Richard David Namwandi (born February 28, 1954) is a

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

n politician and academic. He served as the Minister of Education from 2013 to 2015 and is the founder of the

International University of Management The International University of Management (IUM) is a private, state-recognized university based in Windhoek, Namibia. It has campuses in Swakopmund, Walvis Bay, Ongwediva and Nkurenkuru. History The university was founded by David Namwandi i ...

(IUM). He is a member of

SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...

, Namibia's ruling party.

Biography

Namwandi was born at Okapya near

Ondangwa Ondangwa (earlier spelling ''Ondangua'') is a town in the Oshana Region of northern Namibia, bordering the Oshikoto Region. Ondangwa was first established as a mission station of the Finnish Missionary Society (the FMS) in 1890. In 1914, it became ...

in former

Ovamboland Ovamboland, also referred to as Owamboland, was a Bantustan in South West Africa (present-day Namibia), intended by the apartheid government to be a self-governing homeland for the Ovambo people. The term originally referred to the parts of ...

(today the

Oshana Region Oshana is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, its capital is Oshakati. The towns of Oshakati, Ongwediva and Ondangwa, all situated with this region, form an urban cluster with the second largest population concentration in Namibia after the ...

of Namibia). He holds an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

and a doctoral degree. In 1994, Namwandi founded the

(IUM), the first private university in Namibia, with one lecturer and one student. He served as vice-chancellor of IUM from 2001 to 2010 and was succeeded by his wife, Virginia Namwandi. Namwandi entered

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in 2010. He was appointed Deputy Minister of Education in 2010 and, after the death of

Abraham Iyambo Abraham Iyambo (2 February 1961 – 2 February 2013) was a Namibian politician. Iyambo was a member of the National Assembly of Namibia since 1995, serving as Ministry of Fisheries (Namibia), Minister of the Fisheries from 1997 to 2010 and as Mi ...

in 2013, promoted to minister. He served until 2015. Namwandi is a recipient of ''Lifetime Achievement Award'' from the

Chartered Institute of Management Accountants The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) is the global professional management accounting body based out of the UK. CIMA offers training and qualification in management accountancy and related subjects. It is focused on accountan ...

Sources

References

External links

Official website
International University of Management 1954 births Living people People from Oshana Region SWAPO politicians Education ministers of Namibia {{Namibia-politician-stub