ACOA 2025
SPEAKER PROFILES
Prof. Sylvia Temu
President - NBAA
Profile of Sylvia S. Temu
Professor Sylvia S. Temu is an accomplished academic and higher education administrator with over three decades of experience. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) registered with the National Board of Accountants and Auditors (NBAA) in Tanzania. Professor Temu is the Deputy Vice Chancellor responsible for Resource Mobilization and Administration at the Dar es Tumaini University, a position she assumed since 2nd January, 2025.
Prof. Temu was employed by the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) from 1984, where she grew her career and held various administrative and academic roles, rose through the ranks to Associate Professor in 2011. In the planning and resource mobilization space at UDSM, Prof. Temu served as the Director of Planning and Finance for UDSM from 2008 to 2012 supervising the finance and accounting docket and earned the University unmodified auditors’opinion for five year consecutively, Consultancy Bureau (2007 - 2008). Deputy Director for Centre for Continuing Education (2004 -2007). She also served as Head of the Accounting department in the UDSM Business School from 1999 to 2004. Professor Temu served as Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research in 2012 to 2013.
In 2013, April Prof. Temu was appointed as Director of Higher Education in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of the United Republic of Tanzania, where she worked up to January, 2018. She re-joined UDSM until 2023 when she retired.
As the Director of Higher Education, Prof. Temu served as technical personexpert in developing, coordination, monitoring, and evaluating the implementation of higher education development policy, strategies and projects in the country. Major functions included ensuring equitable access to higher education of qualified young Tanzanians, overseeing quality assurance and students’ financing, searching for students’ opportunities for external mobility, fostering regional and international higher education collaboration and industry – academia linkages at national and regional levels.
Significant achievements while working as Director of Higher Education at country included: contribution in the development of 24 Eastern and Southern African Higher Education Centres of Excellence on STEM Postgraduate Training and Research in 8 countries, four in Tanzania; Coordinated the crafting of the National Skills Development Strategy (2016 – 2025); Development of Education and Skills for Productive Jobs Program funded by the World Bank worth USD120 million which was successfully implemented by the Ministry of Education up to 2022.
With respect to academic achievements; Prof. Temu has done substantial scholarly work in terms of research and has published more than 25 articles in peer reviewed journals and authored two professional auditing books. She has supervised 13 PhD students and more than 25 Master's degree students. Prof. Temu has carried out over 30 consultancy assignments in corporate governance, accounting and finance, strategic planning and management of water supply and sanitation utilities in Tanzania, women leadership and personal development, small business development and micro finance. Clients she worked for include the World Bank, ILO, government ministries and agencies, local government authorities, Uongozi Institute among others.
On corporate governance; Prof. Temu is a respected corporate governance expert and practitioner. She is a Director in the NMB Bank (since Feb. 2025), chairs the Governing Board of the National Board of Accountants and Auditors (since 2021) and the Board of Trustees of Private Agricultural Sector Support Trust (since 2023). She has served in several other Boards of Directors including Standard Chartered Bank Tanzania (2011 -2021), CRDB Bank Plc (2004 -2009), Institute of Directors Tanzania eight years todate, Public Procurement Regulatory Authority, Tanzania Institute of Tax Administration, and University Councils including Tumaini University Makumira, Open University of Tanzania. among others.
