BEYOND THE FIRST THREE YEARS: SUSTAINING THE LONGEVITY OF MSMEs IN MALAWI AMIDST POWER OUTAGES

This research aims to explore and understand the lived experiences of owners/managers of Malawi's MSMEs that continue to operate three years after establishment, despite persistent power outages. It is hoped that exploring this phenomenon can help other MSMEs remain productively operational for a long time, thereby maintaining individual, societal, and national economic livelihoods, welfare, and growth. This is because, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry (2020), MSMEs are crucial to the socioeconomic development of Malawi, the context of this research. The research is designed as a qualitative phenomenological study, and the Trans-Positional Cognition Approach (TPCA), a synthesised phenomenological variant, will first be used to collect data from MSME owners/managers selected by Criterion Sampling, and thereafter, analyse the responses from the participants. The Model of Business Longevity Theory, the theoretical framework underlying this study, will be employed to enhance the understanding of the research findings. It is anticipated that contributions from this study would enable the development of a framework that guides and supports MSMEs in Malawi. Additionally, it is hoped that the recommendations and conclusions of this research will provide pragmatic and empirical insights for MSMEs, future researchers and policymakers seeking a deeper understanding of the study phenomenon.