Rhoda Mandaza

Rhoda Mandaza (born in 1959) is an independent producer, promoter and live entertainment specialist from Harare, Zimbabwe.

Mandaza has provided related services both in the SADC region and the continent for the past 30 years.

In the early 1980s circumstances forced her to take a break from the entertainment industry and moved from the capital, Harare to the midlands of Zimbabwe where she worked with Zimbabwe’s largest Iron and Steel Company. Starting out in the production department, she developed a strong interest in the Labour Movement as the newly independent Zimbabwe was now introducing Labour relations policies and the introduction of Trade Unionism.

Her outspoken nature soon got her elected as representative of the workers of Zisco Steel and she subsequently spent the next five years organizing and coordinating the trade union at Zisco.
During this time she did much traveling both in Southern Africa and America and Europe, during which time she participated in a number of training programmes. Some of these programmes included:

• “Train the Trainer” course with the Zimbabwe Institute of Management.
• In 1986 she attended the Women in Labour Summer School at the University of Virginia, Washington DC this was followed by
• A “Trade Union Educators” programme at the SOMAFKA Labour College in Oslo, Norway.

This training further strengthened her organizational capacity, and would stand her in good stead in her future endeavours to mobilize, organize and co-ordinate a variety of projects, events and professional bodies.

In her career to date, Rhoda has played an important role in the vibrancy and success of the business of cultural heritage preservation, live entertainment and the organization of artistic and cultural bodies in the African Continent.

Her ability to read social trends, audience needs and business potential in the entertainment industry has consistently resulted in pro-active conceptualization, detailed planning and successful execution of a diverse range of big-budget projects and events over the span of 25 years.

She is renowned for mobilizing and motivating high caliber project teams who deliver quality results on-time, within budget and with outcomes often far beyond sponsor or investor expectations. One of Rhoda’s major strengths lies in her ability to be innovative and to produce unique solutions in the context of programme and project execution.

Working mostly as an independent consultant or producer Rhoda’s impressive catalogue of high profile achievements have derived a large part of their success specifically from her network of contacts in both the regional, continental and international entertainment industry together with her knowledge of the existing conditions and resources available, and her ability to create value beyond initial thinking.

Her people-management style attracts creative, productive and inspired team-players to her projects. Rhoda has her finger on the artistic and cultural pulse of the region and the continent and typically seeks to combine pure entertainment with education and other socially responsible outcomes, recognizing the powerful vehicle of art and culture to effect positive change.
Her expertise is...