THINK AND GROW RICH BUT EDUCATION ALONE IS OF NO VALUE

Malawian youngsters, stop facing your books. You must confront your minds more often. You must hone your creative abilities, confront your skill and grow as a person. You must realise your full potential. And no, this is not an inspirational speech, It's the truth. Our parents' worst advice was to go to school and obtain a job. While we Malawians spend millions on formal schooling merely to find a job, other races are starting enterprises and generating their own jobs. Going to school and getting a job is lousy advice. Schools prepare us to be economic slaves. Seriously, this go to school mindset is destroying our self-esteem. Look at going to school to boost your knowledge. Don't go there solely to find a job. That is archaic counsel.

When black youngsters graduate, they go to the same individuals they call foreigners to look for work. Malawians attend school in order to be employed by people of other races. That is our mindset. That's what our teachers taught us in school. They advised us to obtain credentials in order to obtain decent employment. I don't hold it against the teachers. That was the extent of their knowledge at the time. That is also what their teachers told them. They failed to remind us that we needed to earn qualifications so that we could also generate jobs. Life is not limited to the four walls of the classroom. Most of the time, your abilities and entrepreneurship will provide you with what your degrees would not. Certificates did not make Prophet Shepherd Bushiri famous. Davido did not become famous because of his credentials and a slew of others who aren't even in entertainment industry.

A degree just means you are educated. It doesn't mean you will succeed. If you want to succeed, a degree is very helpful, however, you don't need a degree to succeed. What you need for success is common sense. Without it, even a degree can't help you succeed. Even a lack of a degree will not prevent you from succeeding with it. Wisdom will do for you what a degree cannot. Continue your studies, graduate. But don't expect that going to school will make you wealthy. The majority of the world's top ten richest men never finished university.

Academic excellence does not ensure success in life. Inquire of Richard Branson, Joel Osteen, or Bill Gates. They are extremely successful despite not having a degree. Don't restrict yourself by believing that the only way to get wealthy is to attend school, obtain a credential, and then find work. That is one option. However, there are alternative options. There are numerous paths to success. Your education should not begin and end in school. What you study in school will get you a diploma, but what you continue to learn in life will move you forward.

To suggest that knowledge is power is deceptive. It encourages individuals to attend university and expect to be successful because they have degrees. Power does not come from knowledge. Power comes from applied knowledge. Knowledge that is not put to use is equivalent to illiterate. That is why Apple Inc, a firm established by a dropout, employs over 1000 PhD holders. If knowledge is power, Steve Jobs would have been working for those PhDs, not the other way around. Remember that while a degree is required to acquire a job, it is not required to start a business. I'm not attempting to denigrate formal education; I am a holder of a bachelor's degree in Biotechnology and am a graduate. What I mean is that you may utilise it as a jumping off point. However, do not rely solely on your certifications.

Certificates are becoming obsolete in modern Malawi, where politicians have no constructive ideas for the populace. It is not always what is written down. Develop your abilities and entrepreneurship skills. Malawi is a jungle where you either eat or get devoured. If you care about yourself and your family, you can't even rely on one source of money. Please, THINK AND GROW RICH.