Dr Richard Chivaka is the Chief Executive Officer and founder of Spark Health Africa driven by a vision to revolutionize public healthcare across the African continent through transformative leadership and mindset change. With over 16 years of experience spanning multiple countries, he has become a key connector between business, health, and government sectors. Richard has successfully led health systems strengthening initiatives in Lesotho, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Mozambique, building robust teams and programs that unite diverse stakeholders. His work has established strong partnerships with African governments and major funding organizations. In academia, Richard serves as an Associate Professor of Business Strategy and Supply Chain Management at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business. He is also an author and PhD supervisor, specializing in transformative leadership, business strategy, value chain innovations, and operations management. Richard has provided expertise to organizations such as Nestle South Africa, Ernst and Young, Clinton Health Access Initiative, the Uganda Investment Authority, and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. He was the inaugural Research Scholar at Stanford Business School’s SEED Institute, where he helped scale African entrepreneurs’ businesses. Currently, Richard serves on the Advisory Group of the Early Childhood Development Action Network (ECDAN), a global initiative by the World Bank and UNICEF. He leads ECDAN’s Childcare Systems Mapping Working Group. He is a member of the Scientific Program Committee of the International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA) since 2023 and currently chairs the CPHIA 2024 Track 2 on Advancing Self-Reliance and Health Security through Innovative and Sustainable Health Financing for Universal Health Coverage in Africa. He is the Board Chair of the Consortium of New Medical Schools in Sub-Saharan Africa. Richard holds a PhD in Accounting from the University of Cape Town, a Master of Science from the University of Manchester, and a Bachelor of Commerce from the Zimbabwe University of Science and Technology. He is an avid runner and enjoys gardening.
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