About Blantyre

Blantyre is named after the town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, where the explorer David Livingstone was born. Urban development began in the colonial era with the arrival of missionaries, traders, and administrators and was further stimulated by the construction of the railway. In 1956 it was merged with its sister city, Limbe to form one city. As Malawis main economic and financial hub, the city plays host to an international trade fair every year which takes place during the month of May. The event seeks to showcase the best of Malawian commerce, industry, agriculture and information technology and opened under a theme of Building Productivity Capacity to Achieve Export Competitiveness in 2007. Blantyre is also home to the Malawi Stock Exchange located on victoria avenue, the heart of the city. It opened its doors in November 1996 and operates under the Capital Market Development Act 1990 and the Companies Act 1984. Prior to the listing of the first company, the major activities that were being undertaken were the provision of a facility for secondary market trading in Government of Malawi bonds namely, Treasury Bills and Local Registered Stocks.