Mr Tawanda Collins Muzamwese is the Chief Sustainability Consultant and Founder of Toxiconsol Private Limited t/a African Sustainability Consultants; as a Green Industry Consultant for various international organisations.  He is also the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Green Business Gazette, Zimbabwe’s first fully fledged Environmental Magazine. He has led environmental sustainability projects, training, audits, facilitating international events and consulting in several countries across the world including Zimbabwe, United States of America, Netherlands, Germany, Egypt, China, Spain, South Korea, Tanzania, Israel, South Africa, Uganda, Ghana, Bahrain, South Africa, Kenya and Mozambique.

He holds an Msc in Environmental and Energy Management (MEEM) from University of Twente, Netherlands with Cum Laude and a Bsc (Hons) in Applied Environmental Science with Distinction/Book Prize from University of Zimbabwe. Mr Muzamwese is a Certified Lead Auditor with German Association for Certification of Management System Auditors (DQS). Mr Muzamwese facilitates Integrated Safety, Health, Environmental and Quality (SHEQ) Management Systems, business development and sustainable entrepreneurship in developing countries. He is a cutting edge trainer, public speaker and a business development expert who has led several companies to ISO certification based on SHEQ Standards namely ISO 45001:2018, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001:2015. He is a certified Green Industry Expert, with the Central European University/ UNIDO, Budapest, Hungary and Certified Clean Technologies Expert with MASHAV/UNIDO/Weitz Centre in Israel. Certified Negotiations with Saxion University Deventer, Netherlands; Certified Energy Management and Cleaner Production (EMSI) with University of Twente, Netherlands; Certified Economic Empowerment Professional Fellow by the United States Department of State, Washington DC. 

He is a leading sustainability expert who is the first Zimbabwean Certified as Associate Certified Sustainability Assurance Practitioner based on AA 1000 Standards for Accountability and certified by MAS Business School, Madrid, Spain to assure sustainability reports including verification of sustainability reports, verification/assurance of environmental and economic performance of companies. He is a Member of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Technical Working Group on Waste Management and was part of the international expert panel team which developed GRI 306 Waste Disclosures Standard. As an International Consultant, Mr Muzamwese is a promoter of the Rehovot Approach to Integrated Development for MASHAV, Israel.

In 2010 he was elected to represent Southern Africa as a Board Member in the African Roundtable for Sustainable Consumption and Production (ARSCP). He combines interpersonal skills, motivation and best practices in order to inspire stakeholders to adopt sustainable business models. Furthermore, he brings international experience and exposure that is necessary to encourage local sustainability and environmental transformation and continual improvement.

in 2016, he was appointed to be Executive Director of Business Council for Sustainable Development Zimbabwe (BCSDZ) an association with more than 100 companies. Tawanda is a Leader in Green Business at the global stage and has carried out more than 100 Consulting Projects and trained over 3000 people in the area of sustainable development. He has undertaken consulting assignments for international organisations such as UNIDO, UNHCR, ILO, African Development Bank (AfDB) and HIVOs foundation,

His PHD research with University of Twente, CSTM, Netherlands, focuses on the Role of Sustainable Business Networks in steering transition towards a Circular Economy in Africa.

Organisations

Transition to a circular economy, will require novel strategies to transform organisations from resource intensive ones into those adopting sustainable production systems. In order to attain corporate sustainability, organisations require technical support, awareness and assistance from external actors through network participation.

The research focuses on the role, effects and impact of Sustainable Business Networks (SBNs) and inter-organisational collaborations on the ability of firms to implement and scale-up sustainable innovation. An understanding of barriers, success factors, governance regimes and impact of networks is essential in order to recommend strategies of enhancing their effectiveness as enablers of pollution prevention in multiple country contexts.

Developing regions such as Africa are in a precarious position with regard to pollution and depletion of resources. This research proposes enhanced understanding and strengthening inter-organisational networks as a means to promote the implementation of Sustainable Consumption and Production Practices in Small to Medium Enterprises.

Sustainable Business Networks are complex collaborations of organisations, which promote sustainable business practices. The PHD thesis “Euphoric Transformation or Realistic Trajectory for Greening Industry in Africa – The Role of Sustainable Business Networks in mainstreaming a Circular Economy”, analyses the transformative role that networks play in facilitating sustainable development as well as the impact of the networks on the adoption of Sustainable Consumption and Production practices in companies.

Within the context of the University of Twente Centre for Governance and Technology for Sustainability (CSTM), this research enhances the thrust on Sustainable Production and Consumption. It also addresses the intentions of building Green Industries. The outputs of this research will include

  1. Empirical evidence of the effectiveness of networks and collaboration in developing country contexts.
  2. Evaluation of Sustainable Production and Consumption programmes which involve collaboration amongst actors in industry.
  3. Enhanced understanding of barriers and challenges for network collaboration
  4. Success factors for Sustainable Business Networks.
  5. Innovative recommendations for improving effectiveness and impact of networks for sustainability.
  6. New governance regimes which enhance network success.
  7. Tracking of indicators of Sustainable Consumption and Production.

The research compliments the work streams being done by the University of Twente in the thematic focus areas of Green Industry and Sustainable Consumption and Production as well as ongoing projects on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and sustainable development governance. 

 

KEYWORDS: Networks, Circular Economy, Sustainability, Industrial Transformation, Africa

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