Tanzania's first private aerospace company.
Olduvai Space Center Ltd (OLSPACE) works across satellite systems, applied engineering, and STEM education, based in Dar es Salaam. Here's what we're building toward and why.
Mission
To build practical, sustainable solutions in aerospace, STEM education, and applied engineering, and to equip the next generation of Tanzanian scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs to build them themselves.
Vision
We want OLSPACE to become a serious regional name in space and STEM work, one that leads with practical, economical approaches rather than scale for its own sake, and that helps drive change and economic growth across Tanzania and the wider region.
How we work
Space programs are usually the domain of governments and large institutions. We're testing whether a small private Tanzanian company can build real hardware, get it into classrooms, and put a satellite in orbit, on a budget and timeline that a private company actually has.
Focus areas
Five areas we're actively working in, at different stages of maturity.
Aerospace & Space Exploration
Satellite technology, launch systems, and the ground station and mission control infrastructure needed to operate them from Tanzania.
STEM Education & Public Engagement
Hands-on learning tools and community outreach that put real engineering practice in front of students, not just theory.
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Supporting tech-driven ventures that address local problems and create jobs, rather than importing solutions built elsewhere.
Renewable & Alternative Energy
Applied work in sustainable energy access, for both rural and urban settings.
Biomedical Technologies
Health technology aimed at improving care access in underserved regions.
Current work
Two things in progress right now, outside the flagship projects above.
Tanzania Amateur Radio Club
OLSPACE is involved in developing Tanzania's Amateur Radio Club, with founder Leonard Shayo part of that effort — a natural extension of the broadcast engineering background the company itself grew out of.
TanzaniteSat-1 ground station
Leonard served as ground station operator on DIT's newly commissioned ground station — the first of its kind in Tanzania, built to track and communicate with TanzaniteSat-1. Read the full story.
Founder: Leonard Shayo — read his story.