Jodie Wu, CEO, has been the stronghold for GCS. Before GCS, she worked with Parsons and GE and spent eight years working with a family business. In 2008, she led the product design team that designed GCS’ first prototype of the GCS Bicycle Maize Sheller, and in 2009, she led GCS to win the MIT 100K Business Plan Competition. She is a 2010 Echoing Green Fellow and 2011 TEDGlobal Fellow.
Jessica Tebor, Business Development Manager, implements and monitors partnership programs and field projects associated with building our distribution network. Following a year working for a microfinance bank in Fiji, she comes to us with deep experience in microenterprise development. She previously worked for Axiom Law, a rapidly growing legal services company, in a business analyst role. Jessica received her BBA from Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
Pascal Peter, Financial Manager, joins us from Bank M where he spent over a year working as the Head of Operations and was responsible for managing cash movement, supervising receipts and remittances and authorizing transactions. Pascal received his Diploma in Accountancy from the Institute of Accountancy in Arusha and is currently completing his CPA. Prior to Bank M, Pascal worked for the Centre for Education and Development in Arusha as an Assistant Project Accountant.
Bernard Kiwia, Chief of Engineering, leads GCS’ R&D and manufacturing. After attending the first annual International Development Design Summit at MIT in 2007, he became a prolific inventor, with a pedal-powered hacksaw, a pedal-powered drill press, and a bicycle-powered cell phone charger. Bernard was 2011 recipient of the GO Innovation Award, and his phone charger is currently is a part of the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt Exhibition. Bernard leads all GCS research and development and supervises the manufacture of our product locally.
Alex Shih, Director of US Partnerships and Promotions, co-founded GCS while in graduate school at MIT for a joint engineering and business program. Heworks on U.S. partnerships and promotions and supports the team while working as a program manager for partnerships at Google for his day job. Once he becomes fluent in Swahili, he plans to move abroad.
Board of Directors
Semyon Dukach, Executive Chairman, brings extensive experience in entrepreneurship and business, as he was founder of Amphibian Investments, Fast Engines, Vert, and PDFFiller. He currently runs SMTP.com, and sits on the board of Terrafugia. He holds a M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT and a B.S. in Computer Science from Columbia University.
Jodie Wu is founder and CEO of GCS. In 2009, she led GCS to win the MIT 100K Business Plan Competition. Jodie has been working in Tanzania since 2008, and continues to lead the GCS team, both in US and Tanzania. She is 2010 Echoing Green Fellow and 2011 TEDGlobal Fellow.
Javier Lozano is founder of Clinicas del Azucar, a low-cost chain of diabetes clinics in Mexico. Previously, he founded nonprofit Sierra Tarahumara, an NGO committed to agricultural development, small business creation, and education in Mexico. He is familiar with the Latin American market and has nearly ten years of experience in strategy and supply chain management. He holds an MBA from MIT Sloan.
Gwyndaf Jones is the instructor of MIT’s D-Lab Cycle Ventures, an international development course focusing on the development of green, pedal-powered technologies. In 1986, he founded Merlin Bicycles, a leading bicycle brand in titanium-framed bicycles, and he brings years of experience working all over the globe, building a pedal-powered washing machine, grinder, and blender in Peru; a cycle rickshaw in India; and a collapsible bicycle trailer in Ghana. He supports GCS with his expertise and bicycle mechanics and serves as a resource for understanding the bicycle market.
Flavian Marwa, a native Tanzanian, is a founder of FRM Global Services Inc., which provides telecommunication infrastructure services to NGOs doing public health research in East Africa. He was a Senior Management Consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton, and is now working on his own start-up. He has four degrees, inclusing an MBA from MIT Sloan, MPA n International Development and Public Policy from Harvard, M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Dar es Salaam.
Esmeralda Megally is founder of Aerovax, a startup that is developing a low-cost drug and vaccine delivery device for low-income settings. It received the Award for International Technology at the MIT IDEAS competition in 2006 and was finalist at the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship competition in 2006. In a volunteer role, Esmeralda is also the VP for Technology & Innovation at the India School Fund and an associate at Commons Capital.
