By Elizabeth D.T. Taderera
Dr. Eve Gadzikwa is a businesswoman, leader, mentor, philanthropist and author. She is currently the Director General and Secretary to the Standards Association of Zimbabwe and 13th President of AU standards body, the African Organization for Standardization (ARSO). Gadzikwa is the third-born out of four children of Joel and Grace Mandaza. She was born on the 24th of December 1964 (which is why her parents named her Eve) at Marondera village in Zimbabwe. Her parents moved to Zambia where her father worked as a miner and her mother as a registered nurse and midwife.
Dr. Gadzikwa attended her primary education at Hellen Waller School and early Secondary schooling at Fatima Girls High in Ndola, Zambia where she became a fluent speaker of the Bemba language. At the age of 15 while studying Form 2 she returned to Zimbabwe and attended St Johns’ High, Emerald Hill, a Catholic boarding school.
She obtained a Marketing Management Diploma at Institute of Marketing Management in South Africa (IMM SA) as a stepping stone into the corporate environment. She graduated with a Masters in Business Administration from the University Of Nottingham (UK) in 2004.
Eve was appointed to her present position of Director General and Secretary to the Standards Association of Zimbabwe in September 2008. She spent 3 years as a consultant within the African region and visited countries such as Kenya, Namibia, Lesotho, and Ghana. She had spent her earlier professional career working with medical testing and public health laboratories in the USA. Prior to joining Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) she spent six years at Zimbabwe National Quality Assurance (ZINQAP) Trust, a national Proficiency Testing organization where she was Executive Director.
She is a past chairperson for the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) board and institute of Directors of Zimbabwe (IODZ). Eve is the first woman in Zimbabwe to head the ZSE, IODZ and SAZ which she did all at the same time. Gadzikwa’s career spans over 25 years in the public and private sector. She is the author of the book “I Dare You to Lead”.
