Why Tanzanian engineer impressed top US varsity

Arusha. In an era of technological innovations, no one in Arusha would fail to mention Kakute, an enterprise based here, which has been transforming the lives of people through skills upgrade for improved productivity.

Behind its 20 years of success story is none other than Livinus Manyanga, an engineer who is a skilled trainer and development professional. He is always keen to see enterprises, and individuals alike benefit from application of relevant technologies.

“The world leaders in innovation and creativity will also be the world leaders in everything else,” he said in a recent interview at his office in the city.

He said although there were enormous challenges for enterprises to grow in size and in value, there are ways they can overcome these through innovation.

“The only true, sustainable and virtually unlimited source of new growth for any organisation is innovation. Innovation is about making the world a better place,”he pointed out.

That sums the journey of his budding enterprise, now known as Kakute Projects Company Limited, as well as meteoric rise to become an award winner in different facets of technological innovations touching on the micro and small enterprises.

One of the awards he won was the Roy Family Award for Environmental Partnership from the prestigious Harvard University in the US in 2007 for his outstanding design of various technology and business innovations at home.

“Despite our brief history and limited resources, Kakute has served its mission as the company for technological dissemination in rural Tanzania,” he explained, noting that micro and small firms were and continue to be the main beneficiaries. Kakute dates from 1995 when it was created in response to requests from  the stakeholders of a project then known as T-Press Project, a short form for the Tanzania Project for Rural Enterprises Support Services.

The technical staff, including himself, exited T-Press to set up Kakute to provide technology innovation information and business model promotion advisory services, such as the training of stakeholders.

“The aim was to create an organisation that would deliver an integrated approach to the provision of marketing and technology innovation assistance to the local and export promotion administrations of SMEs in the region,” he said.

Projects implemented ranged from T-Press that spearheaded the development of oil seed farmer’s enterprise value chain, including sunflower, safflower and Moringa oleifera to implementation of Jatropha tree project.

Jatropha is a drought-resistant shrub which thrives well in the semi-arid parts of Arusha and Manyara regions from where biofuel is extracted for household use.

Other energy projects promoted by the firm include solar energy for cooking, lighting and for use by electronic appliances.

Between 2010 and 2015, the company partnered with the Tanzania branch of Mobisol GmbH to successfully promote and install 45,057 solar home systems in rural Tanzania with installation capacity of 4,840.89 MW.

“We thank the government for accepting this business model to serve the energy poverty in Tanzania. I wish also to thank our investors who supported this initiative,” he said. The solar energy business model is just one of the  enterprise development programmes that the 57-year-old has been involved.

He has designed various technology and business innovations in Tanzania and East African region in the area of post harvesting technology, renewable energy business models for more than 20 enterprises in different sub-sectors.

But taking stock of what he has done in technological innovations in all the years,  Manyanga who doubles as the CEO of Kakute Projects Company Limited, says intellect and skills are not alone to deliver success.

“In my 20-odd years in the business world, I have noticed those people who were able to grow their enterprises were the ones who understood human nature and how to tap the best in people,” he said.

He holds an Advanced Diploma n Vocational Education Training from the Dar es Salaam Technical College where he graduated in mechanical engineering in 1981 after a four year training stint.

However, he is rich in managing projects aimed to transform lives.

Besides managing Kakute, he has been a project coordinator of Embark Energy Programme in EA which was launched to execute capacity building for entrepreneurs involved in renewable energy development projects.

Through his leadership, Kakute has won several awards

Background

Manyanga is the Executive Director of Kakute, a social enterprise project based in Arusha, Tanzania. Founded in 1995, Kakute’s vision is to “create a vibrant innovation and technology business model and ecosystem to deliver social and economic benefits to Tanzania and the East Africa Region.” Kakute provides market ready, sustainable technology solutions for small-scale entrepreneurs in the region.

Manyanga has spent 20 years at the helm of Kakute where he leads a team of 22 workers. While at Kakute, Livinus has incubated dozens of successful entrepreneurs moving into successful profit-making businesses in the region.

In addition to his work with Kakute, Manyanga is an accomplished innovator in agricultural and environmental sectors in Tanzania. He pioneered the biofuel sub-sector that uses Jatropha seed in Tanzania. This work on enhancing the environment earned him Harvard University’s Roy Family Award for Environmental Partnership in 2017.

Mr Livinus Manyanga was born in 1960 in Marangu, Kilimanjaro. He is an experienced and successful manager of the company “Kakute Ltd” in Arusha which is working in the field of technology transfer and value chain development since 1995.