Marumbo Sichinga: The Malawian poet engineering Africa's electric future

There is nothing particularly obvious about putting poetry and electric vehicles in the same biography.

For Sichinga, however, the two have occupied different corners of the same life.

His creative journey began at university, where he started writing poetry after years of developing a love for literature.

By 2017, he was already being recognised as one of Malawi's emerging English-language poets, performing work that dealt with relationships, identity, masculinity and social questions.

But poetry was never his only pursuit.

Sichinga studied electronics and computer engineering at the University of Malawi's Polytechnic, setting himself up for a technical career that would eventually take him into one of Africa's fastest-changing industries.

Verses to algorithms

His technical interests eventually moved towards connected technology.

Sichinga later completed a master's degree in Internet of Things at the University of Rwanda, where his research explored the use of computer vision, artificial intelligence, optical character recognition and blockchain to track vehicle movements.

It sounds a long way from spoken word.

Yet vehicles, technology and people would eventually bring his two worlds closer together.

His professional work moved into the electric-vehicle ecosystem, including work associated with Rwanda-based EV company Kabisa.

He has since worked on questions around charging infrastructure, financing, market development and the wider adoption of electric transport in African markets.

Poetry lives on

While his professional profile became increasingly technical, Sichinga continued building a body of creative work.

His catalogue includes Broken Keys, released in 2016, followed by Things I Wish I Said in 2019 and Playing It Safe in 2022.

His work has explored love and vulnerability alongside subjects such as gender, relationships and social expectations.

He has also performed at some of Malawi's major cultural events, including Lake of Stars and Tumaini Festival, as well as TEDx events and other creative platforms.

That performance background matters. Sichinga's poetry is built for the ear as much as the page.

He has described spoken word as a form of performance and connection, something that comes alive when the writer meets an audience.

Unique African storytelling

Sichinga's creative interests have also stretched into fashion and event production.

He has been involved with Malawi's creative industry and worked around events bringing together fashion, music and spoken word.

Today, however, another part of his CV is attracting attention.

Sichinga serves as Africa Lead Consultant for CALSTART's Drive to Zero programme, working on the transition to zero-emission commercial transport across the continent.

The role puts him in conversations about electric trucks, infrastructure, policy, investment and the practical challenges of decarbonising African transport.

It is a long way from a poetry stage in Malawi.

But perhaps that is precisely what makes his story interesting.

Marumbo Sichinga has not abandoned one identity for another.

The poet and the engineer have simply taken different routes through the same continent - one through language and performance, the other through technology and transport.

And somewhere between the two is a career that refuses to fit neatly into one box.