Mary Mkandawire

Mary Mkandawire is the Founder and Managing Director of Life to the Full Consulting. She is a Leadership Consultant certified by internationally recognized leadership expert Dr John C. Maxwell, and conducts consultancies, executive coaching and corporate training for clients and organizations across the private, public and non-profit sectors. Mary is a highly sought after inspirational speaker for conferences and corporate events. She is a cohort facilitator for Breakfast Club Africa, a Pan African organization focused on enhancing the leadership of CEOs.

Mary was the only woman in the inaugural group of eleven doctors that graduated from the University Of Malawi College Of Medicine when it was first established in 1991. Her background as a public health physician contributed greatly to her decision to focus on developing leaders as a means of bringing about genuine transformation in the health of the nation. Mary’s unique upbringing has especially equipped her to come alongside leaders as they navigate this 21st century age of constant transition, globalization and multiculturalism. Her father was among the first group of ambassadors to serve Malawi after independence from Great Britain, and Mary grew up with change and cross-cultural living as by the time she was 10 years of age, she had lived in six different countries on three separate continents. Mary continues to travel for education, work and leisure, and to remain connected to her six siblings who are spread out across the globe in Australia, South Africa, Thailand, UK, USA and Zimbabwe.

Mary is the author of the popular BNL Daily Times Transformational Leadership weekly column and has contributed to various professional publications including People Manager Magazine (for Malawi HR professionals) and Malawi Insurance Times. Her writing has won first place awards in the Malawi Writer’s Union Peer Gynt Award (2002) and VoiceFlame Writers Essay Competition (2009).

Mary has a passion for empowering the youth and has run several projects since 2002 to equip young people with leadership skills, including ASK for Kids, Girls Talk, WISE UP and the YouthMAX conference that impacted over 11,000 schoolchildren in Blantyre and Lilongwe in April 2017.

Relevant Qualifications 2017 Haggai Institute for Advanced Leadership Studies, USA Values Based Leadership training 2016 Making Human Strength Productive, Development Associates International, USA Leadership training covering: Servant Leadership, Understanding Yourself, Power, Developing Others, Building Teams, Motivating Others for Excellence and Service, Leading Change, Mission, Vision and Values, Resolving Conflict, Integrity and Accountability 2016 DISC Certification, Personality I.D., U.S.A Human behaviour personal assessment tool used to improve work productivity, teamwork and communication. 2013 Coach, Speaker and Trainer Certification, The John Maxwell Team, USA Certification programme of internationally recognized leadership expert Dr John C Maxwell. 2013 Career Direct® Certification, Career Direct, USA Career Counselling based on the Career Direct® Complete Guidance System which assesses talents and abilities by analysing four critical areas – personality, interests, skills, and values. 1999 MPH, Master of Public Health, University of Liverpool, England Dissertation and Research focus: Social Inequalities; Education, Training and Employment 1992 MB BS, Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, College of Medicine, Blantyre, Malawi 1989 BSc, Bachelor of Science in Medical Science, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, UK 1986 BSc. (Hons), Bachelor of Science (Honours) Chemistry, Chancellor College, University of Malawi