BIO Rutendo Ngara

Rutendo Lerato Ngara sits at the confluence of many rivers—Indigenous Knowledge Systems practitioner, transdisciplinary researcher, speaker, philosopher, scientist, martial artist, designer, and spiritual coach. Rooted in Southern Africa and initiated in multiple Indigenous traditions, she works across sectors and paradigms, weaving science, culture, cosmology and paradigms of healing.
Holding a BSc in Electrical Engineering and an MSc in Medicine in Biomedical Engineering, her professional journey spans clinical engineering, healthcare technology management, socio-economic development, mathematics, leadership, indigenous cosmology, and fashion design. Her transdisciplinary focus centres on bridging Western and Indigenous paradigms –particularly between medical knowledge systems, the economy, the environment, gender and education.
Rutendo is the founder of Rooted In Soul, co-founder of Ancient Wisdom Africa and the Ancient Wisdom Foundation, and a member of international networks including Earth Elders and the Earthrise Collective. She has served on advisory boards such as the Credo Mutwa Foundation, the South African Wushu Federation, and the Future of Work Foundation.
With an ear to the ancestral and an eye on systemic coherence, her pedagogies are deeply relational. She is mentored by Nature in all her forms— including rivers, baobabs, and the ancestors.
She weaves tapestries through multiple epistemologies. The quest for interconnectedness, co-existence, and complementarity underpins her endeavours.