Blog From 30 to 100: The $2,500 grant that scaled Martha’s dream
In Nsanje, Malawi, a $2,500 grant transformed 20-year-old Martha Forty's manual printing hustle into a thriving local enterprise. With new machinery and formal business training from the Business Acceleration for Youth Project, she tripled her production, now supports her family's education, and is inspiring a generation of young women entrepreneurs proving strategic investment can build both a business and community resilience.
When 20-year-old Martha Forty looks at the steady hum of her cutting plotter, she remembers the days of hand-cramping labor. On a good day, she could complete 30 designs. On most days, it was fewer.
"It was so hectic," Martha recalls. "I had the passion, but I did not have the tools."
Growing up in Nsanje with five siblings, raised by a single father after losing their mother at a young age, Martha learned early that opportunity does not knock, you have to build the door yourself. When she noticed that Nsanje had no printing business, forcing residents to travel all the way to Blantyre for custom T-shirts and printed materials, she saw that door.
She started her screen-printing business with basic knowledge and formidable will. But will alone does not cut vinyl or pay for plain T-shirts, ink, or the raw materials needed to run a real printing operation.
The cutting plotter in action.
The turning point came when Martha pitched her business to the Business Acceleration for Youth Project in Nsanje. Among hundreds of applicants across the district, she was selected as one of 20 startups to receive a $2,500 grant.
The money went straight into machinery and materials: a cutting plotter, a computer, plain T-shirts, and essential supplies. It sounds simple, but the impact was immediate and transformative.
"Now I can do over 100 designs when we have big orders," Martha says, her voice firm with pride. "Before the cutting plotter, I could only manage 30 in a whole day." That is more than a threefold increase in productivity. But the numbers only tell part of the story.
With professional equipment came professional opportunities. Organizations started calling. Church choirs needed uniforms. Politicians wanted campaign materials. Schools placed bulk orders. These were clients Martha had never imagined serving; clients who require business registration, tax certificates, and proper documentation.
"Before the project, I never thought I could be getting orders from organizations," she admits. "But the Business Acceleration for Youth project helped me get everything, business account, registration, tax certificate, everything organizations require to do business with a startup."
The ripples of this growth extended far beyond the shop walls. Her customers in Nsanje are thrilled, saving them time and money. But the most profound change is felt at home
Martha aligns a T-shirt for printing.
"Before, I could not afford most things needed in my life or for the business," Martha explains. "Now I am able to support my family with food and school fees for myself and my siblings. I am able to do it all now."
She recently completed her secondary education, financing it herself while her brother and an assistant she hired helped manage the shop. She is living proof of her own conviction:
"I want to show young girls in my community that they can enter male-dominated businesses and that they can do school and business simultaneously."
With her business firmly on track, Martha's gaze is now on the horizon. She plans to open a second shop in Malaka, near the Malawi-Mozambique border, to serve customers for whom distance remains a barrier.
From 30 hand-cut designs to over 100 professional prints; from struggling to pay for food to educating a family. This is what happens when a dream is given the tools to scale.
Martha Forty is one of 500 youth-led startups supported by the Business Acceleration for Youth Project, a four-year initiative implemented by the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). The project provides business incubation training, mentorship, grants, and technical support to young entrepreneurs across nine districts in Malawi's southern region, with the ultimate goal of driving job creation, improving access to finance, and building household resilience.
Holding the result of her investment, Martha Forty with a product made using the cutting plotter and materials purchased with her grant.
