SUNDAY MELO PROFILE - MEET JESTONE MHANGO - Melo Media is Zambia's premier independent social media platform.

Meet Jestone Mhango, a 40 year old Senior Agricultural Specialist.
Born Zambian, on the 22nd of April in 1982 in a mining City of the Copperbelt Province, Kitwe, Jestone is a bonafide citizen of Zambia and holds a Green National Registration Card. He has also married himself a beautiful wife with whom he stays with in Lusaka.

Through the many years of serving in the Agro industry, Jestone has acquired a vast scope of knowledge and skills that puts him on an advantageous position and makes him a competitive candidate for opportunities in life especially in the Agro sphere. Among his many skills, these are some that are key: He possesses credible analytical skills and he is a creative thinker. He has excellent communication skills and he’s a reliable team player. He’s a patient and attentive listener, he’s able to work and deliver within a tight deadline, he’s possesses remarkable interpersonal communication prowess. Jestone has a this flexibility about him that allows him to adapt to somewhat alien working environments including rural settlements. He attained a level of maturity and experience in the industry that enables him to work under minimal or no supervision at all.

Like a coat of icing on the beautiful knowledge cake that he has baked through the years, Jestone is multilingual, he is able to communicate fluently in English, in Russian, in Bemba, in Nyanja and in Lunda. Besides these languages, he is willing and ready to learn any other language that may be significant to the efficient execution of his duties. To be able to operate and communicate effectively beyond the languages that can be spoken in this screen and keyboard era, he has not forgone the need to equip his knowledge arsenal with some IT paraphernalia, so he went ahead and acquired the knowhow in MS Word, MS Excel, MS Powerpoint as well as visual Basics.

To become the Senior Agricultural specialist that he is, Jestone has had to invest extensively in terms of his time and resources into education. His agog to become can be seen from how since the early years of his career roots he’s been agro-everything. His education spans over a 22 year stretch of constant learning, from 1999 to 2021 and is likely still going.
From 1999 to 2001 when he got his High School Certificate from Mukuba High School in Kitwe, he went straight and got his induction into the world Agric-related studies. In January 2004, he took a course at Palabana University in Lusaka to become a Livestock Technician for which he got a certificate in December 2005.

In September 2007, he went on to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Agronomy at Saint Petersberg State Agrarian University in Saint Petersberg, Russia. When he returned he topped that up with short courses like Monitoring and Evaluation in September of 2014 under JICA/Ministry of Agriculture in Lusaka and Trainer of Trainer in June of the same year also under JICA/Ministry of Agriculture but this time from Solwezi District of North Western province of Zambia.
At this point, the industry was demanding more from him and he realized he had more to offer so he went back to Russia to upgrade his studies. In October 2015 he enrolled at Russian State Agrarian University in Moscow to pursue an M Sc. In Agronomy which he completed successfully in July 2017.

From there he went on to attend trainings to keep up with the new agric trends and technological advancements and all else pertaining to the industry;
He got a Maize Breeding Post Graduate Certificate in March of 2018 at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT Zimbabwe) in Lusaka.
He got Certified in Maximizing Livestock Productivity through Efficient Resource Utilization in August 2021 at the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute in Selangor, Malaysia.
He got a Certificate in Value Chain Management in Fisheries September 2021 at The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in Kochi, India.
He went and got a Certificate in Green Innovation in Agriculture and Rural Development in September 2021 at The Rural Development Academy (RDA) in Bogura, Bangladesh.
He got himself a Certificate in Advanced Techniques in Fishing and Fish Processing at The Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIST) in Mumbai, India in September 2021.
In October 2021 he attained a Certificate in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS): Financial Inclusion and Rural Transformation. This was at the Bangladesh academy for Rural Development (BARD) in Bogura, Bangladesh.
Still in October 2021, he got Certified in Sustainable Practices for Smart Agriculture and Livelihood in African-Asian Countries at The Korean FAO Association (FERO) in Seoul RO Korea.

In November 2021, from the Organization of Business Professionals (OBPUK) in the United Kingdom, He got two Postgraduate Diplomas; one in Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management and another in Project Management.
With all the vast knowledge, Jestone has served in the Agro-Industry and related fields where he has contributed immensely at Organizational and National level respectively.
While still fresh out of High School, way before he entered the agro spectrum, he worked as a Cleric Officer for BMI and Associates in Kitwe between December 2021 and September 2002. After he left BMI he got himself a new job in the same month as an assistant Manager at Cinderella Night Club still in Kitwe where he worked between September 2002 and December 2003.
After he got introduced to the world of Agriculture, he got an internship job at Zambeef Plc in Chisamba Lusaka as a Diary Specialist while still studying to become a Livestock Technician from June to July in 2006.
As a trained Livestock technician, he got his first job as a District Livestock Officer (Project Field Officer) at the Livestock Development Trust where he served between January and August of 2006 in Mbala.
With an updated and advanced knowledge base, he went on to become a Lecturer of Horticulture at the Natural Resources Development College (NRDC) in Lusaka from October 2011 to December 2020. While still Lecturing, he had time do other things like being an Agricultural Consultant at Livestock Development Consultant in Lusaka between October 2011 and March 2012.

Between March 2012 and November 2013, he worked in the Ministry of Agriculture as an Agricultural Officer Head of Department Crops in Ikelenge District of North Western Province.
In October of the same year, he co-founded Tudikwashenu Skills Training Center in Ikelenge District for which he was also Managing Director until March 2015.
Jestone once again went back into Civil Service, this time as a Senior Agricultural Officer (6 Years) under the Ministry of Agriculture and livestock in Mufumbwe District of North Western province from November 2013 to September 2017.
In August 2017, he served as an Agronomist/Seed Breeder at Kamano Seed Company Ltd in Lusaka.
During this whole time, he worked as an Agriculture Consultant for MoreFood Agro Suppliers from June 2012 to September 2018 in Kabulonga Lusaka.
It is only right that after acquiring so much knowledge, one returns it in one way or another. For this reason, Jestone went back to lecturing, This time at Information and Telecommunications University (ICU) in Lusaka where he lecturered Biochemistry, Plant Physiology and Biochemistry from December 2017 to December 2021.
Till today, Jestone is actively involved in the dissemination of Agro knowledge in the capacity of Vice Principal at the Lusaka Agrotech Institute (LATI) in Lusaka where he has been plying his trade since September 2018.

Through the stretch of his career span this far, Jestone has served in some leadership positions right from his school days.
He served as the National Youth Coordinator for the ANTI STIs AIDS YOUTH INTERNATIONAL in Kitwe between December 2000 and January 2004.
He then went on to become the Project coordinator for Community Response Against Aids CRAIDs (Project) at The Ministry of Health in Chongwe from June 2004 to December 2005.
For a year, between October 2004 and October 2005, he served as the Secretary General for the Palabana Settlement in Palabana.
While in University at Saint Petersberg State Agrarian University in Russia, he served as cultural Secretary from September 2008 to August 2011. Here, he also served as Secretary General of the Zambian Students in St Petersberg between May 2009 and May 2010.
In January of 2013, Jestone would assume the leadership role of Team Leader of the Ward Development Committee of Ikelenge District. The same place where he and others would later in January of 2014, co-found the Ikelenge Pineapple Growers Association (Cooperative) where he also served as Secretary General.
He later on assumed the role of Secretary General for the Zambia Association of Junior Researchers (ZAR), the capacity in which he served from December 2020 to January 2022.
As of May 2022, Jestone sits on the Zambia-Russia Graduates Cultural Association (ZAMRUS) executive where he serves as the Academic Affairs Secretary till date.