ASSOCIATION BOARD MEMBERS
President
Gerfried Kroeger works for Hewlett Packard Enterprise in Germany as Channel Development Manager in the Worldwide Distribution organization. Between 2010 and 2015 he led a social responsibility project for the Distribution organization of HP in cooperation with SOS Children’s Villages to collect funding for 1 house in a village in Kamp Portal in Uganda. Leveraging multiple donation generation activities within Hewlett Packard and also with Partners and customers, in the end 135.000USD were collected to complete the project. When the house was dedicated in Nov-2015 with a visit, Gerfried and his team “stumbled” across their next project, when they took a boat tour on Lake Bunyonyi and visited the Island School for the first time.
Vice-President
Sabine Single worked for Hewlett-Packard for 28 years, holding different management positions in different Business units of the organization. Since April 2017 she holds the General Manager Position of Bechtle Hosting & Operations, a company within the Bechtle Group. Sabine has been volunteering her time to many different social projects over many years. Between 2010 and 2015 she was an essential part of the SOS children's Village project with the responsibility of conceptualizing and implementing the project. As a side job, Sabine freelances in "Single-Art"-Paintings and Workshops. She is also the Publishing Author of the book "Lebensträume" (ISBN:978-3-941221-05-5)
Treasurer
Volker Jaksch completed his university as a civil engineer and can show the respective work experience in the industry, including 14 years within the Hewlett-Packard Organization, where he collected several years of sales experience. As of 2016, he leads a sound therapist center, in which he is self-employed. Volker has been part of many different social projects. He has been volunteering as a treasurer for the local dance club "TSC Rot Weiss" in Böblingen for several years and was an essential part of the SOS children's village project.
Secretary
Cecile Giraud Jacquet worked for 12 years at Hewlett-Packard in Geneva, Switzerland, and became involved in the last phase of the social project that her teammates initiated in 2011 with SOS Children Villages, helping fund the building of a house in Fort Portal, Uganda. Besides a Master’s Degree in Business Studies from the University of Jean Moulin, Lyon, France, Cecile recently obtained a diploma in International Organizations Management from the University of Geneva. Her primary interest in working in the field of sustainable development turned into a new career path beginning of 2018 when she joined the International Organization for Standardization. “The positive impact of standards on international relations and on economic, social and environmental development is tremendous.“ A big fan of the Sustainable Development Goals’ initiative launched by the UN (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org), Cecile is very excited to make the Musana Ferry Project a real life-changing modus operandi for the children around Lake Bunyonyi.
UGANDA CONTACT
Denis
Denis Maniragaba has worked as a private science teacher (Chemistry & Biology) in various schools surrounding lake Bunyonyi for 12 years. He is a young generation role model and a mentor in the sub region. His basic works is towards community development through education and environmental sustainability practices. He is the President of Lake Bunyonyi Community and Island School Association since 2015, a community based organisation in the same region. Denis graduated from Kabale University in Environmental Science in 2016, which has enabled him to tackle environment challenges affecting the area and therefore improve resilience and adaptation. He has coordinated donations towards the refurbishing of about 100 years old dilapidated structures of asbestos on Bwarma Island, Lake Bunyonyi Secondary School, while collaborating with Belgium people since 2017. In addition, he has collaborated with the international community to sponsor different abandoned children, pupils and students from marginalised and disadvantaged families in various schools in Uganda. In 2015 he met Gerfried, Sabine, Volker, Cecile and Marc Deby, from where the idea of Musana Ferry germinated to present. This connection has helped in financing the school with solar systems that has enabled the school in lighting , providing charging cables, supporting all school going children with scholastic materials, back packs, mobile solar lighting and many stuffs in general. He has also coordinated exchange visits with other schools from USA and Slovenia to the school.
BOAT ENGINEERING
Tim
Tim Schuette joined the Musana Ferry project in the second batch while enrolled at the partner university of applied sciences Emden/Leer. As a team member of the universities Solar Boat Racing Team he is part of the engineering team of Musana Ferry since 2018. He topped off his university degree with his master's thesis designing the ferry with overall calculation and construction. In his professional career, he remains loyal to ships with working for BRIESE Research company. Employed as a junior superintendent he is managing the daily technical operations, dry dock planning and execution of the German federally owned research vessels.
Anneke
Anneke has been a member of the Musana Ferry team since 2021. The contact came about through the solar boat team at Emden/Leer University of Applied Sciences. In 2022, Anneke completed her mechanical engineering studies with her master's thesis in collaboration with Musana Ferry. She developed a concept for knowledge transfer and designed experimental kits for students. Now she supports the engineering team and helps with manufacturing. Anneke is also professionally involved in sustainability. She works in the environmental and energy management department of an automotive manufacturer.
Jana
Jana joined the project in 2018. She created the website during her first internship within the DualStudy program of Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Now working as an AI Consultant at HPE, she continues to support with website maintenance, social media activities and communication initiatives.