Prof Sam Takavarasha Jr: Research Blogg
A call for multi-disciplinary approach to deployment and development of Artificial Intelligence: Take aways from Prof A. Mutambara’s 7th Book Launch
Last night I had occasion to attend Prof Aurther 7th Mutambara’s book launch. I must confess that part of my incentive was the book title: Artificial Intelligence a driver for inclusive development and shared prosperity for the global South. This was my first chance to attend any of his book 6 earlier launches, I am therefore not sure if the audience attending the AI book launch was peculiar to it as I thought.
I saw experts from the Arts, Humanities, Business, Agriculture, politicians, and the usual Institute of Engineer members. There were about three cabinet ministers that Prof AGO kept referring to during his presentation. As the crowd continued to grow, someone said remember this is AGO, the former deputy prime minister is bigger than life. Assuming that, the diverse audience attending Prof Mutambara was not about his bigger than live persona, this in my view tells a rich story of Zimbabwean people’s interest in AI.
While I find artificial intelligence to be a topical area for all academics and practitioners that have any intellectual curiosity, I was also curious about the developmentalist flavour of the book title. The technology for development discourses is reminiscent of the ICT for development discourses that pre-occupied information systems in developing countries scholars during the early 2020s. Most of protagonists were drawing from development economists such as Jeff Sach, Joseph Stiglitz, Amartya Sen and the late pragmatist Mahbub ul Haq who operationalised Sen's capability approach into Human development Index HDIs in the early 1990s.
The development agenda has attracted endless controversy including the critique of the 1950s dependence theory of Daniel Lener to the shock therapy of Jeff Sachs and several arguments in between. Contemporary discourses touch on digital imperialism, data colonisation and of course commodity dependency is a constant. There has also been a contentious debate about whether Africa should follow the same development trajectory as the West or the Asian Tigers. This appetite for mimicry is akin to the mordenisation theories shades of its contemporary adaptations. These debates extended to the terminology itself. Prof Mutambara’s book addresses part of it i.e. the developing and developed nations dichotomy. The terminology debates exposed the fatal flaws of concepts such as leap frogging and catching up with the West as expecting Africa to accept eternal mimicry of the West.
Given the hot debates of the early 20s one has to be mindful of the pitfalls that my fellow engineers and natural scientists fail to see. The main one is technological determinism as articulated by Mashal McLuhan who at the time opined on less effective and less convivial technologies such as radio and TV. Technological determinism naively suggests that introducing technology will cause positive socio-economic change. This has been debunked by several scholars such as Christianthi Avgerou and others who contest the assertion that technology alone is the primary driver of societal change. Closer home my colleague Nephas Mufutumari the ICT director at WUA repeats like a broken record that it is not the technology it is what you want to achieve with it. '
Several researchers on the role of technology in the global south / developing economies have pointed at under-uterlised telecentres across Africa as a testimony to the folly of technological determinism. Before putting my teeth on the pages of the book that Prof Mutambara launched last night at Conqenor House, let me hasten to say that the presentation was great. I am not accusing him of the hard tech determinism that purports that technology will autonomously dictate socio-economic outcomes for Africa. He called for Africa to adapt and deploy AI. He wants Africa to get involved in AI research and practice and he also advocated for us to build AI infrastructure.
By the way, he is not the only Zimbabwean to call for the same agenda to weaponise AI for our socio-economic development. Our government, our universities and UNESCO in particular have been making profound efforts to strategise and plan the deployment of AI in Zimbabwe. I have had occasion to participate in various efforts workshops and round tables by the Ministry of ICT Postal and Courier Services, POTRAZ and UNESCO. POTRAZ and the Ministry of Higher Education have taken a further step to sponsor and facilitate the implementation of emerging technologies. The universities, polytechnics and secondary schools have been participating in the Presidential Innovation Fund which has seen many universities including WUA walking away with impressive awards in innovation.
