Welcome from our Founder Nickson Mariki
None of us are born excellent. It is earned through disciplined effort and character building. It requires grit, passion, life-long learning and commitment. It may also require sacrifice, failure, and heartbreaking disappointment now and then. Everyone of these things is possible in any human being. So with a dose of talent and the right amount of love and investment, we believe that excellence can come from anyone and anywhere. What kind of excellence a person develops is an individual journey, it may be found in the classroom, on the pitch or beyond. But nothing about excellence says it is unavailable to people who start from humble beginnings. So we cast our net wide for talented kids and build the methods to help every person express their excellence.
The lifelong process of developing an identity that is true to your deepest values is part of the equation for a successful life. But it’s not enough just to know who you are and what you care about - you have to ‘walk your talk’ by living and working according to your purpose. It doesn’t happen automatically and it doesn’t happen overnight. But once you feel a sense of purpose, it becomes your benchmark for excellence, professionally and personally. It’s about using your success to give-back to the world around you and the communities that raised you. It’s about using success to create a positive legacy in society. But most importantly it is about expecting to invest in building platforms for others to launch their own dreams.
Even though the quality of academic education at Black Rhino Academy is very high, we see our school as a School of Life where we encourage each young person to find their own very best.
Nickson Mariki
Karatu, Tanzania
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
About our Founders
Nickson Mariki, Co-Founder and Director
Nickson Mariki was born and raised at the foot of Kilimanjaro. He has lived in Karatu since 2008 and previously worked both in the hospitality and construction industries. Currently he also operates a number of local restaurants and hotels in Karatu. As co-director of Black Rhino he primarily oversees and coordinates the construction of the school.
Caroline Epe, Co-Founder and Director
Caroline Epe has lived and worked in Karatu since 2009. She has extensive experience in the health sector in this rural town as the Volunteer Coordinator, Director of Development and Operations Manager at FAME Medical, a non-profit hospital. She is committed to this area and believes that better healthcare and education can make a real difference in the lives of children and that Tanzanians will have a more positive impact on their own development as a nation through actively investing in early education.
