Leonard Shayo
A self-taught radio engineer from a village at the foot of Kilimanjaro, now building Tanzania's first private aerospace company. This page is a work in progress — more of the story is coming.
Connect on LinkedInThe path so far
Melody FM / Kinyange FM, Marangu
Built and ran a small FM radio station at the foot of Kilimanjaro — entirely self-taught, with no formal training and no one to learn it from directly. It's the starting point for everything that followed: broadcast engineering first, satellite systems later.
Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology
Studied at DIT — the same institution he'd later return to as a collaborator, working alongside former lecturers as colleagues on the TanzaniteSat-1 ground station.
OLSPACE
Founded Olduvai Space Center Ltd — Tanzania's first private aerospace, technology, and STEM education company, based in Dar es Salaam.
Tanzania Space Education Summit
Spoke at the summit at Buni Hub, walking through his path from that first radio station into satellite systems, and what OLSPACE was building next.
Read about the summit →Maker-in-Residency, FabLab Barcelona
Selected for the Maker-in-Residency program run by mAkE (African European Maker Innovation Ecosystem) and Global Innovation Gathering, working on MapinduziSat-1's design at FabLab Barcelona alongside European collaborators including Adai Suriñach.
Read about re:publica & the residency →Tanzania Amateur Radio Club
Part of the team developing Tanzania's Amateur Radio Club — a direct throughline from where this all started.
TanzaniteSat-1 ground station
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 about the ground station →In the press
Building bridges: business between Europe and Africa
"It's been incredible to collaborate with amazing scientists who share my passion for innovation."
Featured for his work at FabLab Barcelona through the mAkE program, described in the piece as OLSPACE's systems engineer working on CubeSat designs alongside Adai Suriñach.
Read the article on Horizon Magazine →This page covers what's documented so far. There's more to the story — check back as it's added.