James Tayali : Schwarzman Scholars Program
James Tayali (Public Health, ’17) came to Cal from Malawi as a Mastercard Scholar and soon connected with Professor Sam Mchombo, who encouraged him to study Swahili and connect with the African student community on campus. This experience led James to doing health work in Kenya and, ultimately, to founding three social ventures in his home country: ICI Africa, a mentorship program for high school students; Deal Malawi, an e-commerce and online shopping site; and Keki Mawe Incorporated, which manufactures and distributes iron-fortified products to women and children. He has also trained more than 70,000 farmers in Malawi to produce nutritious food with the aim of ending hunger and poverty. He has an MPhil in Health Innovation from the University of Cape Town (’20). Because many of the nutritional products needed in Malawi are made in China, James seeks to better understand the Chinese business context and mindset in order to work effectively with his partners there and move Malawians above the poverty line. He hopes that the Schwarzman Program will help make him a global scholar and changemaker who can embrace views that challenge his own.
