Our Mission
providing affordable clean water and renewable energy in remote areas
OffGridBox pumping water for irrigation of date palms and drinking in Puntland, Somalia
Clinic staff and OffGridBox technicians at Health Facility in North Kivu, DRC where solar and biomedical systems were deployed.
Increase Access
to Renewable Energy Sources
Safeguard Quality
and Availability of Clean Water
Promote a Sustainable
and Healthy Way of Life
Our Core Team
We are located in Rwanda, Europe and the United States, working
extremely hard to develop solutions that have a net positive impact.
Jodie Wu
Board Chair
Jodie has 15+ years’ working in East Africa, with a focus on renewable energy, and last-mile distribution. Fluent in Swahili, an MIT mechanical engineer, and social entrepreneur who sold her first company. Echoing Green Fellow, TED Global Fellow, D-Lab Scale-Ups Fellow, and C3E International Award Winner.
Bas Berends
Chief Executive Officer
Bas has 26 years’ experience as a former Dutch diplomat, working on Environment, Energy and Sustainable Development. Master’s degrees in International Relations, Rural Development, and European Studies. Bas is a World Economic Forum UpLink Top Innovator.
Emiliano Cecchini, PhD
CTO
Emiliano has 25 years of international expertise in the industry and has built the world's first underground hydrogen pipe system. He launched three successful companies in the renewables sector. He has a degree in Physics and a PhD in Chemistry.
Davide Bonsignore
Global Director
Davide has worked in 4 African countries leading feasibility studies and deployment of off-grid solutions in remote areas. He is on the board of 2 companies specialized in the production of alternative energies. He has an MSc in Economics and International Development.
Honoré Basazabo
OGB Rwanda Engineering Operations Advisor
Honoré has over 12 years of experience in deploying solar energy systems. He is the MD of Great Lakes Energy and advises OffGridBox on its Rwandan and international tenders and projects.
Adeline Icyimpaye
OGB Rwanda Business Development Manager
With a Master’s in Water Policy and a BSc with Honours in Soil and Water Management, Adeline has 10+ years’ experience working in government, private sector and non-profit environments. She has worked in the field of research, project development & implementation, strategy & business development. She’s lived, worked and studied in Rwanda, Algeria, South Korea and Australia.
Sonia Melissa Isimbi
OGB Rwanda Finance and Administration Manager
Sonia Melissa worked at SOS Children’s Village, before taking up her current position at OffGridBox. She also oversees the franchise agreements with different entrepreneurs, including in refugee camps. She has a bachelor's degree in Travel and Tourism Management and has done courses in sales, marketing and customer care.
Jean de Dieu (Jado) Ndayambaje
OGB Rwanda Technical Manager
Jado has 8 years’ experience in construction with a focus on water technology, 2 years in technical production and 5 years in water purification, working for OffGridBox. He is a student of civil engineering. Jado is the one who deploys OGB equipment all over East Africa.
Our Story
In 2010, our founders Emiliano and Davide met while working at La Fabbrica del Sole (a non-profit focused on constructing clean energy products) in Italy. During their time there, they collaborated with OXFAM on several projects around the world that brought electricity and clean water to rural areas.
In 2014, OXFAM's project was to install solar panels and a water purifying system into six kindergartens in rural South Africa. Installation would take at least three weeks due to vast distances, training labor force, and material availability, making it more difficult to finish the project. Tired of all the complications and the inefficiency, OffGridBox was born.
Emiliano and Davide started setting up as much as they could remotely in a small shipping container. They took the box to the kindergarten and set it up in three days instead of three weeks! As of today, it only takes three hours to install one box. After that successful day, they knew their project was scalable and adaptable to multiple situations.
the founders took part in Techstars, Boston in 2016-17, OffGridBox went on to sell globally to individuals for off-grid living purposes with additional development projects. Our founders wanted to create a significant social impact, and that's why they chose Rwanda to set up a new African office, which is run by Rwandan colleagues. Rwanda’s support for green technology and innovation made it ideal for OffGridBox to try out its technology, selling the service of charging power banks and clean water. This was then rolled out in neighbouring countries like Tanzania and Uganda, with women acting as daily operators (BoxKeepers). Tens of thousands of families in East Africa, including in refugee settlements, got access to affordable purified water and solar energy because of the OffGridBox containerised solution in their community.
More recently, OffGridBox has been focusing on the electrification on institutional buildings, such as health facilities, schools and community centers. We have implemented over 50 projects with over 40 partners and clients in over 20 countries.
