Founded in 1992 as Salama SHIELD Foundation by Dennis Willms, we began with community health and micro-finance work in Uganda and Malawi. Three decades of fieldwork sharpened that into a clear specialization, and a new name:

MBUNTU Foundation.

Our executive team and board brings together UN diplomats, education specialists, financial inclusion researchers, filmmakers, former professors, lawyers, and former foundation staff. It is a deliberate mix, built for a sector facing real funding pressure and an increasing pull toward tech-led, scale-first approaches to development. We are investing in the opposite: humanistic, high-touch fieldwork, backed by people who have lived the practice — while being inclusive of tech and AI integration when necessary.