Meet The Team

Our year 3 and final year students will complete their training in December 2022: Ahmed, Dismas, Enock, Eric, Fatuma, Frederick, Hawa, Ikram, Jackson, Jumaa, Mahmoud, Omari, Peter Omari, Peter Voice, Rabia, Winifrida.

They have passed the 2022 audition. Congratulations to: Amina, Amos, Benito, Bill, Deosantus, Donasian, Esther, Enock, Happyness, Hassan Amani, Hassan Ramadhani, Hamasaki, Hidaya, Husna, Jamil, Mary, Mwanaharusi, Othman, Pax, Victoria.

Ian’s work in dance art connects the wisdom of our ancestors to the contemporary ideas of today in an incessant search of what is best for our future. During his 24-year career as a dance artist, he performed and toured in Africa and Europe, with the Skanes Dans teater (Sweden), Dance traffic project (East Africa, Russia), Theatre for Africa (South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi,Tanzania), CE dans (Sweden,Denmark), and Tanzania’s House of Talent (THT) among others . Ian co-founded the very first contemporary dance company of Tanzania in 2001, the very first Tanzanian contemporary dance festival in 2007 with its 16th edition opening in September 2022 and finally Muda Africa in 2013, Tanzania’s very first contemporary dance school, where is currently the Artistic Director. Ian regularly serves as an advisor to the National Arts Council of Tanzania (BASATA) and is a Board member of the newly founded HipHop Asili festival since 2021. Ian is also an accomplished guitarist, singer and songwriter. He created Dar es Salaam’s most famous reggae band ‘Machifu’ in 2008 and later on became a finalist in the East Africa Tusker project fame competition. Since 2020 he has been creating music in his free time with his new group called ”iJu and the Band”.

Rachel supports the youth of Africa to connect to the rest of the world through the wealth and strength of their own Arts and Cultures. Rachel has over 21 years of experience in project and institution development in the fields of visual and performing arts in East Africa. Owner of the Mawazo Contemporary Art Centre in Dar from 2001-2012, she promoted over 140 East African visual artists, published Art books and setup commercial outlets for handicraft groups. In 2013 Rachel co-founded the Muda Africa dance centre where she is currently in charge of Strategic planning, Finance and Administration. Rachel has served on the board of several Tanzanian non-profits including Alliance francaise, Busara Promotions, Music Mayday and Vipaji Art Foundation. She is currently a Board member of the Rafiki iNGO in Bagamoyo. Born to a British mother and Tanzanian father, Rachel grew up in the USA, UK and Switzerland and now lives In Dar es Salaam with her family.

A graduate of the University of Dar es Salaam with a BA in journalism, Salehe wrote his final dissertation on instagram and entrepreneurship, before joining Muda Africa in 2019 where he is now in charge of our social media pages, media relations and daily administration. Salehe is a semi-elite marathon runner. In his second participation at the famous Kilimanjaro marathon, he came in 41st position out of over 1,000 competitors!

Wema is a Certified Chartered Accountant with 10 years experience in auditing, accounting and financial management. She worked as a senior auditor at Ernst & Young and audited government, NGO and private sectors clients such as Tanzania Railway, Tanzania Investment Bank, Twiga cement, Exim bank, Pathfinder International, AMREF and Action Aid international amongst others. As finance manager for Aggrey Clifford she was in charge of setting financial goals for operational plans, day-to-day financial operations, advising on financial strategies, financial reporting, statutory obligations and external audits. At Muda Africa, Wema in charge of accounts, financial reporting and supervising external audits. Wema has a Bachelor in Commerce from the University of Dar es Salaam and she is a member of the National Board of Accountants and Auditors (CPA, Tanzania) and of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA, United Kingdom)

Geoffrey works in the banking and consulting sectors. He co-founded GO Finance, a startup that focused on closing the access to financing for MSMEs involved in FMCG value chains in Tanzania and raised in excess of USD 650,000 in grants, angel and seed capital as well as winning key competitions for the GO concept. He has 6 years experience as a commercial banker with Standard Chartered Bank and African Bank Corporation (now BancABC), and 2 years as a strategy and operations analyst with Deloitte Consulting, a part of Deloitte & Touche Tohmatsu. Geoffrey has a BSc in Business Administration from the Kelly School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington.

Aichieli Temu, more commonly known as 'Chi', is a Creative Director and Copy Writer. Chi mainly works in Marketing &. Communications building on her graphic design, creative strategy and English copy writing skills. Chi has previously worked in other marketing roles from Creative Strategist to Marketing and Social Media Manager and Event Management. This all built up to her current position in wanting to create communications that truly connected with people through culture. Chi is also a musician, continuing on her creative pursuits by curating and performing at different events around Dar Es Salaam and building the industry up with her, one platform at a time

Aida is a dynamic, results-oriented leader focused on achieving exceptional results in highly demanding environment. She has over 20 years experience in strategy development, operational planning and financial management in the private, civil society and public sector. She has worked at senior levels within the extractives, energy and development sector. She utilizes keen analysis and team approach to drive organisational improvements and implementation of best practises. She holds an MBA from Copenhagen business School, Denmark and a Master of Science in Environmental Science from Stellenbosch University, South Africa. She was named  MBA Alumni of the Year 2013- Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

Jan van Esch is a Dutch visual multi-media artist, curator and cultural entrepreneur working on the topic of toxins in gifts. He is the former Director of the Nafasi Art Space in Tanzania and in the last years has been an artist-in-residence at the Berlin art centre ZK/U and Dar es Salaam ARK residency in Kigamboni. He curated the AFEW-Culture Initiative at the International AIDS conference 2018 and has carried out cultural consultancies for the Swiss Development Cooperation amongst others.    Jan holds a MA in Anthropology from Radboud University and MSC in Public Health from Harvard University and has extensive public health and social development experience from his years in Russia, USA, Nigeria and Tanzania.

Born in Tanzania, Asteria Malinzi is a fine art photographer. She completed her BA (Hons) in Business Management and Marketing at the University of Derby, United Kingdom in 2012. She then went on to pursue photography and relocated to Cape Town, South Africa where in 2015 she graduated from Cape Town School of Photography. Since graduating, she has participated in several group exhibitions in South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya and Egypt. She currently works as a gallery manager at Rangi Gallery and has started an artist residency called Artists Residency of Kigamboni (ARK). She is currently based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania