Mupangi Sithole

Male, Married, Christian, Light vehicle driver ================ Mupangi is a seasoned agribusiness and rural development expert with some strong technical & business advisory service as well as project managerial experience spanning for more than fifteen (15) years. He has worked with several UN development agencies, NGOs, African governments, and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat to deliver economic growth, reduce hunger and gender equality in Sub-Saharan Africa via private sector-led agricultural/agribusiness initiatives and application of innovative financing mechanisms in 'tough' crisis/fragile development contexts. His past roles also include regional agro-supply chain development and intra-African trade promotion, blended finance instrument architecture, operational and business strategy formulation for agribusiness - corporates and SMEs alike, resource mobilization and promote impact investment, grant/loan administration, project management, stakeholder capacity building, sector studies & business diagnostics, M&E system development, agribusiness research and consultancy, business and value chain greening, value-chain finance including agri-financial technology accelerators, market linkage and market systems development through smallholder farmer inclusive business modeling. In the agricultural sector, he has worked with more than ninety (90) large corporates, and small-to-medium-sized enterprises, over five hundred (500+) entrepreneurs and over fifty (50+) civic organizations as implementing partners. He has also been involved with food value chain greening projects for both crop and livestock (including cold chain development, in particular beef, pork, and poultry). His diversely rich technical-conceptual background has sharpened his analytical, interpersonal, people, leadership, research, and communication, reporting & facilitation skills. Mupangi is a resourceful problem solver, strategic thinker and a team player who has always mentored and encouraged colleagues' career growth. Prior to joining the development sector, the candidate spent three (3) years on a large commercial mixed farm working as a farm manager. AREA-SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS CARRIED OUT * Policy and Strategy Advice Development * Technical Advice to Country Programmes and Private Sector leadership * Knowledge Advisory and Leadership * Regional trade and supply chain development * Program M & E System design and roll out * Organise & conduct Monitoring visits to project sites * Climate Investment Maps development * Agricultural SME and Entrepreneurship Development - including Business Ideation, Incubation & Acceleration * Business Development - Donor Mapping and Proposal Writing1 through infusion of Access to Finance and Access-to-Market components for sustainable agricultural Program design * Value Chain Development - Analysis & Prioritization for Investment Opportunities at Sector/Households/Industry/Entity Level * Rural finance mobilization and pitching for funds (both grants and loans) * Grant/loan Management (donor compliance, loan performance management and sub grant administration) * Market System Development (Input, Output & Service Markets) at national & International level * Crop and livestock market inclusion for poor communities (through ownership and participation in piloting of and up scaling business model promoting local agro processing, out grower & offtake markets) * Meat abattoir business model (poultry, piggery & beef) and cold chain development * Beef and Poultry abattoir comparative (operating efficiency) analyses, business & market strategy development with export market in mind * Business & Operational Strategies for private sector * Report Writing (financial & narrative reports for the UNDP, GEF, IFAD, USAID, UKAID, Delta Corporation, and Irish AID) * Partnership Building and Outreach Activities * Private Sector Investment lead * National and regional policy engagement and partnership * Develop a value chain greening manual and e-Course * Regenerative agriculture (Songhai Project) * Agricultural transformation and COVID 19 Recovery Finance Facility proposal writing for over 15 UNDP country offices in Africa * Application of innovative financing mechanisms in 'tough' crisis/fragile development contexts * Financial inclusion (Revolving Loan Fund Schemes and Internal Savings and Lending groups) * Crosscutting Issue mainstreaming including Climate Change and Gender * Training & Capacity enhancement (Institutional, Business, Crop & livestock Husbandry, Gender, and Climate Change Issues) * Project Cycle Management (Planning, Appraisal, and Implementation) * Business Incubator and Accelerator Intervention design, e.g., UNDP Africa Lions' Den * Knowledge Management * Infusion of Climate Change Adaptation/Mitigation Technologies in agro-project designs and business models * Policy Analysis and Advocacy (Trade & Marketing, Agricultural Gender and Climate Change) * Set up & administer Mobile Agriculture technological (ICT4D) platforms for farmer credit rating, and access to market, production, and weather information * Agricultural Education Curriculum development * Organic & Conventional farming) - including Conservation and Climate Smart Agriculture * Human Resources Management * Research - Market Studies, Value Chain studies, Sector Studies & Industry Strategic Plans, Project Feasibility Studies, and Scoping Studies * Agricultural Extension Service Support Business Advisory Services (Tailor-made TA support for partners)