Dr. Maxwell Chanakira
Maxwell Chanakira is an Electrical Engineer holding the City and Guilds (London) Full Technological Certificate (FTC) in Telecommunications, a BTech degree in Electrical Engineering and a postgraduate Certificate in Digital Telecommunications Technology (AOTS, Japan). In addition, he holds an MBA and a DTech in Organisational Leadership from Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa.
He started his career in the public sector working in the then Zimbabwe Posts and Telecommunications (ZPTC) in 1985 rising over the years from Trainee Telecommunications Technician, to Technician, Chief Technician, Area Manager and Access Network Manager CBD, equivalent to Regional Telecommunications Manager. He left in 2001 for the private sector joining Econet Wireless which was part of the Mountain Kingdom Consortium and had just bought a controlling stake in Telecom Lesotho. He worked as an Outside Plant Engineer with special responsibility for the rehabilitation of the external plant network.
Maxwell joined the Harare Institute of Technology in March 2010 becoming rising to his current position three years later. His specific brief is to strengthen a culture of entrepreneurial education with a direct focus on SMEs and Senior Government Officials in order to help strengthen HIT’s journey on a trajectory of innovation, incubation, transfer and commercialisation of technology. The Centre has forged closer ties with a number of local and international partners which has attracted some funding to the Institute.
In the community, Maxwell is Deputy Board Chairperson of the Advisory Council of Msasa Industrial and Training College (MITC), appointed by the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development. He also chairs the PPPs Technical Committee of NAMACO which produced Guidelines on PPPs for the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development which are currently in force.
He has presented and published over 20 papers on topics covering innovation, strategy, incubation and leadership. His publication record includes five book chapters in Springer London, CODESRIA, IGI Global USA and OSSREA. Maxwell is a reviewer of several international journals in Europe and the United States. He is also an external examiner of PhD degrees for several local institutions.
Outside of the academic world, Maxwell is a real estate entrepreneur and enjoys travelling with his wife and three sons.