This month’s call will feature John Rexford Nzira, the Executive Director of Twende Social Innovation Center in Tanzania. John will take us through the Twende Makerspace and how they are empowering communities through open science hardware and innovation. Twende is a Tanzanian-based non-governmental organization, dealing with the innovation of technologies to solve community challenges.

John is a big believer in the future of today’s youth. He has been working at Twende Social Innovation Center since 2018 and serving as the Executive Director since 2020. John’s daily mission is to inspire and equip the youth with training in creativity, innovative thinking, and practical “hands-on” implementation. He has progressively championed various programs and projects at Twende including tech incubation, STEM clubs, and the extension of Twende to the Kilimanjaro region by establishing the Twende-Orkolili satellite center.