: Clement Kenneth Taonani

Organization: Nthawi Farms

Role: CEO/ Owner

” I have gone from being a homeless young man to owning 175 acres in just three years and also employing 35 people around the villages in my farm. ”  This is my Negus Chronicles.  My name is Clement Kenneth Taonani.

The Day Everything Almost Fell Apart:

After I lost my mother it seemed like the hurdles just would not stop. She had battled and lost to cancer and had left five children ( I am the third born) to figure out how to survive a life she had desperately shielded us from. I was not born with the best of opportunities in life, but I cannot say that I suffered through it.

Despite being raised in the rural area, I can say my early childhood was not that of a poor child. We were instead considered a pretty well to do family in our village. As the second born son, I was really under no pressure to over achieve nor was I dreaming of it.

However, her death seemed to open a door to hades, calling misfortune upon me and my siblings, one after the next with no apparent respite. An A+ student who had no support to go to university, I had to settle for what I could.

As the say, “Where there’s a will there’s a way”. After much consideration, I eventually settled for nursing school. I underwent a grueling entrance exam which I passed. So, I was selected to study under the Bill and Hilary Clinton Initiative in Malawi.

 Seeing that I could not force or cheat my way through life I sacrificed it all. In college, instead of buying a laptop like everyone else was doing I could only afford to get a phone using the upkeep allowance I would receive.  Despite that, I graduated with a diploma and as luck would have it, I could not find employment for almost one year. Unfortunately in our Malawi and Africa generally  is very common thing.

I discovered the educational videos on YouTube and for another 6 months I schooled myself in organic farming.  My inner debate led me to sale my phone to invest into farming. I used the money to start my farm and support myself during the journey to farming.  While the season of sowing to harvest saw me homeless and hungry, I chose to hope on what I woke up to see growing daily. 

As you read this Negus Chronicles, I Clement Kenneth Taonani am now an employer, activist, climate change champion and economic enigma. I did not grow their wealth with a load but the sheer drive to win got me here. I have also thus far trained 2000+ households on organic farming.

All I can say is, “While pain has a way of breaking you, it can never define you.”