Table of Contents
Malawi's first dollar billionaire has stepped forward with a K100 million ($57,670) cash donation to help the government bring home thousands of Malawians stranded and facing abuse in South Africa, urging the country's private sector to match the effort.
Dr. Thomson Mpinganjira, the founder and controlling shareholder of FDH Financial Holdings, made the donation to the Department of Disaster Management Affairs on Tuesday in Blantyre, describing the plight of Malawians in South Africa as heartbreaking and calling it a matter of shared national responsibility.
"We have made this contribution after witnessing the difficulties that many Malawians are going through in South Africa. It is a heartbreaking situation, and we believe it is our responsibility to support the government in bringing our people back home safely," Mpinganjira said at the handover.
He used the occasion to issue a direct appeal to corporate Malawi, civil society, faith-based institutions, and individuals with the capacity to give, urging them not to sit on the sidelines while the government carries an increasingly heavy financial load.
"I appeal to companies, NGOs, churches and all those with the capacity to assist to come forward and support this cause. Together, we can help ensure that no Malawian is left stranded," he said.
DoDMA Commissioner Wilson Moleni received the donation and disclosed the scale of the repatriation effort underway. Approximately 3,000 Malawians have already been brought home from South Africa, he said, with the government having spent close to K5 billion ($2.9 million) on the operation to date.
"The repatriation exercise has already cost close to K5 billion, reflecting the scale of the humanitarian response required. Support from partners such as the Mpinganjira family is therefore invaluable," Moleni said.
The repatriation push comes amid a broader wave of xenophobic tension and violence targeting foreign nationals in South Africa, a crisis that has forced several southern African governments to activate emergency evacuation and repatriation programs for their citizens. Malawi has been among the most affected given the large number of Malawian migrant workers who depend on South Africa for employment.
Mpinganjira, 64, built his fortune over more than two decades through FDH Financial Holdings, the parent company of FDH Bank Plc, which is listed on the Malawi Stock Exchange. His investment firm, M Development, holds a 55% stake in FDH Financial Holdings, which in turn owns 74.05% of FDH Bank, giving him an indirect stake of approximately 40.73% in the listed lender. That stake was valued at approximately $1.12 billion in August 2025, following a 365% surge in FDH Bank's share price, making him the first Malawian to cross the dollar billionaire threshold. Billionaires.Africa was among the first outlets to document that milestone.
His philanthropic record extends beyond the repatriation donation. In March 2024, Mpinganjira built and opened a cancer hospital in honor of his late wife, Barbara Mpinganjira, through the Thomson and Barbara Mpinganjira Foundation, which focuses on health, education, and youth entrepreneurship.
The intelligence satisfies curiosity. The paid briefings satisfy strategy.
Every Monday, Elite subscribers receive an Investor Memo breaking down the deal, the structure and the positioning behind the week's most consequential African wealth story - the kind of analysis that doesn't appear anywhere else.
Twice a month, a Wealth Intelligence brief profiles a single billionaire's holdings, cash flows and expansion pipeline in detail no public source matches.
→ Executive ($25/mo): Daily newsletter + Deep-Dive Reports
→ Elite ($75/mo): Everything above + Investor Memos + Wealth Intelligence + Quarterly Analyst Briefings
Subscribe now
