Human resources are increasingly seen as vital to developing nations, but studies of work motivation remain focused on manager elites rather than the general workforce, and on motivation ‘at’ particular workplaces rather than the wider meaning ‘of’ work in societies at large. In an adaptation of Morse and Weiss's classic study on the meaning of work, one hundred Malaŵian workers from a variety of occupations were asked whether they would continue to work even if they were given enough money to retire comfortably. Sixty-four per cent said that they would continue to stay at work, predominantly for reasons of security, while the wider meaning of work might entail the narrative typology of owning one's own business. The Western notion of need hierarchy may be irrelevant to Malaŵian workers, many of whom can never be certain of basic security, while the common sense of purpose in owning a small business gives credence to the policy of bottom up, community-driven economic reform.