Seko Shamte

Seko Shamte (born 29 October 1981) is a Tanzanian film producer, writer and director.

Early life Seko Shamte grew up in Dar es Salaam but spent some of her early years in the United States of America as well as Asia. Her parents, Fulgence and Antonia Tingitana, father an engineer and mother, an education specialist encouraged the development of her writing skills by sending her to writing camps over the summer holidays. At Mzizima High School where she studied she formed an appreciation for history and music. She played the violin and was the chairperson of the music club.

Career After finishing her BSc in finance with a minor in media at Marymount College Manahattan College in 2005 she went to work at East Africa Television as the Head of Programming. During her tenure (2005–08) she oversaw the creation and televising of the popular television programs Ze Comedy, Friday Night Live, 5 Live! and Nirvana.

Seko Shamte started her own production company, Alkemist Media in 2008 producing programmes and films about Tanzania and Africa for international distribution. For CNN's Inside Africa and Inside Story, these included stories on Tanzanian NBA basketball player Hashim Thabeet and his contribution to his community in Tanzania and the migration of Maasai men in Tanzania. This was followed by a series of other pieces for CNN, ABC networks in the United States and BBC in the UK.

The Team Tanzania Following Mkwawa she went on to co-write, produce and direct The Team: Tanzania, a televisions series about gender inequality in Tanzania and aiming to transform society’s gender norms. The story follows two teenage girls, Upendo and Sophia, and their struggle for identity.

Home Coming was well received by the Tanzanian Film Industry. The film went on to be selected to screen at the Pan African Film Festival in 2017.

Seko’s next project is slated to be a documentary on Julius Kambarage Nyerere, the first president of Tanzania.