Hydrobox 1A
- Backed by over 110 investors
Thomas Poelmans
Founder
Starting his career at Deloitte, Thomas quickly became responsible for a service line supporting international organizations manage their operations in Africa providing audit, M&E, risk management and project management services.
In 2012, he was one of the people behind the launch of WorldLoop, As project director of WorldLoop, Thomas supported the start-up and growth of 15 e-waste recycling companies across Africa in collaboration with partners such as Recupel, Van Gansewinkel (Renewi) and Umicore.
In 2014 he started working as an independent consultant and project developer in recycling and renewable energy projects. His clients include the World Bank, the Belgian development agency, the French development cooperation, the Flemish government and the Port of Antwerp. In 2015 he co-founded NAMé Recycling, a plastic recycling company operating 3 factories in Cameroon having recycled 50 million bottles to date.
In 2016 he started developing Hydrobox with the development of the first pilot plant in 2018 as a result. This summer, Thomas will be relocating to Kenya with his family to spearhead the growth of Hydrobox in Kenya on the ground.
Thomas holds a master in Economics and International Politics, a Prince II certification in project management and is a World Bank trained M&E expert. His work received various awards, including the Belgian Business Awards for the Environment (2013), the Sustainable partnership award (2014) and the Business without borders first prize (2015).
John Magiro
Co-founder
John grew up in a small village in Murang’a Kenya, about 3 hours drive from the capital Nairobi. Growing up, no one in his community had electricity. The nearest electricity pole was 15 km away.
After seeing his mother struggle, he decided to build his first micro hydro power plant using everyday objects. His talent was quickly noticed, allowing him to scale up and professionalize the technology, constructing a dam that channels water to a turbine and generates electricity. Today, John operates a hydro power plant providing affordable electricity to over 250 households and through his involvement in Hydrobox, plans to build many more.
John is the winner of the Switch Africa Green – Seed Award 2016, the East Africa Hub Grant 2017 and the WWF Africa Youth Awards 2017
Roblain Namegni
Co-founder
Originally Cameroonian, Roblain moved to Belgium and studied Business Management at the University of Antwerp. He started his career in process engineering at Deloitte before moving to the industry where he worked for Reynaers Aluminium and Manuchar, a supplier of Unilever.
At Manuchar, he was responsible for setting up operations for Manuchar all over the South American and African continents.
In 2015, Roblain relocated to Cameroon where he is executive director of the country's leading plastic recycling company, NAMé Recycling.
Roblain is director in Hydrobox Belgium & is preparing our expansion to Cameroon.
Ndudi Phasi
Advisor
Ndudi Phasi is a true ambassador for sustainable impact in the D.R. Congo and highly respected by governments and international organisations. He has led very large and impactful projects and programs in the areas of health care and environment. He is one of the champions who has pushed forward the recycling agenda on a national scale in the D.R. Congo. Today, he is pioneering sustainable energy solutions in collaboration with HydroBox.
Ndudi is preparing the road for our expansion to D.R. Congo
Doris Kendi
Manager
Doris grew up in the town of Nanyuki, Kenya. She studied Economics at the University of Nairobi, after which she joined PKF, a leading business advisory company active in the East African region. At PKF, she worked as a Audit Senior and financial advisor, working for large clients in the private & public sector. Afterwards, she gained experience in day-to-day management of SMEs as a chartered accountant at the Center for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW) and Red Cross Kenya.
Doris is coordinating our Kenyan operations as office & finance manager in Kenya.