Jeremiah Francisco Kalinda, who works as a Principal Librarian Assistant at the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR), has built a low cost car.
The 42-year-old comes from Chikwiya Village T/A Kaomba in Kasungu and told ProjectM that he spent two years to build the car, and he has named Gideon in honour of his grand father.
The Librarian, who started setting up a car project in August 2022, adds that he has literally built it from the recycled materials laying around in the dumping sites and mounted a motorcycle engine.
He said: When I was in primary school I used to build small cars made from trees and soon after completing my education in 2022, I used to see motorcycle operators carrying 8 to 10 bags of flour That is when this idea of building a car using a motorcycle engine was developed.”
The Lilongwe-based innovator said he decided to use a motorcycle engine because fuel consumption is low.
Said Kalinda: ‘’As Malawian innovators, we can manage to build more of these cars just in one month using recycled materials from the dumping sites without buying from the shop.
“A lot of these materials from scrape yards are being exported to other countries for different use and we would like to ask government to protect them from being taken outside the country because they play an important role in creating a sustainable future.”
He said he has spent about K4.5 million with K2 million from the Department of Innovation and Creativity under the office of the President and Cabinet (OPC).
Said Kalinda :”Many of us today, particularly the youth are just complaining about things that we can change instead of looking for ways in which we can improve or change things for the better.
“I believe that it is our responsibility to contribute to the betterment of the country and focus on our future.”
Another Form four dropout Brown Chikopa from Lilongwe also disclosed that he is building a Roll Royce car using recycled materials.”
For details contact Jeremiah Kalinda through: +265997 429 979.
