Saki Mafundikwa is the founder and director of the Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts (ZIVA) a design and new media training college in Harare. He has an MFA in Graphic Design from Yale University. He returned home in 1998 to found ZIVA after working in New York City as a graphic designer, art director and design instructor. His book, Afrikan Alphabets: the Story of Writing in Africa was published in 2004. It is the first book on Afrikan typography. Currently out of print, it will be re-printed in 2021.

His award-winning first film, Shungu: The Resilience of a People premiered at 2009’s International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). The film follows the brutal Zimbabwean presidential election of 2008, during the campaigns of Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition party. Shungu also explores the everyday survival practices undertaken by the Zimbabwean people as they cope with political and economic strife. It has won awards, notably the Ousmane Sembene Prize at Zanzibar International Film Festival and Best Documentary at Kenya International Film Festival. It has screened all over the world, where it has been received very well by both critics and audiences.

Active on the international lecture circuit, he was a speaker at TED2013 in Long Beach, California. He was a TED speaker at the PMI 50 the Anniversary Conference in Dar es Salaam in September 2019.

He has been published widely on design and cultural issues. He lives, works and farms in Harare.