This initiative serves as a vehicle to alleviate poverty first by enabling needy community members who have graduated from the University to access capital to finance their innovative solutions to societal problems by commercialising their entrepreneurial ideas.

The FDH Graduate Startup programme is a tool that serves to offer an alternative career path to graduates community members to pursue job-creation ventures instead of seeking employment. Therefore, the outcomes of the programme are far-reaching beyond the graduates themselves as they have a trickle-down effect by creating jobs and hence livelihoods for residents in the wider communities in which the ventures operate.

In 2024, the programme awarded funding to 5 groups of finalist graduates to implement 5 different ventures ranging from climate-smart agriculture, fabrication of textiles, manufacturing of steel products and technological applications in self-centred education. Beyond funding, the programme also offers mentorship to the graduates aspiring to pursue entrepreneurship to acquire the requisite know-how and real-world experience to enable them roll out successful projects.

In addition, the programme also provides opportunities for networking with other successful entrepreneurs as well as supporters from the wider entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Apart from the FDH initiative, the University also has collaborative ties with the National Economic Empowerment Fund (NEEF), a statutory corporation in the microfinance sector that aims to economically empower the people of Malawi and enhance financial inclusion of various segments of the society targeting socially disadvantaged groups such as the poor and women.

Through this initiative, MUBAS graduates have the opportunity to benefit from NEEF through a range of tailored financial products that are both affordable to them and are sustainable in the long term.

These opportunities are available to graduates within 2 years of their graduation and are intended to alleviate poverty to graduates from low-income households by enabling them to establish business enterprises and income-generating activities while also providing opportunities for employment to community members.

In addition, the collaboration also enhances the employability of graduates by providing them with access to internships and Mentorship on the various enterprises they establish through the collaboration.