Founder & President, AfriAsia Group
Email: phiwo@afriasiagroup.com
A South African-born Africa-China expert who helps leaders understand how Africa, China and the wider world are reshaping one another. For two decades Dr. Mnyandu has worked as a researcher, author, educator and adviser. He is Assistant Director of the Center for African Studies at Howard University, where he helps run a multimillion-dollar program, a regular African affairs analyst for Voice of America, and a guest lecturer for the U.S. Department of State. He founded AfriAsia Group to give governments, investors and institutions more than headlines.
Where Dr. Mnyandu Adds Value
His work extends well beyond the classroom. He builds programs, explains Africa to global audiences and trains the people who work on Africa for government.
Created experiential learning and study-abroad programs from the ground up, giving U.S. students the chance to learn in South Africa, Senegal, and Ghana.
African affairs analyst for Voice of America television since 2018, with interviews on the BBC, VOA's Straight Talk Africa, and the Tavis Smiley Show, and commentary published through the Council on Foreign Relations.
Guest lecturer for the U.S. Department of State since 2019 on South African society and culture. Earlier tested Zulu proficiency for the Foreign Service Institute, and translated the White House's U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa into Zulu for the 2022 U.S.-Africa Leaders' Summit.
Career
Founded AfriAsia Group as a geostrategic consultancy on Africa-Asia risk, geopolitics, and culture, and as a way for universities to outsource Africa programming that budget cuts have put at risk.
Helps lead a federally supported program on Africa: strategic planning, staffing and supervision, compliance with Department of Education requirements, and financial oversight of a $3 million budget. Builds partnerships with universities, professional organizations, and national and international stakeholders, and represents the Center at summits.
Recognized subject-matter authority on U.S.-Africa affairs, analyzing events and likely policy direction for African audiences.
Guest lecturer since 2019 on South Africa's trends, challenges, and emerging issues, and on multilingual identities. Built custom Southern Africa content for State Department professional development. From 2013 to 2018, tested Zulu proficiency alongside State Department examiners for the Foreign Service Institute's School of Language Studies.
Taught African politics, development, and languages and ran the Zulu language and culture program. Designed a "grant-by-proxy" approach that opened funded study-abroad opportunities to Howard students, and a certificate pathway that channels students from introductory Africa courses into African language study.
Advised on Southern Africa's development environment, languages, and cultures, and on cultural-competency and diversity initiatives for a U.S. federal government audience.
Selected Work
Original Thinking
Dr. Mnyandu pioneered the term programmatic risk to describe a problem that is quietly hollowing out American engagement with Africa.
Working with the African Union, he is helping American college students keep access to programs such as the Model African Union, even when their institutions have withdrawn funding. AfriAsia Group applies the same idea for universities as a practical hedge: outsourcing the programming they can no longer staff.
Book in Progress
Dr. Mnyandu is writing a book on how American disengagement, from shrinking institutional commitments to withdrawn funding, has opened the field to rival powers, and what it would take to recover lost ground.
Speaking & Lecturing
From university lecture halls to government training rooms and corporate stages, he has briefed audiences on China, Africa, soft power, and great-power competition.
Xinhua interviewed Dr. Mnyandu in April 2026 on the role of Chinese-language teaching in South Africa and the link between language, technology, and Africa-China cooperation.
Read the interview →Areas of Expertise
Languages: native Zulu and English; functional French and Shona.
Background: born in South Africa; dual South African and American citizen.
Education
"I study East Asia with African development in mind. My interdisciplinary research, teaching, speaking, and consulting address the complex African problems of today and tomorrow."Phiwokuhle Mnyandu, Ph.D., Founder & President, AfriAsia Group
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