We are PRACTICAL
DTHN is a partnership of senior practitioners working through a network of associates engaged assignment by assignment. A partner leads every assignment and stays on it, specialists are brought in for what the work actually needs, and the people named in the proposal are the people who deliver.
The partners and service leads, and what each is the person for.
Nicholas M. Mandela, MBA, MCIPS
Partner and Director
Nicholas is a procurement and supply chain specialist with twenty years' experience across public health, banking and utilities. He is a public health procurement expert with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), and led the establishment of the procurement and supply chain function of the Eswatini National Public Health Institute, developing its procurement policy and procedures manual, an emergency procurement guideline for outbreak response, and its procurement workflows and monitoring tools. He spent eleven years at a procurement service agent, where he served as Director of Procurement and Supply Chain, managing annual procurement plans of roughly USD 40 million in essential medicines funded by the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Between 2017 and 2022 he negotiated contracts worth USD 235 million, realising USD 17 million in savings. He led the proposal that secured over USD 150 million from USAID for HIV commodity procurement and managed the five resulting task orders. He holds a Master of Business Administration and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply.
Since 2007
Francis Joseph Otim, ACCA
Partner and Director
Francis is a chartered accountant and digital transformation specialist. He has led value-chain digitisation and enterprise data projects for organisations including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mastercard and the Private Sector Foundation Uganda, Airtel Africa, Microsoft, British American Tobacco, Lafarge/Hima Cement, East African Breweries, Malaria Consortium, UNICEF and Medical Access Uganda Limited — covering distribution automation, countrywide baseline surveys, farmer out-grower digitisation, and real-time reporting and analytics. He brings the financial control and systems perspective to procurement and operations assignments, which is where a surprising number of supply chain problems turn out to live. He is a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
Since 2006
By practice: the measure each is judged on, and who is in it.
Strategy and planning
Policy, governance and documentation
Organisational development and operating models
Financial management and controls
Digital enablement and data
Training and capacity building
Running the firm
Nicholas M. Mandela, MBA, MCIPS
Partner and Director
Runs the audits, and argues with the boards.
Francis Joseph Otim, ACCA
Partner and Director
He has led value-chain digitisation and enterprise data projects.