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Our team
Sofie Roux
Rosie Mashale
Peter Kauya
Koos Smit
Girls' education advisor
Malawi team lead
Manufacturer
Founder and CEO
Cape Town, South Africa
Blantyre, Malawi
Pretoria, South Africa
Vancouver, BC + Stanford, CA
Sofie is a second year student at Stanford University studying architecture, design and engineering. Leading the BloomBox initiative has been the highlight of her life. Everything she knows about sustainable development she learned from this team.
Rosie is the founder of Baphumelele Childrens Home in Khayelitsha township. Rosie is a champion for girls' education and she was Sofie's first mentor.
Peter is the former principal of New Beginnings Secondary School in Blantyre; the site of the first BloomBox installation. He now helps oversee all Malawi deployments on the ground.
Koos' shop manufactures customized and specialized mechanical and electrical product solutions. The BloomBox roofs come to life in his workshop.
Davis Galero
Ida Puliwa
Mike Nkosi
Wayne Dearlove
Implimentation partner
Malawi core team member
Engineer
Malawi core team member
Blantyre, Malawi
Mulanje, Malawi
Blantyre, Malawi
Pretoria, South Africa
Davis is the pastor at the Foursquare Gospel church. He's worked with Water Wells for Africa since its inception 20 years ago. He has brought love and expertise to the team from its first day.
Ida is the founder of Othakarhaka foundation in Mulanje, the site of the BloomBox 2.0 deployment. She is a role model to the hundreds of young women supported by her training programs, and the thousands of students using the BloomBox from surrounding schools.
Mike has worked construction on all three BloomBox installations, and he's become a leader on site, with cool karate moves and a great taste in music.
Wayne is a mechatronics engineer and protea farmer who has been instrumental in ensuring our roofs are operational, with a sense of humor and big love for the team.
Cliff Hoffman
Tabitha Prithy
Joshua Dzimbiri
Larissa Roux
Logistics
Engineer
PLAN representative
Hip-hop artist
Vancouver, BC
Cape Town, South Africa
Dzaleka, Malawi
Mulanje, Malawi
Cliff is a magician at shipping container conversions. Since moving production to the SADC, all BloomBoxes begin their journey in his and his brother, Herman's, shop.
Tabitha is working at PLAN International during her gap year from university in Blantyre, where she studies economics. She leads BloomBox teacher training in Dzaleka, and ensures the functionality of the BloomBox daily.
Joshua is an up and coming singer, combining afro beats and hip hop with powerful lyrics about making a difference. He brings joy to all BloomBox opening ceremonies.
Larissa is a physician scientist with a deep interest in public health. She is a champion for the success of every build, and loves seeing BloomBoxes through from conception to installation. She is also Sofie's mom + cheerleader.
Ethan Galstad
Ted Mwango
Kurt Dahlin
Ahmed Bashir
Investor
Implementation partner
Mentor
UNHCR resettlement expert
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Mulanje, Malawi
Venice beach, California
Dzaleka, Malawi
Ethan is a successful entrepreneur with a background in programming. He was the BloomBox's first angel investor, and is a believer in equitable access to STEAM education for girls.
Ted is the cofounder of Othakarhaka foundation, with his wife Ida. He now helps with coordination of future deployments, with local leaders on site.
Kurt is the founder of Water Wells for Africa. He inspires Sofie to help reduce barriers between girls and school, in every way possible.
Honorable Ahmed Bashir is the UNHCR Malawi chair, focused on resettlement of refguees into Dzaleka. His partnership with BloomBox 3.0 marks the start of a long term relationship with Dzaleka refugee camp for future BloomBox deployments.
Noah Malete
Danny Kachingwe
Tallulah
Carl Meyer
Computer educator
Malawi core team
Videographer
Information Technology
Khayelitsha, South Africa
Blantyre, Malawi
Vancouver, Canada
Blantyre, Malawi
Owen works closely with Rosie at the Baphumelele Fountain of Hope Youth Center. He leads digital education efforts with the support of Sparkly and Smart and BloomBox computers.
Danny has been on the construction team since the first day of the BloomBox 1.0 build. Since then, he earned his certification as a trained solar technician. Danny is also one of Sofie's closest friends.
Tallulah is a creative force and captured BloomBox 2.0 deployment in 2022 on film, for a documentary which is in the works.
Carl has been working to get RACHEL and Keepod systems to schools across Malawi for the past decade. With SpaceX’s announcement of Starlink coming to Malawi, our dream is to connect BloomBoxes in the most remote settings to Starlink, with Carl’s guidance.
Lawrence Mauilidi
Tina Aoun
Jan Dekker
Herman Hoffman
Implementation partner
Legal counsel
Construction lead
Container conversion
Dzaleka, Malawi
Palo Alto, California
Vancouver, Canada
Epping district, South Africa
Laurence is Project Officer for PLAN International Malawi in Dzaleka refugee camp, and works to ensure girls' engagement with BloomBox 3.0.
Tina is an attorney with a passion for womens' empowerment. She is a BloomBox advocate and has helped formalize corporate strategy.
Jan is a contractor and family friend, who helped Sofie build a BloomBox from a shipping container when she told him her idea in 2020. He's been a core team member ever since.
Herman and his brother, Cliff, are container conversion experts and BloomBox manufacturing partner. He gave Sofie her first construction uniform on the jobsite.
Sam Majamanda
Faith Galero
Tom Tuytschaevers
Dana Lu
Videographer
Lilongwe, Malawi
Inspiration and first student
Blantyre, Malawi
Patent attorney
Boston, MA
Graphic Designer
Vancouver, BC
Sam is a talented Malawi filmamker, who captured the magic behind the scenes of the BloomBox 3.0 installation in Dzaleka, and will continue to document future builds.
Faith is an artist and a graduate of New Beginnings Secondary School, the site of the BloomBox 1.0. A conversation with her about design and education is the inspiration behind the entire initiative.
Tom has been a champion of the BloomBox next generation design and helped Sofie file patents in 4 countries for the retractable solar roof system.
Dana has been a long time cheerleader for Sofie's work, who has always helped bring Sparkly and Smart and BloomBox marketing materials to life.
Alex Sinclair
Owen Mdledle
Video production
Youth empowerment
Osgoode, Canada
Khayelitsha, South Africa
Alex is a musical talent and film producer, and has captured the BloomBox story through beautiful and innovative visual storytelling.
Owen is a visionary and grassroots leader, supporting students in Khayelistsha and Egoli townships, and leading the BloomBox Power Girl Pads initiative.
Partners
We are forever grateful to our partners that ensure the sustainability of our work. Through innovative and interdisciplinary collaboration, BloomBox Design Labs is set to continue to have a high impact on a large scale.
+ many thanks to early champions of the BloomBox story 🤍
Catholic Women's League of Canada
Knights of Columbus
Charlie + Brenda Shweik + World Librarians partner BB 3.0
Tamara Letkeman + Henri Persaud
Danforth Solar Lilongwe
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