POTRAZ has been conducting Innovation drives in form of hackathons and ideathones since 2020. Some of us in ICT-related academic work have participated as judges and facilitators of the various endevours. We have seen impressive technologies being deployed by young people. Noteworthy ones being the Julia AI office assistant by David Chifunyise et al, and Timothy Kuhamba Stellar Aspirations among other greats.
Other green shoots include Old Mutual's 825 Innovation Hub which conducts annual hackathons e.g. Arduino day hackathons and the Hairtronics which is a workshop series for women during the women's month of March. They also sponsor the Nextgen Anchors Club which is a youth empowerment program which takes them through technical skills such as robotics and soft skills. Talking about the importance of soft skills, I was impressed to hear Arthur mentioning the need for soft skills, personal development and entrepreneurial skills. This is he said is what makes an innovator complete with technical and soft skills.
Given the growing interest in AI, the government programs and the green shoots of AI innovation that we see in tech hubs and hackathons and ideathons. I guess my takeaway lesson is to call for a Multi-disciplinary approach to AI adaptation and deployment. The diverse mosaic of experts that attended Prof Mutambara's book launch compels me to wonder why our universities are not reflecting the same diversity of experts who are interested in AI. As I walk down the corridors, chair conferences and review journal I see think walls barring academics from multidisciplinary collaboration. Some disciplines are content with using it but few ever take part in the development of AI. It is unrealistic for Zimbabwe to expect to harness the power of AI by relegating it to the technological geeks alone. Life is too multifaceted to be tackled by one discipline alone. Development itself is as multi-dimensional it consists of the social, the technical and commercial aspects that call for all academics to come together.
Our journals and conferences must consider encouraging articles that are authored by people from different disciplines. I encourage my intellectual peers to buy Prof Mutambara’s book, read it and continue with the discussion on development and AI. The content is great and the book launch was powerful, the best since 2009 when I attended Amartya Sen’s launch of his magnum opus entitled ‘The Idea of Justice’ at Oxford University’s great hall. Just Prof John Wood joked that Sen’s book did better than ones written by footballers’ wives, I must say that prof Mutambara’s Artificial Intelligence a driver for inclusive development and shared prosperity for the global South obviously did better that his books on politics.
Sam Takavarasha Jr is Director of the Research Postgraduate and innovation Centre
September 2025
Consultancy work is the life blood of academia
I have heard several jokes about academia as a thankless job. My favorite one is ‘Why did the hair dresser divorce the statistics professor? Because there was not significant correlation between their incomes.’ No price for guessing but If you read to the end, I will tell you whose income was lower than whose.
The fact is we work so much to achieve the qualification to teach at a university but again we earn too maiger a salary for the work we do after we qualify. With the exception of some of us who enjoy busking in the intellectual pride associated with knowing more about our favourite disciplines than our companions and students and practitioners, academia can be stupendously thankless profession especially in developing economies. Academia can be a poverty job if you do not quickly learn the survival tricks.
While other academics have started different lines of business, I am convinced that we are at out best when we stay in our areas of expertise. I agree before you prove it to me that some disciplines are much harder to monetise than others. In spite of that I contend that a fish is strongest in water than anywhere else.
Academic consultation is a common and often necessary means for academics to supplement their income. This is due to a variety of factors, including the desire for higher earnings and of course for gaining the recognition of their specialised expertise by external organisations. Uooops!! here comes the chicken and egg story again. What comes first recognition by industry or consultancy? While every door has its own peculiar key, the fact is one’s teaching, publications, bloggs and social media presence have an impact on our visibility and hence potential for consultancy.
The ability to engage in consulting is both a professional advantage and a source of potential challenges. Maybe let me start with the advantage.
The Advantages of Academic Consulting is that it offers professional and financial benefits including Additional Income, Real-World Impact and Application, Networking and Visibility, Enriched Teaching and Research and Professional Development.
