Mr Misheck Samson Kachere is the Chairperson of the SIRDC Board. He is a well-known industrialist and business executive. Mr Kachere holds a BSc degree majoring in Chemistry and Physics as well as a Masters in Business Leadership degree. He also undertook several management development training courses locally and abroad.
His work experience include stints at Zisco Steel and Trojan Nickel Mine where he worked as Assistant Chief Chemist and Analytical Chemist, respectively.
Mr Kachere joined Chemplex Corporation in 1983 and rose through the corporate ladder to assume the position of Group Chief Executive Officer in February 2008. Mr Kachere retired from Chemplex Corporation at the end February 2017 after 34 years of service. He has had Board Directorships at Zimbabwe Fertiliser Company, Sable Chemical Industries, Dyno-Nobel Zimbabwe, Business Council for Sustainable Development and the Zimbabwe Agricultural Society.
Mr Kachere also served on the 2003-2005 SIRDC Board. His managerial skills were recognised by the Zimbabwe Institute of Management when he won the Private Sector Manager of the Year Award for 2008. Mr Kachere has written and presented more than twenty papers on the strategy, policy, production, marketing relating to agriculture and fertilizers at national and international conferences and workshops.
His membership of professional bodies include Zimbabwe Institute of Management, Royal Chemistry Society, London Institute of Industrial Managers and the Institute of Directors. Mr Kachere is a highly regarded expert in the fertilizer industry in the SADC region.
Eng. Thankful Musukutwa is a qualified Engineer. He also holds a Masters in Business Administration degree. He is a proven leader with engineering and management skills gained through working for the Office of the President and Cabinet (Permanent Secretary, Projects), Ministry of Mines and Mining Development (Permanent Secretary),
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (Divisional Chief, Mining Sector Development), Bindura Nickel Mine (Senior Projects Engineer), The Wattle Company (Maintenance Engineer), Nyanga Pine, BHP Minerals Zimbabwe (Maintenance Engineer), Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (Plant Engineer) over the past thirty years.
In the recent past, Mr Musukutwa was the General Manager of AceFoam, a manufacturer of foam rubber. He has been a Board member of several companies including ART Corporation, TRANSLOAD Bio Diesel, Tuli Coal and the Zimbabwe School of Mines.
Dr Leonard Madzingaidzo is the Chief Executive Officer of SIRDC since 1 July 2023. Prior to this appointment, Dr Madzingaidzo was the Executive Director – Technical, superintending over the work programmes of the 12 SIRDC research institutes. He joined SIRDC in February 2000 as a Research Scientist in the Biotechnology Research Institute and assumed the position of Acting Director of the Institute from May 2002 until September 2003. Dr Madzingaidzo was then appointed substantive Director of the newly established Food and Biomedical Technology Institute in March 2003, and briefly led two research institutes, concurrently. In January 2005, he was elevated to the position of Executive Director – Technical.
Before joining SIRDC, Dr Madzingaidzo had working stints namely, at the Dairy Marketing Board (now Dairibord Zimbabwe Limited), Standards Association of Zimbabwe and Cairns Foods Limited. Over the years, he has gained valuable experience in Manufacturing, Quality Assurance, Research and Development, Technology Transfer, Commercialisation, and
Management of Intellectual Property Assets. An accomplished leader and scholar, Dr Madzingaidzo holds a Bachelor of Technology (Hons) degree in Applied Biology and Biochemistry (1 st Class) from the University of
Zimbabwe (UZ) obtained in 1992; MSc in Biotechnology (Merit) from UZ obtained in 1994; and PhD in Biotechnology and Biochemical Technology (Suma Cum Laude) from the Vienna University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (BOKU) Austria, obtained in 1999. He is a beneficiary of Academic Scholarships from the Government of Zimbabwe; The Netherlands:
Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS) for MSc Studies at UZ and Free University of Amsterdam; and the Austrian Government through the Austrian Academic Exchange Service (OeAD) for Doctorate studies at BOKU and Vienna University of Technology. Dr Madzingaidzo is currently a board member of the Standards Association of Zimbabwe
and sits on the Advisory Board of the Korea Partnership for Innovation in Agriculture (KOPIA). He has previously served as Chairman of the Science and Technology Advisory Committee of the Korea-Africa Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (KAFACI) and as Vice Chairman of the Trade Measures Board under the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
Dr Madzingaidzo is a former member of the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) and Women’s University in Africa (WUA), University Councils.
