2023 Mandela Washington Fellow Shange-Ndamona Mungoba shares her Namibian Food Security Sustainability Strategy with United States (U.S.) Secretary of State

Download logo
Shange-Ndamona Mungoba, a 2023 MWF was placed at Jackson State University (Mississippi, USA) for Business & Entrepreneurship professional development. Her cohort was made up of fellows from 23 sub-Saharan African countries, with 24 other fellows who collectively serve their communities in Agri-Business, Agri-Processing and Food Trade & Food Security initiatives. The 6-week training program was comprised of business and entrepreneurial training, relative business site visits, workshops, market simulations, community service and development projects around Mississippi.

On the 2nd of August 2023, the Mandela Washington Fellowship Summit concluded with representatives from U.S. government agencies, various businesses, and NGOs with a collaborative interest in Africa. As part of the U.S. State Department mandate for foreign policy and relations, Mungoba was invited to share her MWF experience and Food Security aspirations with the U.S. Department of State Secretary Anthony Blinken. For this meeting, Shange-Ndamona Mungoba was selected amongst two other fellows out of the 700 fellows (collectively from 49 Sub-Saharan countries) in the 2023 cohort based on her biography and aspirations she has for Namibia and Africa at large. Shange-Ndamona Mungoba aims to transform Agricultural Businesses and relative stakeholders to be economically and environmentally sustainable. Her focus is to promote the up cycling of food loss and waste to create other commodities such as animal feed, fertilizer, and pest control agents.

“I was honored to have met U.S. Department of State Secretary Antony Blinken and to share my aspirations as a Food Systems and Management Specialist. I emphasized on how the United States and Namibia could strengthen ties to promote food security by upscaling food waste to animal feed, fertilizer, and pest control agents”, – Shange-Ndamona Mungoba, #YALI2023 from Namibia.

Shange-Ndamona Mungoba Bio:

Shange-Ndamona Mungoba has over 5 years of experience in Food Science and Technology. This is in terms of food manufacturing engineering and technology. Moreover, Shange has extensive knowledge and experience in food quality and safety systems auditing, consultancy, and training respectively. Her current role as a Compliance Officer at Vector Logistics Limited focuses on Safety, Health, Environmental, Risk and Quality Assurance of Food Products and Employee Wellness. Fundamentally, her background in Food Technology has led to an interest in the overall Food Supply System and associated environmental impacts. Shange-Ndamona holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Food Systems and Management (UK), a Bachelor of Technology in Food Technology (RSA), a National Diploma in Food Technology (RSA) and is a recent graduate of an Honours Degree in Business Management (NAM). Shange-Ndamona aims to transform agricultural businesses in terms of the implementation of corporate sustainability, food waste intervention, food security and nutrition, resilient supply chains, reviving indigenous food production and support of local farming in a competitive international market.

The #YALI2024 applications will open on Tuesday, August 15! You may apply to one of 3 tracks: Business, Civic Engagement, or Public Management. View eligibility info and the timeline: https://mwfellows.info/apply
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of U.S. Embassy in Namibia.