Manyanani munthali: founder of nyengozaulunji home care

Manyanani Munthali, 54, can easily fit for the superwoman accolade.

Her hands are full with the responsibilities of running a home, business and looking after children, some of which have special needs.

She runs NyengoZaulunji Home Care in Blantyre with about 15 children under the home care with presence in Mangochi, Blantyre and Chiradzulu.

But through it all, she spreads her wings to reach every area to achieve what and who she is now.

Manyanani is also an MC, trains maids, makes maids uniforms, runs a wedding décor, a restaurant and a bar.

Her core business is to look after less privileged and the elderly.

She says: “I started fostering children about 15 years ago. It all started as a birthday hobby each year when I visited new born babies on May 18 in a hospital.  The first child I started fostering was a day old born on September 13 2010.  I took in the second one in 2012.  Her mother was my apongo.  She suffered from skin cancer and I used to take care of her; taking her to the hospital and buying her medicine and food.  So, on her dying bed, she told her relations that when she died, her daughter should be raised by me.”

Manyanani has19 children she is fostering; four are in Chileka, nine are in Chiradzulu and five are at NyengoZaulunji Home Care at Kameza, including baby Auspicious who turned five months on  March 8 2023.

She takes care of two elderly women and helps them with clothes, food and groceries.

Identification of the less privileged and the elderly is done by the locals.

“Those who know me as a charitable woman ask me to help them identify donors and helpers.  I then go to the villages to assess their needs and then start helping them, funds permitting. 

“I can’t remember how it all got to this stage, but I am one person who is passionate about the less privileged and help with the little I may have at a particular time,” she says.

Perhaps her inspiration is derived from her intellectually challenged 30-year-old daughter, NyengoZaulunji, after whom she named her organisation.

Apart from NyengoZaulunji, Manyanani is mother to two other biological children and two adopted children. 

She also has six workers around her business and home; two decorators, one bar tender, one cook and two nuns.

“I am a busy person as you can see from what I do, but that does not prevent me from managing vulnerable children, especially those who do not live at NyengoZaulunji Home Care.  I spare my time to visit them or invite them home, especially during festive seasons,” explains Manyanani.

The MC gets to direct different types of functions and events; and brags about enjoying her talent for every moment.

The single mother trains maids through her Employment Bureau on basic things. This is done either at her house or at the employer’s house.

“I have trained many house helps. I charge K5 000 for registration of the workers and K15 000 to the employer,” she says.

Manyanani runs a local restaurant at Usigala House where she prepares mangi’na, boiled local chicken, zinziri, offals, nthumbwana, Karonga local foods, including mbalagha, nsima, different types of fish. 

She had had her fair share of challenges in business. She says food business requires close supervision because  workers find it easy to mess up when your attention is diverted even for the shortest period of time.

She adds: “I have had bad experience with the bar and restaurant, but I told myself not to give up.  I kept on pushing. I can now comfortably say the businesses are doing well since I now have enough time monitoring them. I resigned from M&M Global Law Consultants on February 3 this year where I worked as secretary to pay more attention to my business and the vulnerable children at the home and those away from home.”

And although challenges are many, in life, Manyanani says when business fails and becomes frustrating, people should not give up, but fight on.

She couldn’t describe her typical day any clearer than “busy, busy and always running up and down,”

The Catholic wakes up at 5 am and attends the 6 am mass. At 7:30 am. She dashes to her shop for stock taking then returns home for an hour.

Thereafter, she goes to her office, the Employment Bureau.

Around 4 to 5 pm, she returns to the shop for a few hours then heads home.

On weekends, if she has an event venue to decorate, she leaves for the venue, usually at 6 am and returns late in the night.

Her advice to girls and women is to work hard at anything they are passionate about, be it work or business. 

“Don’t give up, keep pushing until something happens.  Above all, ask God for guidance.

“Let me take this opportunity to thank groups and individuals who recognise my work and help me financially, spiritually and emotionally,” she says.