Professor Joseph Andrew Kuzilwa is retired Professor of Economics. He is currently the Chair of the Open University of Tanzania Governing Council. He served at Mzumbe University for over 44 years (from 1975 to 2019). Since 2019 he has been on part-time teaching contract with the same University. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts (BA) (Hons) – Economics from the University of Dar-es-salaam in 1975, Masters of Arts (MA) in Economics from the University of Lancaster, Britain, in 1978 and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA, in 1992.

Professor Kuzilwa has extensive leadership and managerial experience in academic administration in higher learning institutions having served as Director of Studies (de facto Deputy Principal) of the then Institute of Development Management, Mzumbe for six years (1993 -1999), first Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic, of Mzumbe University for five years (2002 -2007) and second Vice Chancellor of Mzumbe University for seven years (2007 – 2014).

He has also a wealth of board room experience having served in different positions of trust, including the councils of the University of Dar-es-salaam (2012 -2014), The University of Dodoma (2012-2014), Open University of Tanzania (2005-2008), Iringa University (2009 -2014), Tumaini University Makumira, (2015 to date), Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (June – November 2014), Sebastian Kolowa Memorial University (2008 – 2016), National Institute of Transport (1994 – 2002). He has previously also served as chair in a number of boards, including Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Unit Trust of Tanzania (2007 – 2013), Chairman of the Board of Directors, Unit Trust of Tanzania – Asset Management and Investor Services – Plc (2013 -2016), and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Muhimbili National Hospital (2012 – 2015). He is currently also Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Local Government Training Institute and Vice President of the Tanzania Academy of Sciences.

He has more than forty four years of experience in training, research and consultancy in various disciplines including development economics, international trade policy, microeconomics, macroeconomics, entrepreneurship and small business development, performance management, institutional building and reforms, agricultural value chains and contract farming, strategic planning, budgeting, project planning and management, programme formulation, technical evaluations, economic policy analysis, urban economics, business economics and local government reforms. Amongst the clients he has worked for include government ministries, local government authorities, parastatal corporations and international development agencies such as UNDP, UNIDO, Swiss Development Corporation, USAID, World Bank, DANIDA, and the European Union.

He has authored more than 40 papers and 20 chapters in peer reviewed journals and peer reviewed books, respectively, including authoring / editing four books in his research fields. He has successfully supervised 13 Ph.D. theses and over 20 master’s dissertations between 2005 and 2019 from Mzumbe University, University of Copenhagen, Kwa Zulu Natal University, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Groningen University, Open University of Tanzania, and University of Malawi, respectively.

He is married and blessed with three children and four grandchildren.