Profile: Maureen Mutasa ’02, Zimbabwe
October 2005
“I have always wanted to play a leadership role in the field of standardization,” Maureen Mutasa noted prior to her Eisenhower Fellowship program. “Not locally—also regionally and internationally—internationally at the highest level.” As director general of the Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ), Maureen Mutasa has achieved just that, and elevated SAZ’s already high reputation along with her own. She attributes her Eisenhower Fellowship experience as a major factor in her success. Most evidently, it contributed to her appointment to chair of the International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) committee for developing countries, a group that eases the way for developing countries to enter the global economy by helping them adopt standards used in international trade. Mutasa also credits the fellowship with providing her with a unique understanding of globalization, new international contacts, and, perhaps most importantly, the confidence and professionalism to move to a new level of international leadership.
Mutasa first joined the SAZ as a micro-biologist, and according to Dr. Hywel Williams, the Association’s former director general, her potential was immediately recognized. She quickly moved on to work on the certification of ISO 9000 and 14000 (international quality standards and environmental standards, respectively) and through her leadership transformed the market of ISO certification in Zimbabwe. On Williams’ retirement, Mutasa was named the first female director general of the Association, the position she continues to hold today.
Having achieved the organization’s top leadership position, Mutasa was interested in taking a more international leadership role and bringing Zimbabwe into the international standards community as well. Her Eisenhower Fellowship nomination came just then. According to Emmanuel Jinda, the chairman of the Association Board, Mutasa seized the opportunity. “Maureen’s participation in the Eisenhower Fellowship came at a very timely moment. It was very exciting, as she wanted the opportunity to gain the greatest exposure possible and obtain a better appreciation from the global perspective,” He says.
During her fellowship, Mutasa visited governmental agencies, standards development organizations, conformity assessment bodies, laboratories, technology firms, and training organizations that specialize in standardization and quality matters. Discussions and meetings with scholars and experts in her field provided Maureen with a comparison of standards systems between the United States and Zimbabwe. She returned to Zimbabwe with a number of new models, ideas, signed agreements of understanding, and countless other assets that she utilizes in her work today.
Mutasa is continually looking to adapt the models she saw in the United States to fit the needs of Zimbabwe. Using models she observed on her fellowship, Mutasa has negotiated memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with local authorities to get them to adopt a view of ensuring quality. Influenced by the system of accountability in the United States, Mutasa has also become an avid advocate for the development and strengthening of consumer rights courts.
In addition, Mutasa brought back a number of formal agreements with American standards associations including the American Society for Testing Materials and QSU Publishing. Prior to her Eisenhower Fellowship, Zimbabwe relied solely on standards from Great Britain and South Africa. Former SAZ head Williams concurs that the wealth of resources that Mutasa brought back have “been vital to SAZ and has been used extensively. In effect, Jinda notes, Mutasa’s efforts have “opened Zimbabwe to the world.”
Since the Fellowship, Mutasa has made an international name for both herself and the SAZ. She has been invited to join numerous international organizations, but her influence can be seen even more powerfully in the reputation Zimbabwe has attained in the field of standards. Jinda reports that in a meeting with Zimbabwe’s minister of industry and trade, the minister indicated that, while political troubles have damaged Zimbabwe’s image in the international community, “everyone speaks of the Standards Association of Zimbabwe glowingly.” Jinda attributes this to “the tremendous work that Maureen does.”
It is fair to conclude that Mutasa has achieved her goal of international leadership, and that she used the opportunity of her Eisenhower Fellowship in valuable ways. In her own words, “the leadership has always been there, but the Eisenhower experience raised it to the international level. I had great exposure to true cultural diversity, and all of my experiences helped me realize that communication and networking are critical in the globalized world.”