Head Office

Executive Director | Tel: +27 12 6634062

Gracian began his career in the world of electronics engineering in 1987 and worked as a Computer Engineer for 3 years in Zimbabwe. By 1994, he found himself in the marketing and distribution of highly sophisticated industrial electronics on a regional scale in Southern Africa. His passion for marketing led him to pursue a career in the field, qualifying as a Chartered Marketer (SA) and graduating with a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Thames Valley University (UK) in 2000. He took charge of the sales and marketing division of Africa Online (Africa's leading ISP) from 1997 to 1999.

He, in March 1999 successfully pioneered Africa's outreach and training in the use of TEEAL which has taken him to almost every part of the continent. His passion for the use of agricultural scientific knowledge via the electronic media has seen him devoting his life, heart and soul to bridging the digital divide that separates Africa from the rest of the world. Gracian, current member of the HINARI-AGORA management team, has been an invited participant in international, regional and national-level policy meetings that address information capacity building in Africa. Gracian is a part-time DPhil doctoral student at the Department of Information Science, University of Pretoria in South Africa.

CEPD Manager/Programme Officer | Tel: +27 12 6634062

Eradication of poverty and suffering in the world is one of the vision and ambition that Blessing is working at through the provision of agricultural, health and environmental sciences information. She is a dedicated young lady who holds a Bachelor of Science Honors degree in Library and Information Science and is currently studying towards a Masters in Development Communication. Blessing heads the Continuing Education & Professional Development (CEPD) programme at ITOCA South Africa and has a great passion for the use of new ICT tools. She is also involved in the training and outreach for Research4Life, TEEAL and PROTA programmes across the region.

Baseema B. Krkoska, 

Head, E-learning and Marketing 

Baseema holds a Master degree in Communication from Cornell University, USA and a Masters in Business Administration (Finance) from Hyderabad, India. She brings 10 years of experience in developing and promoting information services to academic user communities.  Over this time period, she has taught business management courses and information literacy skills to undergraduate and graduate students in United States, India, Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia.   Among many roles, she also served as the business librarian and TEEAL Director at Albert R. Mann Library, Cornell University.

Assistant Programme Officer | Tel: +27 12 6634062

Mercy is currently studying towards a BSc Information Sciences degree with the University of South Africa (UNISA) and holds an HND (Secretarial Studies) Diploma. She has been working as a secretary for the past 12 years. Mercy joined ITOCA in 2006, before then she worked for Patex Medical Supplies, Ledwidge Enterprises and Bramhope Holidays and Tours. She strongly believes one can keep up-to-date with changes happening in the information age through "Lifelong Learning".

Assistant Programme Officer | Tel: +27 12 6634062

Michael Chimalizeni graduated with a Bachelor of Science Honors from the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Zimbabwe in 2005. Since then he has been involved in Scientific and Technical Information (STI) dissemination through electronic library resources.He now contributes to ICT/ICM capacity building projects for librarians, researchers and academics in Sub-Saharan Africa through his training work with ITOCA. Michael is also an MInf candidate in the Department of Information Science at UNISA, South Africa and serves the South African country chapter of The Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa (AHILA).

Finance and Administration | Tel: +27 12 6634062

Tammy joined ITOCA in 2011 and coordinates all finance and administration work at ITOCA. She has extensive experience with accounting and finance having worked for over 20 years in the motor industry in South Africa.

IT Officer | Tel: +27 12 6634062

Chipo is a Bachelor of Business Management and Information Technology graduate from Catholic University in Zimbabwe. She is a new generation IT specialist who posseses a unique mix of experience, knowledge and skills and she joined ITOCA as an IT officer in 2008.

In William Pollards' words Chipo thinks "Information is a source of learning. But unless it is organized, processed and available to the right people in a format for decision making, it is a burden, not a benefit".