The less obvious advantages of consultancy work is Real-World Impact and Application, Networking and Visibility, Enriched Teaching and Research and Professional Development. It allows academics to apply their research and expertise to practical, real-world problems for industry, government, or non-profits, creating direct social or economic impact.
The Networking and Visibility that comes with consultancy work is phenomenal. Consulting expands an academic's professional network outside the university, which can lead to new research opportunities, collaborations, and enhanced professional reputation.
It must be argued that there is a recursive relationship between consultancy work and academic work. As academics we often ridicule weak academic writing as consultancy writing style. The fact is the two branches of research feed off each other. Against this premises I contend that Teaching and Research are enriched by the exposure to the real world that comes from consultancy work. The challenges and data encountered in consulting projects can inform and improve both teaching materials and future research questions, ensuring academic work remains relevant to current industry needs.
Most importantly consultancy work fosters professional development. It provides exposure to different work environments, project management skills, and client-facing communication. I contend that that one of the most powerful contributions of consultancy research to an academic’s professional development is the practical focus that comes with industry’s results-orientedness compared with academia’s process-oriented approach that we use for teaching and learning.
Consultancy research yields additional income. This is often the primary motivation, providing a direct route to earn income beyond the fixed academic salary. Academics can make impressive windfalls through deploying their expertise in industry. Your level of expertise, charisma and visibility can enable you to be hired as a consultant who earns more money than your salary.
There is a joke which suggests that an academic cannot feed a family, it says; What is the difference between a Pizza and an academic. The answer is at least a Pizza can feed a family of four.
If we improve our visibility and our expertise, this family of four joke will never be repeated. As a director of the Research Postgraduate and Innovation centre, I distribute several call for papers but the response to them is underwhelming. It is bot because our academics do not need extra income but because they are often not familia with consultancy work.
Academics therefore need to be mentored into understanding the ground rules of conducting consultancy work. There are a few similarities between developing capacity for consultancy work and conducting academic publication. I will list a few of them here. Firstly, collaboration is key for new scholars. There is need to stand on the shoulders of giants who have experience in conducting consultancy research. Collaboration between authors that often publish together stand a better chance to be hired than one simply built for the bid
Secondly, be subscribed to the right listservs. The opportunities are accessible to those who are in touch. One will bid for the opportunities that they get to know about on time. The process of application may require you to build a team. This can be time consuming and so it is essential to be in touch with the calls as quickly as they are advertised.
Thirdly, keep trying. Submitting bids is similar to job application. You hardly ever find a job at their first attempt to get one. Every attempt develops your capacity to bid for the next one.
Without claiming to have been exhaustive my final point is when we get the projects let us be professional. Let us perform the work on time and let us manage the funds with honesty and integrity. NGOs and granters will avoid grantees that once failed other NGOs. Like sheep they enter where others sheep entered and they avoid where others were bitten. Grants will be won or lost because of legacy issues.
Let me end with a reality check on the challenges and some considerations to be mindful about. I will also address how WUA has softened the punch for you.
Firstly, academic work is demanding and adding to it is an endevour to be taken by committed hard workers. Some universities will limit the amount of hours one can commit outside core business of teaching, and student supervision. At WUA we don’t have policies that restrict the number of days away from work. We allow academic flexibility and responsibility meet one’s teaching and learning targets.
Secondly, there could be the vexed challenge of conflict of interest which affects a university’s reputation. This is at WUA is managed by our ethic approval and research integrity policies. Which ensures that out integrity is not tarnished by unethical work. We also have grant management and intellectual property policies that insulate us from straying into dangerous territories.
In conclusion, I wish to assure colleagues that when we as RIPGC share grant opportunities, we will be helping you to improve your teaching and research capacity as well as your income. All this is done under the protective guard rails of our research policies. By the way if you read this far, the was not significant relationship between the hairdresser and the statistics professor because the professor was not supplementing his income by conducting consultancy research.
Sam Takavarasha Jr is the Director of the Research Postgraduate and innovation Centre