Today is my home country Malawi’s 62nd Independence Day.
I desperately wish to say, “Happy Independence Day, Malawi,” but each Independence Day, I find myself carrying the weight of history, reflecting on how far we have come, where we are today, and where we go from here.
I think about the histories that brought us to this very moment. I think about a country that has no history of war: a country that has been the subject of countless development reports, strategies, interventions, and well-intentioned efforts, and yet still finds itself among the poorest nations in the world.
Over the past four years, while working with the United Nations at Headquarters and pursuing my Master’s degrees, I have attempted to make sense of these contradictions.
Today, I am excited to share with you Lessons, a seven-part book series that brings together a decade of [my and other scholars’] observations from Africa, the United Nations, entrepreneurship, technology, and global development.
Over the past two years, I challenged myself to write differently. Every few months, I immersed myself in a new question, spending countless hours reading, listening, researching, interviewing, reflecting, and writing. One book became two, then three, until eventually the project grew into a seven-part series. Each volume represents my best attempt, at that point in time, to make sense of some of the biggest questions I have encountered across development, entrepreneurship, technology, and public policy.
Across the series, I explore failure, institutions, power, broken systems, impossible economies, long wars, and the futures we still have to build. These books are my attempt to understand the world as it is, and perhaps explain why outcomes so often diverge from intentions. They are also my attempt to suggest where we [can] go from here.
At the same time, I am deeply aware that no single person can fully explain systems as complex as the ones these books explore. The ideas presented here are therefore not intended to be the final word. Rather, they are an invitation to begin a much larger conversation. Over the coming year, I will continue speaking with leaders, researchers, entrepreneurs, policymakers, practitioners, and readers from around the world, using those conversations to challenge, strengthen, expand, and, where necessary, revise the arguments presented throughout the series.
For that reason, the books being released today are the Founder’s Edition of the Lessons series. They represent the beginning of the project. Every conversation, every critique, every disagreement, every correction, and every new piece of evidence shared over the coming year will help shape the definitive edition of the series, planned for release in 2027. My hope is that these books become not simply something to read, but the beginning of a conversation we build together.
Perhaps that is what this project has always been about: it was always about engaging in better conversations.
In many ways, this series marks the end of one chapter. It reflects on my lessons gathered over the first decade of my career working across development, public service, and international institutions.
It also marks the beginning of another: as I commit the foreseeable future to entrepreneurship, and building meaningful technologies for the people who need them the most.
From today through the end of my participation in the Big Bets Fellowship with the Rockefeller Foundation in August, I will be gifting you one book for free, each week. I will rely deeply on your insights, as we work collaboratively towards World 2.0.
To receive the first book and instructions on how to access the other six, subscribe to The Lessons Conversation via podcast.lessonsconversation.com. If you are already subscribed, please feel free to subscribe with a second email address, to get the separate email with the instructions. Details will be delivered directly to your inbox once you do.
Happy reading. 🩵🤍
