The Executive Dean
School of Business and Economic Sciences
Betchani Tchereni is an Economist and academic leader with 18 years’ work experience as an Associate Professor of Economics and 12 of them in senior management of various institutions of higher learning. Associate Professor Tchereni served as the Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor between August 2021 and May 2022 after serving as Acting Vice Principal between October 2020 and August 2021. He is also the former Dean of the Faculty of Commerce. He was the Director of Research and Associate Professor of Economics at the North-West University in South Africa after being the Senior Economist (Senior researcher: Political Economy) at Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflections (MISTRA) also in South Africa. He started off as a Business Promotion and Trade Officer within the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Malawi. Dr Tchereni gained a lot of exposure while in South Africa for close to 8 years where he also served as the Senior Facilitator in Economics, Research methods and Management at the Regenesys Business School in Sandton, South Africa and Milpark Business School.
Betchani has lectured in Finance, Economics, Econometrics and Management both in Malawi and abroad especially in South Africa at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He served as the External Faculty Board member at the Milpark Business School in Johannesburg. He has been an External Examiner for PhD, Masters and Honours programmes for University of South Africa, University of Kwazulu-Natal, North-West University, Nelson Mandela University, Regenesys Business School, Milpark Business School, University of Rwanda, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Malawi University of Science and Technology and University of Cape Town. His research interests are in Energy Economics, Corporate Governance, Macroeconomics, Industrialisation, Productivity, Trade, public sector governance and environmental and health economics. Betchani served as a member of the University of Malawi Senate, a Senate Representative on the University of Malawi’s Budget and Finance Committee and sits on the Customer Consumer Forum of the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA). He is also member of the Presidential Private Sector Council which advises the State President on matters of Private Sector development in Malawi over and above being the Board Member of the Lilongwe Water Board and Independent Board Member for Salima Sugar Company Limited. He is a public and motivational speaker, a Minister of the Word of God, a community leader and author.
Betchani holds a PhD in Economics from the North-West University in South Africa, a Master of Arts (Economics) from the University of Malawi, an Advanced Certificate in Econometrics from the University of Pretoria, and a Bachelor of Social Science from the University of Malawi. Dr Tchereni is the Vice President of the Economics Association of Malawi and a regular economic analyst for the mainstream media.
Betchani has excellent research links with the North-West University in South Africa, University of Kwazulu-Natal, University of South Africa and the University of Rwanda.