Richard Chivaka

Inspired by a deep personal commitment to transforming future generations, Richard founded Spark Health Africa with the vision to improve public healthcare service delivery to better the lives of African communities. He possesses extensive expertise in service as a bridge between business, health, and governments. In this regard, Richard has over 15 years of multi-country experience strengthening organizations by designing and building teams and programs across diverse stakeholders.

In his role as the Chief Executive officer (CEO) of Spark Health Africa Richard has led health systems strengthening in Lesotho, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. He is also responsible for the strategic growth of the organization from a specialized unit within the Graduate School of Business at UCT to becoming an independent organization after completion of multiple successful programs. Through this work Richard has maintained strong relationships with partner African governments and our key founder Johnson and Johnson.

Richard is also an Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town (UCT) where he has maintained a strong reputation as a versatile and knowledgeable educator. As an Associate Professor of Business Strategy and Supply Chain Management at the Graduate School of Business he has shared his expertise in value chain innovations and operations management. He has also served as a visiting Professor and the inaugural Research Scholar of the Stanford Business School’s Institute for Innovation in Developing Economics (SEED) where he focused on supporting the development of African entrepreneurs to scale up and sustain their businesses.

Richard is a sought-after consultant in the private sector and applies these competencies to addressing public sector challenges to improve healthcare delivery. His years of experience span across leadership and management capacity development, business strategy, supply chain risk and performance model design, value chain analysis, process improvement and cost optimization. He has provided services to a range of entities such as Nestle, Ernst and Young, German Foreign Office, Metropolitan Life Insurance, Clinton Health Access Initiative, the Uganda Investment Authority, and the United Nations industrial Development Organization.

Richard holds a PhD in Accounting from the University of Cape town, a Master of Science in Accounting and Finance from the University of Manchester, and a Bachelor of Commerce (with honors) from the Zimbabwe University of Science and Technology.