Kwathu Kollective celebrates Nomsa Faith Nungu on earning her Master of Arts in International Development from Yeungnam University in South Korea, graduating with distinction and receiving the Governor’s Award in Academic Excellence.
At Kwathu Kollective, some of the journeys we value most are the ones we get to witness over time.
Nomsa Faith Nungu’s is one of them.
Her journey within our wider ecosystem began in 2022, when she joined the Ntha Foundation as a Product Manager Intern through a World Bank Digital Malawi project. There, she managed the Digi Savvy e-learning platform, helping shape product plans, marketing strategies and improvements aimed at making digital-skills training more accessible to young people, particularly those in rural communities.
What began in product management would become a much broader body of work spanning technology, programmes, research and development.
Growing Across Disciplines
One of Nomsa’s defining strengths has always been her ability to work comfortably across disciplines.
Her undergraduate training in Business Information Technology gave her a foundation in technology and systems. Her professional work exposed her to digital inclusion, product and programme management. And her postgraduate studies would eventually take her further into questions of policy, institutions and international development.
Across the Kwathu ecosystem, that combination has increasingly become part of the work she does: connecting technical systems to the people and communities they are ultimately meant to serve.
More recently, her work has included leading cross-functional technical programmes involving AI-driven supply-chain and smart-village simulations, bringing together areas including ag-tech, education technology and gaming.
It is precisely this ability to move between technology and development that makes her journey particularly exciting to us.
From Malawi to South Korea
Nomsa completed her first degree at the Malawi University of Science and Technology, graduating in Business Information Technology.
Three years later, she has reached another milestone.
She has now graduated from Yeungnam University in South Korea with a Master of Arts in International Development, receiving the Governor’s Award in Academic Excellence (distinction).
Her time in Korea also gave her the opportunity to explore South Korea’s development experience more closely — examining how community ownership, institutions, mindset, technology and collective responsibility can contribute to national transformation.
In 2025, Yeungnam University also recognised Nomsa with an Excellence Award at its Korean Speech Contest for Global Leaders, where she reflected on the Saemaul principles of diligence, self-help and cooperation and spoke about using what she had learned to strengthen connections between Korea and Malawi.
Building People Who Build Systems
Kwathu Kollective exists around a belief that Africa’s next generation of institutions, products and industries will require people who are able to think across traditional boundaries.
Technology cannot be separated from policy.
Innovation cannot be separated from the communities it affects.
And development cannot be separated from the systems required to sustain it.
Nomsa’s journey increasingly sits at that intersection.
Her professional record already spans digital inclusion and AI-related work, while her academic interests continue to develop around how emerging technologies can be governed and deployed responsibly in countries such as Malawi. In our work together, we have seen her develop from a young product manager into someone capable of taking increasingly complex ideas through to implementation. Recommendation_Letter_[9035664]…
Her academic performance has been equally strong. Across her undergraduate and postgraduate studies, she has distinguished herself academically while continuing to build professional experience alongside her studies.
And she is still only getting started.
Congratulations, Nomsa
We are immensely proud to celebrate this milestone with Nomsa Faith Nungu.
Not simply because another degree has been earned, but because every new layer of knowledge expands what she can build, lead and contribute.
From Malawi to South Korea, from digital-skills platforms to development policy and emerging technology, hers is exactly the kind of multidisciplinary journey we believe the future will demand.
Congratulations, Nomsa.
We are proud to have you as part of the Kwathu story — and even more excited about what you build next.
Work With Us
Want to partner on or fund one of our programmes / initiatives? We are always open to collaborations and partnerships. Contact us via kollective@kwathu.org.
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