Most manufacturers distribute their products through wholesalers or agents. Price plays a significant role in purchasing decisions, along with quality and durability. There are no specific labeling requirements on most goods, with significant exceptions being medicines and goods meant for human consumption. Labeling may be in any language; however, Malawi’s official language is English. Chichewa is the most prominent of seven national languages. All labels are required to list ingredients and expiration dates.

Trade Promotion and Advertising

Sellers advertise their products and services through a variety of media including road-side signs, billboards, and advertisements in the main daily newspapers and on radio and television. The two national daily newspapers The Nation and The Daily Times have daily circulation of over 35,000 copies, slightly higher on the weekend. State-owned Malawi Broadcasting Corporation Radio & TV, privately-owned Zodiak Broadcasting Station radio & TV, Mibawa TV, and Times Radio & TV reach significantly larger audiences nationwide. Urban private radio stations such as Capital FM are also popular and may be preferred for advertising in the cities of Blantyre, Lilongwe, Mzuzu, Zomba, and surrounding areas. The government supported online news service – MANA - is also a source of information.

Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) TV is the oldest television station and is funded and controlled by the government of Malawi but has recently lost popularity to Zodiak TV, Mibawa TV, and Times TV. These stations primarily serve urban areas in Malawi. Only the affluent subscribe to pay TV such as digital-over-the-air (GoTV) or satellite (Zuku, DSTV, AZAM, Startimes). The government established the Malawi Digital Broadcast Network Limited (MDBNL) to provide signal distribution services to all licensed content providers. MDBNL packages content from content service providers into appropriate bouquets and operates and maintains digital broadcasting networks through which content is distributed and delivered to consumers. MDBNL owns and sells ‘kiliye kiliye’ digital decoders, which offer all local TV and radio stations, and a few international channels, at a standard monthly subscription fee of $3.80.

The MITC and the MCCCI provide information on upcoming fair trade, agricultural shows, and investment forums. The MCCCI is also a good forum for advertising and trade promotion.

Pricing

Prices for goods are generally market-determined. Lower priced goods tend to sell well due to the low-income levels of most Malawians. The arrival of inexpensive Chinese-made products negatively impacted sales for many local and western-made products. Pricing structures include the cost of international and domestic transportation, customs duties, and value-added tax of 16.5 percent. 

The state-owned Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) regularly intervenes in the maize market to stabilize prices. With a declared intent of protecting poor farmers and alleviating poverty, the government also intervenes in the marketing of tobacco, cotton, and tea by setting farmgate minimums, though in most cases traders do not comply to the set minimum prices. The pricing of petroleum products and utilities is strictly regulated. 

The Competition and Fair-Trading Commission is an autonomous agency of the government established to regulate, monitor, control, and prevent acts or behaviors that would adversely affect competition and fair trading in Malawi. The Commission ensures businesses operate in a free market where they can set prices as they wish but not take advantage of customers. The Commission handles cases where consumers complain of unfair trade practices, including setting unnecessarily high prices. The Consumer Association of Malawi is vocal in ensuring that consumers are offered fair prices for the value of goods and services consumed.

Sales Service/Customer Support

Major retailers offer guarantees and discounts on purchases of durable household items such as stoves, electronics, refrigerators, and televisions. After-sales services and customer support are common in the ICT and automobile industries. Several companies and agents in Blantyre, Lilongwe, Mzuzu, and Zomba offer sales and customer support services. 

Local Professional Services

Local professional services are easily accessible for accounting (ICAM), engineering, law (Law Society), architecture, surveying, economists (ECAMA), nurses and midwives council, and medicine. International professional auditing firms Ernst and Young and AMG Global have offices in Malawi.

Principal Business Associations

Several professional and business bodies play a key role in Malawi’s economic governance. These bodies are well respected by both private Malawians and the government and are regarded as key stakeholders in policy formulation and lobbying. The most prominent and influential include:

•    The Economics Association of Malawi (ECAMA)
•    Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI )
•    Chamber for Small and Medium Business Associations
•    National Association of Businesswomen
•    The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Malawi (ICAM)
•    The Malawi Institute of Engineers
•    The Bankers Association of Malawi
•    The Consumers Association of Malawi
•    The Employers Consultative Association of Malawi (ECAM)
•    The Malawi Institute of Procurement and Supply (MIPS) 
•    Malawi Law Society (MLS)

U.S. companies can benefit from joining or consulting the Law Society and MCCCI. As a broad-based, multi-sector group, MCCCI may be particularly helpful to U.S. companies interested in entering the Malawi market.

Limitations on Selling U.S. Products and Services

Pursuant to the Land Act of 2016, foreigners are not permitted to acquire freehold land; foreigners are able to secure lease-hold land for terms of up to 50 years, and potentially longer. Foreigners can only secure private land when no citizen has made an offer for the land and the law prohibits the passing of land by way of gift between persons who are not citizens of Malawi. In 2022, the government of Malawi amended the land act of 2016 and other land related acts, including the Land Act, Land Survey, Physical Planning, Registered Land, Land Acquisition and Compensation, and Customary Land. Each introduced additional restrictions on ownership and land acquisition by foreigners. 

Per the new amendments, land will not be sold to a foreigner unless the person meets MITC conditions of an investor and non-Malawians with land will have their land until the lease expires and will only be renewed if they satisfy MITC investor requirements. Any application to change use of a piece of land for agricultural to residential or commercial should be granted on condition that the lessee surrenders 50 percent of the land to the government subject to payment of appropriate compensation and no sale of vacant land shall be allowed. Mining regulations limit small-scale prospecting and mining operations to Malawians and foreigners who have resided in Malawi for a minimum of four years.

In the case of the privatization of any state-run entity, Malawi Stock Exchange regulations limit participation of an individual foreign portfolio investor to a maximum of 10 percent of any class or category of security under the privatization program and limit maximum total foreign investment in any portfolio to 49 percent. When a state-run entity is privatized, Malawian nationals are offered preferential treatment, including discounted share prices and subsidized credit. Subsidized credit carries a precondition that the shares or assets be retained for at least two years.

Retail operations in rural areas are de facto limited to Malawian citizens.