Our Team
Dave Brooke-Mee
At 28 years old Dave, who was born in Zimbabwe, was knocked off his motor cycle and lost his leg. Dave turned this tragedy to triumph and used the insurance money to buy a small commercial vehicle and start his own painting and decorating business. The business grew over a period of fourteen years to a medium-sized construction company that employed a little over one hundred and fifty workers, skilled in all construction trades.
Dave was three times elected Chairman of the Harare Round table 23 over a fourteen year period during which time he conceptualised a fundraising project, Jail ‘n Bail, that become the country’s biggest charity fundraising event and continues to hold that position to this day.
Dave now lives in UK where he pursues his dream to help Africa feed the world and has been diligent in researching sustainable farming methods that can be replicated across the globe. Dave saw that by guiding people towards the pursuance of a sequence of easily reachable goals, communities can grow, get stronger and still provide help to the less fortunate amongst them. He says it’s less about helping others and more about helping others to help themselves.
Dean John Martin
Dean John Martin was born in Essex UK in 1980, where he lives to this day. He recently retired from Royal Mail, after twenty three years of service, due to an industrial accident and is now retraining in Carpentry & Joinery.
Dean’s passion for stepping forward to do good for those less fortunate than himself is reflected in his record during his time with Royal Mail, where a was a C.W.U. Rep and a C.W.U.Health and Safety Rep and helped many union members with a variety of issues, but his first priority has always been mental health.
Dean says the reason he committed to the Golden Acre Initiative was he knew that helping other people would be good for his own mental wellbeing. He explains it like this:
“Knowing that I am involved in something that does good for a fellow human-being, humanity as a whole and helping the people of Zimbabwe break out of the vicious cycle that keeps them poor touches me deep in my soul. My personal goal for this great project is to help raise awareness for the Golden Acre Initiative at community events. I have always believed that unity builds strong communities and we can do that all round the world.”
Margaret Dongo
Margaret Dongo was born in the 1960s into a family of seven children. Her father was a builder and her mother a peasant farmer. At age fifteen she joined the Zimbabwe war of liberation, and fought for Zimbabwe’s independence, but primarily to free the women in Zimbabwe from the bondage of slavery imposed on them as women. After the war she co-founded the Zimbabwe War Veterans Association to give voice to veterans who had been marginalised. She entered active politics and for many years she served as a member of the central committee of Zimbabwe African Nation Union- Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), which she later left. In the 1995 elections she successfully challenged vote-rigging and went on to win the subsequent run-off as an independent Member of Parliament. While in government she was a member of a number of parliamentary committees, including Public Accounts, the Committee on Indigenisation, and as Chairperson of the Local Government Portfolio Committee. She served in Parliament for ten years before becoming the first woman to head an opposition party in Zimbabwe.
Throughout her life as an active politician she remained focused on improving the lives of women despite the culturally entrenched inertia towards accepting women leaders, particularly in active politics.
Margaret says: “I believe in the power of self-actualisation, and have invested in my own personal development through education, pursuing a Masters in Public Administration at Harvard University. I hold firm to my own belief that discrimination based on gender is wrong. We need to maximise our potential as human beings and give life our best shot”.
In addition to her work with the Golden Acre Initiative she coordinates a voluntary development programme to uplift the lives of women and children in the rural areas through projects that are sustainable and make a real difference in their lives.
Mduduzi P Ndebele
Mduduzi P Ndebele is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for problem solving using 4th Industrial Revolution concepts to address global challenges affecting humanity like global warming, post-harvest losses, food inequality and current changing view on sustainability. He is a founding partner in several companies in southern Africa in a range of industries and currently involved in water quality monitoring project, biodiversity monitoring (Agro forestry) and implementing various agritech in EU and Africa. Having a background of computer sciences from studies at Monash university in south Africa he has over 10 years’ experience as an IT consultant ( IT auditor, data analyst, Cybersecurity) in various industries like health, Aviation, manufacturing , mining , banking in both public and private sector in South Africa. He has gained a wealth of knowledge in business systems and interactions with diverse levels of society. Being a visionary, problem solver and having the ability to analyze and identify opportunities in addressing challenges facing society in the age of information. He is in a position to transform Golden Acre to be a life changing organization for communities and farmers through aligning business requirements with technological innovations. His ambition is to make a meaningful contribution to the world through initiatives like helping those disadvantaged to become self-sufficient and have food security while addressing the UN sustainability goals to alleviate poverty, end hunger, wellbeing, sustainable water management & sanitation and protect restore ecosystems. As a man of faith Mduduzi believes that we are blessed to be a blessing to those in need and that a life best lived is in the service of humanity.
An IoT integration, and implementation solutions specialist, with Drone programming experience. Coming from a Software Engineering background he has taken a key interest in Precision livestock farming (PLF) enabling the utilization of technology within livestock systems to provide opportunities for better farm management and sustainable development using none-invasive digital technology.
Having studied a post graduate degree at Nottingham Trent University with a key interest in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence has led to looking into ways to streamline livestock farming in various ways and forms in managing and monitoring livestock using advanced predictive analytics. Having worked with the University in collaboration with Uniper Energy Company to design a deep learning algorithm and intelligent Machine learning model to predict machine and component failures, the aim is to bring the same technology to draw
contrasts in forage mineral concentration with patch-burn grazing. Machine learning technology can help to steer ecological processes, prevent overgrazing, and facilitate so-called ‘mob grazing’, which can lead to hugely improved soil health.
Khululekani Mkhonza
