Mr Amani Sanga.
By Daniela de Unzueta Artola and Jaya James Welters
Amani Sanga’s first day at Twende was a rainy Monday. He showed up wearing a green ‘Department of Science’ t-shirt, soaked from the run over. He still remembers the date – June 5, 2022 – and the nickname he earned that day: Kijana Wa Mvua, ‘the one who comes in the rain.’
Although Amani insists he never planned on becoming an innovator, it seems he’s always had the instinct. Growing up in southern Tanzania, he was quiet, kept to a small group of friends, and preferred figuring things out on his own. He traces it back to a single moment: spotting a cardboard toy car with working headlights, built by another kid his age. “I asked him how he did it,” Amani said. “Then I went home and started making circuits.”
He remembers opening up the walls at home, experimenting to bring light into the house. At just seven or eight years old (regrettably, he says, too young to be allowed near dynamo) he turned to his uncle for help and used whatever he could find. This included scraps of plastic piping, which were easy to come by in his village thanks to the mountain-fed water system, and old radio batteries that still held a bit of charge. “One might be dead,” he explained, “but if you connect six of them, they bring power.”
“We were using kerosene candles,” he explained, “but with that, we were able to get light.” He smiles, remembering the mess he made – what he now calls his shift from “destructive to constructive.”
This instinct – to figure things out, to try – never left him. After secondary school, Amani hoped to study IT, but wasn’t sure he had the right academic background. Then one day, he opened his email to find an unexpected acceptance letter: He’d been placed in a business management programme. “I said, why business management?” he recalled. “I was not interested in studying business management. But I thought maybe it’s God showing me the way.” Now, he’s looking for ways to merge that training with his love of technology. “My passion for business has been growing time by time. Although I have a passion for technology, I want that passion to be productive.”
That mix – entrepreneurial and hands-on – comes through clearly in his biggest project to date: the Ugali Maker. Designed in collaboration with Witness Shangali (a fellow Twendian) and Nazahed Athumani, the machine uses gas for heat and electricity to power the stirring mechanism. It automates a process that’s normally done by hand, often in harsh, high-temperature conditions.
Amani knows those conditions well. In high school, he was considered one of the stronger students, which meant being called in to help the cooks. He remembers sitting in the kitchen, lifting heavy saucepans of Ugali through smoke and heat. “I experienced the challenge,” he said. “In the struggle, the cooks are going through the smoke, the temperature, the pain.”
The team is now working on scaling the machine for institutional use, starting with schools. “We came up with two or three business models,” Amani explained. “One is leasing, like renting to own. They pay little by little, three times. Or they pay upfront. The other model is maintenance and repair.”
At Twende, Amani does more than build. He facilitates workshops, manages logistics, maintains tools, helps with social media, and even sets up tech for virtual meetings. “It depends on the time,” he said. “You might find me as a facilitator, or as a mechanical person.”
But what sets him apart isn’t just how many roles he takes on – it’s how he thinks about innovation itself. For Amani, the best ideas don’t start with solutions. They start with problems. “We want to make something that will solve people’s challenges,” he said. “That is really innovation.” Ever humble, he also distinguishes between invention, doing something new, and innovation, building on what you already have.
It’s a mindset that mirrors Twende’s broader approach. Rather than coming in with ready-made ideas, participants are encouraged to identify real, grounded challenges in their communities first. From there, they work toward practical, sometimes unexpected solutions. “If you focus on the challenge,” Amani explained, “you might come up with three or four good ideas. But if you start with a solution, you’re stuck with only one.”
His dream superpower? “To see in the future, to make sure I don’t miss what opportunities would be the most exciting.” Right now, that means getting the Ugali Maker to market – and eventually, finding ways to integrate AI or microcontrollers. “Everyone makes Ugali,” he said. “But why not add value to the machine?” It’s not quite X-ray vision, but in true Batman fashion, he’s more interested in tools than superpowers anyway.
He doesn’t say all this with flash or big claims. He’s soft-spoken, methodical, and thoughtful. But when we asked what advice he’d give to young kids who want to build something, he paused, then said:
“Don’t follow the rules.”
