Our board members

The Alliance Française of Dar Es Salaam is a registered Tanzanian non-profit organization run by a Board of Directors comprised of professionals and cultural figures. Our new board has been elected in May 2022.

MKUKI BGOYA

"CHAIRMAN"

Mkuki BGOYA is the Director General of Mkuki na Nyota company based in Dar es Salaam. The publishing house has won many national and international awards for its innovative, powerful and path-breaking books. Mkuki joined the publishing house as a creative director and production manager where he oversaw the development of the Mkuki and Nyota title by considering the importance of keeping the book form with the same care and intention as the content, an approach that has resulted in the presence of beautifully designed books in the house of books. Since 1981, Mkuki na Nyota has continued to publish beautiful books on art, photography, children's books, and other literary works in Kiswahili and English. Last year Mkuki na Nyota was awarded the Bologna prize for the best publisher of children's books from Africa.

ANOEK DE SMET

"VICE CHAIRMAN"

Anoek is born in Brussels (Belgium) in 1973. She is an Architect with over 25 years’ experience and she is also an Urban Planner. She moved to Dar es salaam in 2009 after living and practicing in London for 8 years and close to 5 years in Belgium.
She has worked on a very wide range of Architectural projects: mixed-use developments, schools, cinema’s, offices, residential, urban regeneration projects, for new-built, renovation as well as restauration (of Art Deco properties). She has been teaching as well as presented at conferences.

MILAN’ DIVECHA

"TREASURY"

Milan’ Divecha is an active member of Little Theatre DSM since 1986, and has taken part and performed on amateur and professional stage. He has successfully run an Academy of Dance in Dar es Salaam and trained various age groups of people in Drama and Dance Arts since 1982 & Art with Artistic concepts. He is currently Managing an Academy of Drama, Dance, Music, and art. In addition, he is managing two short certificate courses ‘Theatre in Education” and “Theatre in Entertainment for Agakhan Primary School as part of Dram Club action and Journalists training for Photo Journalism & Photography for Events certification course.

ASTERIA MALINZI

"VICE TREASURY"

Born (1991) in Tanzania, Asteria Malinzi is a fine art photographer. She completed her BA (Hons) in Business Management and Marketing at the University of Derby, United Kingdom in 2012. She then went on to pursue photography and relocated to Cape Town, South Africa where in 2015 she graduated from Cape Town School of Photography. Since graduating, she has participated in several group exhibitions in South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya and Egypt. She currently works as a gallery manager at Rangi Gallery and has started an artist residency called Artists Residency of Kigamboni (ARK). She is currently based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

KHERI R. MBIRO

"SECRETARY"

Kheri is a Senior Partner and Co-Founder at Breakthrough Attorneys. He is an Accredited Arbitrator, a Registered Tax Consultant, and a member of PMI (Project Management Institute) global as well as the Tz Chapter. He is also enthusiastic about technology and co-founded a technology company styled as Breakthrough Technologies Africa Limited, a software solutions company with affiliation and operations across East and Southern Africa, where he sits in its Board. On top of all that, Kheri is also a Board member of Stargaze Company Limited, a talent and creative sector management company based in Tanzania.

CATHERINEROSE BARRETTO

"VICE SECRETARY"

Catherinerose has over 10 year’s experience working in talent and skills development in Eastern and Southern Africa. And over 8 year’s experience working with African start-ups, SMEs and entrepreneurs. She is invested in building inclusive ecosystems and nurturing human capital. With a strong focus on leadership and skills development; innovation, diversity and inclusion.

LORNA MASHIBA ALBOU

Lorna is an Advocate of the High Court of Tanzania and has been in continuous legal practice spanning over 10 years. She has vast experience in the provision of legal consultancy to individuals, private companies and corporate bodies. As a results-driven corporate lawyer with years of experience ensuring legal compliance, planning, strategy and building relationships, Lorna was able to achieve several wins for the firm, overseeing successful mergers but most importantly the partner with the most client engagements. She is also a member of a number of professional bodies, including the Tanganyika Law Society and East African Law Society.

JASMINE KARIMJEE

Started her career in London as a Lawyer, Jasmine now works for her 7th generation family business in Dar. Most recently she spent a year in Madrid undertaking her MBA. From a young age Jasmine has been surrounded with the arts through her family’s passion; from Tanzanian artists and culture, to food and wine. In her free time Jasmine enjoys running, learning from friends and engaging in new experiences. Jasmine looks forward to raising awareness, educating and creating space for fellow Tanzanians to explore Tanzanian and French art.

RODRIQUE MSECHU

Rodrique is an accomplished trade and investment adviser, founder and Managing Director of Anza Strategy, a boutique trade advisory firm with operations in Kenya and Tanzania. Since 2016 Anza Strategy has served over 200 businesses including institutional clients: Business France, Club Export (Reunion Island), ADIM (Mayotte) Amena Africa (Germany) Swiss Business Hub (Switzerland) and TPSF (Tanzania). Through his work at Anza Strategy he was recognized by Forbes among 30 most promising young entrepreneurs in Africa in 2018. His passion is fostering collaborations between dynamic businesses to spark economic transformation in Africa.