Co-Director of the Afrikan Negotiation Lab
Professor Mandivamba (Mandi) Rukuni has taught agricultural economics for 20 years at the University of Zimbabwe, where he served as Dean of the School of Agriculture, and has over the decades, become an accomplished leadership development practitioner and organizational development strategist.
He is currently an advisor to the World Bank on land reform issues in Zimbabwe, and to NEPAD - the New Partnership for Africa's Development, the planning & technical body of the African Union. Mandi is responsible for incorporating an African perspective of the negotiation process into the overall teaching program of the Afrikan Negotiation Lab.
For 11 years he was with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation based in Pretoria, South Africa and served as Director for Africa Programs between 2006 and 2009. He has also served as a consultant to various organizations including the United Nation Food and Agricultural Organization, USAID, the European Union, the Canadian International Development Agency, the African Development Bank, and the Rockefeller Foundation. He is a Visiting Professor at Michigan State University.
In Zimbabwe, he has advised the Grain Marketing Board, the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority, and served as Chair of the Agricultural Research Council.
Mandi is a coach, mentor and motivational speaker to some of the leading Southern African companies and their executives. He is the founder and director of the Wisdom Afrika Leadership Academy (WALA), and founder and trustee of the Barefoot Education Afrika Trust (BEAT). He is the author of over a dozen books, including “Being Afrikan” and "Leading Afrika" published by Penguin.
Mandi received his PhD in agricultural economics from the University of Zimbabwe; his Master's degree, tropical agricultural development from the University of Reading, England and his Bachelor's degree in agriculture, University of Zimbabwe.
Mandi is based in Harare, Zimbabwe.