Josh Chifamba is a professional engineer who holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering, majoring in electrical machines. Josh has more than 40 years of experience in the power business. He initially started his career at Hwange power station and then moved to electricity distribution and retail. He has a deep understanding of the electricity value chain. He was active in the formulation of the White Paper on the basis of which Electricity Reform was designed and undertaken in Zimbabwe.
He was the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of ZESA HOLDINGS (ZH) from 2011 to 2018. During that period, he was instrumental in securing funding for two major power projects, namely Kariba South Extension (KSE) and Hwange Power Station (HPS) stage 3 (Units 7 & 8). It was also during the same time that the KSE project was built and commissioned successfully. For four years Josh was Chairman of the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) and one of his major initiatives was to focus the Pool on development of solar power and integrating it with the grid. His view is that solar development is a most welcome and positive disruption that needs to be embraced.
He was instrumental in introducing prepaid metering in Zimbabwe in the late 1990s, when he was the Director of Consumer Services in ZESA, overseeing electricity distribution and retail in the country. He was also involved with SADELEC in introducing the economic model for the power sector in Zimbabwe and launching the tariff methodology in use in Zimbabwe. His experience in prepaid metering in Lesotho was very critical for the launch and success of the prepaid metering system in Zimbabwe in later years. Josh believes that the retail side of the electricity sector is the main key to unlock sector investments as it will improve the overall quality of power purchase agreements to investment grade, thereby making sector projects more bankable.
Josh worked in Lesotho for the Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC) from 2006 – 2011 on a World Bank financed management contract as the Commercial director. At the end of the contract LEC retained him in the capacity of Managing Director (MD), pending the appointment of a substantive local MD. The management contract was very successful and achieved a turnaround of LEC and the installation and management of a prepaid system in the electricity sector, among other major achievements.
Josh has a lot of passion for power system development and the need to integrate solar with other power sources, ensuring affordable power, increased access to electricity, grid stability and participation by indigenous people in the power sector, especially in Africa.
