A medical doctor once rented a room in Cecilia China's village home in western Tanzania. To the young student, the doctor's purposeful routine offered a glimpse of a different future.
"The doctor was working at a hospital and staying at our house," China recalled. "I observed his lifestyle -- wearing a white coat and always smart. That highly influenced my education, especially in the sciences."
Today, Cecilia China, Ph. D., is a materials scientist whose career in research is helping to reduce pollution, improve worker safety, and add value to Tanzania's vast livestock resources. Her work focuses on developing eco-friendly chemical treatments for the textile and leather sectors - innovations she says support sustainable use of agricultural waste and can transform how leather is produced in Africa.
Tanzania has one of the largest livestock populations in Africa. According to the Tanzania Investment Centre, the country is home to more than 50 million cattle, sheep and goats - representing an enormous supply of animal hides that could be processed into belts, shoes, carpets, handbags and other consumer products. However, the leather sector remains undeveloped. Limited processing capacity means that most raw hides and skins are exported for treatment abroad, leaving little value addition or job creation at home.
Compounding the challenge, many local tanneries use toxic chemicals such as chromium - classified as carcinogenic - to turn raw hides into soft leather. This poses serious risks to tannery workers, consumers and the environment.
China saw an opportunity in developing natural products for the leather sector's small and medium-sized enterprises that could be used to preserve and soften animal hides into durable leather.
She concluded that earning a Ph.D. would open doors to funding and advanced research opportunities that support a more sustainable initiative. She successfully applied for an African Development Bank-financed higher education programme at Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology in Arusha. The programme provides scholarships for postgraduate studies in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
"The Bank strongly believes in the role of science and technology education to support Africa's social and economic growth," said Hendrina Doroba, the Bank's Division Manager for Education and Skills Development. "By partnering with local institutions to facilitate STEM education, the Bank is helping create a highly skilled, future-ready workforce."
At the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, China was one of more than 140 scholarship recipients - 51 percent of them women - supported through the programme. There, she developed her breakthrough idea: producing leather tannins from cashew husks, the reddish-brown skin covering the cashew kernel that is typically discarded as waste by processing factories.
The innovation addresses environmental pollution and adds value to local resources while creating new income streams for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
"I found that almost 96 percent of people working in cashew processing are women," China said. "If we use cashew waste for leather processing, women can earn income by collecting and supplying that waste. We are creating a new industry that did not exist before."
To move her work beyond the laboratory, China founded the AfriTech Organic Leather Company. By helping businesses process hides into consumer products, China says local value addition can drive job creation and economic growth.
China also now lectures at the same institution where she once studied under an African Development Bank scholarship.
But she remains concerned about gender disparities in science. Her last class in nanomaterials science and engineering had 60 men and zero women, she said. In response, she founded a non-governmental organisation focused on encouraging girls to pursue science from primary education through university.
Watch Dr Cecilia China explain why reaching out to African girls and young women to encourage them to pursue careers in science matters.
