From Small Business to Solid Foundations: Catching Up with Tikiva

There’s nothing quite like the moment you see someone standing in front of something they built for themselves. That’s exactly the scene that greeted Desire and Auspicious when they made the journey to Namatuli Village in Zomba to visit Tikiva, one of our first programme participants.

Tikiva welcomed the team proudly, standing beside the house he has built — funded by the small business King’s Kids helped him get off the ground. It’s the kind of moment that reminds us exactly why we do this work: when young people are given a genuine chance and the right support behind them, they don’t just survive. They build.

Follow-up visits like this one are about more than seeing how a business is doing. The team spent time in Tikiva’s home environment, meeting several members of his family and getting a real sense of his day-to-day life, as well as where he sees himself heading next.

And Tikiva has plenty on his mind for the future. He shared that entrepreneurship is still very much his path — he’s hoping to set up another small business down the line. Desire and Auspicious sat with him to talk through his goals and think together about how King’s Kids can keep walking alongside him as he works towards sustainable independence. 

Stories like Tikiva’s are a reminder that our work doesn’t stop once a young person “graduates” from the programme — it evolves. We’ll keep following his journey, cheering him on, and making sure the support network around him stays strong.