About Us - Hydrobox

Founders

John Magiro

Technical Director

Thomas Poelmans

Managing Director

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 providing affordable electricity to over 300 households.

In another part of the world, Thomas had been working on a way to use local rivers to electrify rural areas in Africa.

Thomas began his career at Deloitte where he developed a service line, supporting international organizations manage their operations in Africa. 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 government, the French development cooperation and the Port of Antwerp. In 2015 he co-founded NAMé Recycling, a plastic recycling company operating 3 factories in Cameroon having recycled 30 million bottles to date.

They met, and with John’s technical knowledge and Thomas’ business acumen, they scaled up and professionalized the technology which is now known as the Hydrobox.

Watch this video to learn how the partnership came to be