Agronomist and business strategist Daniel Fungai Mataruka, Ph.D. '92, has been appointed executive director of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) in Nairobi, Kenya.

AATF is a not-for-profit organization designed to facilitate and promote public/private partnerships for the access and delivery of appropriate agricultural technologies for use by resource-poor smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.

Mataruka took over as director March 1.

"Dr. Mataruka's experience in the public and private sectors and especially in identifying viable business opportunities will be of great benefit to AATF," said AATF Board Chairman Walter Alhassan.

"The incoming executive director has valuable management and strategic leadership skills that will enable him guide the foundation's progress into the future as it seeks to expand its partnerships and financial resource base," Alhassan added.

Mataruka began his career in 1983 as a maize agronomist with Research and Specialist Services in Zimbabwe, before serving as a lecturer at the University of Natal in South Africa and then in various capacities at Tongaat Hulett Starch, Africa's largest producer of starch, glucose and other related products. As managing director of the company's plant in Zimbabwe, he was credited with turning the once-failing company into a profitable business.