I want you to know that I don't have any right, Malawi has no right to stop any president from coming to an African Union summit because that is an African Union meeting.

I sat down in 1989 and I made up my mind at that point that I was going to spend the rest of my life assisting women and youth to gain social and political empowerment through business and education. I convinced myself economic empowerment of women was going to be key, especially in a country like this where most women didn't go to school.

I convinced myself economic empowerment of women was going to be key, especially in a country like this where most women didn't go to school.

You ask how I feel to be the first female president in southern Africa? It's heavy for me. Heavy in the sense that I feel that I'm carrying this heavy load on behalf of all women.

I didn't want to go to college or work in an office or have a nine-to-five job. I knew that quite clearly before I left school.

I wasn't born a natural entrepreneur. I had to be trained.

At age 28, I had no retail experience, no consumer marketing experience and no real Internet experience. But I decided I wanted to work for myself. I felt starting a company would enable me to get the responsibility I deserved and that I couldn't do that within the confines of a bigger company.

In the journey of an entrepreneur, the most important thing is self-belief and the ability to convert that belief into reality.