Malawi’s marketers and ICT professionals hold first joint workshop

The chief objective of the agreement is to leverage each organisation’s strengths in order to deliver high-quality and impactful programmes that foster professional growth and innovation. 

According to George Damson, President of the Institute of Marketing in Malawi, this partnership aligns with Malawi’s development blueprint, Malawi 2063, under enabler number five – Human Capital Development. 

The workshop’s emphasis was on leveraging on technology for business processes, with a focus on artificial intelligence. 

Renowned business leader Wisely Phiri, who is the Group Managing Director at ICT firm Sparc Systems Ltd, set the tone with his keynote address. Jones Kumchenga, an ICT expert, then unpacked AI for business in the Malawian context.  

Most participants were not traditional ICT people 

“It was an enriching experience,” says Damson, writing in a LinkedIn post. “One of the most encouraging things was that majority of the participants in this workshop were not traditional ICT people, demonstrating that technology like AI is not for ‘tech geeks’ only. It is for everyone.” 

Damson continues: “This is just the beginning of many other such initiatives that we are eyeing, spreading our wings into regional and international spaces to bring that knowledge to Malawian professionals in various sectors. Watch this space.” 

The convergence of the IT and marketing sectors is being acknowledged across Africa. The African Marketing Confederation (AMC) and Technology Information Confederation Africa (TICON Africa) will host their annual conferences concurrently from 20-22 August 2025, at Accra’s Labadi Beach Hotel.  

The event, themed ‘Thriving in Africa’s Evolving Markets: Trust, Trends, and Technology’, will examine how digital innovation is transforming consumer engagement across the continent. 

IMM Malawi is a member of the AMC, while the ICT Association of Malawi is a member of TICON Africa.