Prof John Derera is the Global Head of Research & Development for the Seed Co Group (www.seedcogroup.com), and a member of the Group’s Executive Committee. He started his career as a Graduate Research Student at CIMMYT-Zimbabwe, before joining the public service in Zimbabwe. John joined Seed Co Group as a maize breeder in 2001, but he went on “sabbatical” from 2006 to 2014, to advance his academic standing at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), in South Africa.
He rejoined Seed Co Group in 2015 to provide leadership in implementing partnerships, modernization, mechanization, automation of research processes, and diversification of the crop product basket. His portfolio entails formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Group R&D Strategy across Africa. He combines technical with business qualifications, which are important attributes for his position and enables him to fit and provide leadership from the field to office.
His community services include affiliation with the UKZN, in South Africa, and support to other regional universities, in East and West Africa. As a result, he has significantly contributed to food security and capacity building in Africa. During his tenure at the UKZN and the African Centre for Crop Improvement (www.acci.org.za), he published many papers (>130), conducted research, developed curriculum and graduated more than 50 PhD students. Currently, Prof Derera sits on the Science & Impact Executive Board of the International Wheat Yield Partnership project (https://iwyp.org), the Advisory Board of the Makerere University Regional Centre for Crop Improvement (https://marcci.org), serves on the Crop Science of Zimbabwe (CSSZ) council, and sits on the interim committee of the African Plant Breeders Association (APBA).