Prosperity. Equity. Sustainability.
The Mo Dewji Foundation was founded from the community work by Mohammed Dewji, CEO of MeTL Group and former Member of Parliament in Tanzania.
About Mohammed Dewji
From the arid plains of Central Tanzania, Founder Mohammed Dewji has dedicated his life to giving back to the less fortunate in Africa.
Mr. Dewji was born in Singida, Tanzania, a severely impoverished agriculture town. With the nearest hospital hours away, Mr. Dewji was delivered by a community midwife on the dining table of his family’s mud and plastered house.
Mr. Dewji’s immigrant parents ran a successful trading business. Their economic success blessed Mohammed with great opportunities: private education, quality healthcare, and a strong family unit. After graduating from Georgetown University in the United States, Mr. Dewji returned to his hometown of Singida, Tanzania, for the first time in 20 years.
The abject poverty was alarming and motivating. Children were collecting brown water from puddles to drink. Schools were few and far between.
“I immediately felt a calling to act. I refused to believe that the life of a child in the western world is more precious than the life of a child in Tanzania. A life is equal to a life, no matter what.” – Mohammed Dewji
To make a tangible impact, Mohammed ran for government in Singida. Elected a Member of Parliament at the age of 29, Mohammed spent two consecutive terms investing time and personal wealth into the development of Singida, effecting significant change in health, education, and water accessibility. Through building wells, access to clean water rose by 60%. With the construction of secondary schools, student enrollment increased by 90%. Mosquito nets were provided for every resident. 1,500 cataract surgeries were administered. The list goes on.
Alongside community development in Singida, Mr. Dewji was busy growing his father’s commodities trading house into one of the largest conglomerates in East Africa, MeTL Group. Today, MeTL employs over 34,800 and contributes ~ 4% to the GDP of Tanzania.
In 2014, Mohammed made the difficult decision of stepping down from politics in order to focus on the family business. However, he still felt a deep responsibility to support the under-privileged in Tanzania. Thus, that same year, Mr. Dewji founded the Mo Dewji Foundation, a philanthropic organization driven to improve the lives of Tanzanians.
To solidify his charitable duties, Mohammed signed the Giving Pledge in 2016, an initiative started by Bill and Melinda Gates that invites wealthy individuals to donate half of their personal fortune to philanthropy.
“The more affluent in society have a moral obligation to give back, as best we know how. If God blesses you financially, don’t raise your standard of living. Raise your standard of giving.” — Mohammed Dewji
The Mo Dewji Foundation (MDF) is building Tanzania’s next generation of leaders, change makers and productive workers. We’re on a mission to empower every Tanzanian to maximize their ultimate potential.
Our Theory of Change
The Mo Dewji Foundation believes in the power of people to organize and prosper. While we work closely with the Government of Tanzania, we understand that resources are scarce and that our target populations live beyond functioning water, health and education access points. To this end, the Foundation invests in critical and turnkey solutions that empower community volunteers, who in turn bring their experience and knowledge to expand on those solutions to build them into local development centers.
Our Vision
Leadership
Fname Lname
Chief Executive Officer
Fname Lname
Chief Executive Officer
Fname Lname
Chief Executive Officer
Fname Lname
Chief Executive Officer
Our Partners
FAQs
Write to us via email with brief concept idea with an explanation for synergistic alliances.
Yes! You can read them on each program page on this website, or visit the Stories of Change section.
Yes!
Higher Education: Support our current student body in their specific areas of studies by providing insights and real-life learning so they may be better prepared for life after studies. Alumni can also support by building social capital networks so that our Scholars may further advance their entrepreneurial ventures or employment journies.
Healthcare: We have three main areas under health care: support for children with cancer, eye care services to the under-privileged population in rural Tanzania and supporting children suffering from spina bifida and hydrocephalus. Any new innovation, methods of improving delivery methods and collaborative partnerships in these areas would be highly appreciated.
Access to clean and safe water: We are building a 100% village by village model to provide access to clean and safe water. We encourage ideas and innovative approaches that may have been tried and tested, and invite success models we may be able to deploy to build and operate a sustainable model to serve the rural population in Tanzania.