OUR TEAM
Our teams commitment is to leave the world in a better place
Daniel
Hooft
Founder, CEO
Daniel has over 20 years’ experience in offshore engineering, gained with Royal Dutch Shell in 7 different countries. He has a track record of delivering extraordinary business results by identifying technical and commercial opportunities and acting on them decisively.
Daniel is passionate about the sea and the complex Anthropocene world we live in.
Viviane
Kinyaga
Managing Director Namibia
A qualified marine biologist & water management specialist, Viviane has spent 20 years advising governments, NGO’s, the UN and inter-governmental bodies. Most recently, she has worked with the Benguela Current Convention.
Viviane sits on the board of NamWater. She adores the natural world, its quiet wonder – and empowering people.
Caroline
Slootweg
Co-founder, commercial and communication
A start-up, change management and digital transformation specialist, Caroline has worked at Unilever, WPP, in mar-tech and agri-tech. Her purity of purpose expresses itself as clarity, simplicity and speed.
Caroline sailed half-way around the world and across the Pacific Ocean in the Clipper Round the World yacht race and is also a keen forager and traveller.
Loyiso
Dunga
MARINE BIOLOGY & ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING
Loyiso is a marine biologist specialised in mapping, modelling and kelp forest ecosystem threat status assessments. He holds a Masters degree from the University of Cape Town and trained in the field of environmental and hydrology at the University of Western Cape. He is passionate about the ocean and the secrets that lie beneath the blue blanket.
Loyiso also enjoys working on short films about the ocean to bring his passions to a wider audience.
Hugo
Stam
Project engineer
A hydraulic engineer with a masters degree from the Delft University of Technology, Hugo is a dedicated team player. He explored Suriname while working on a project assessing the technical feasibility of establishing a terminal in Paramaribo.
He trained for a marathon, but was thwarted by Covid. So instead, Hugo continues to ensure he plays a mean game of hockey.
Agathe
Bellay
Finance
Agathe has over 10 years’ experience in financial controller roles, and holds a Masters in International Management and Strategy from ESCP Europe.
Agathe grew up in the shadow of Mt. Blanc and is a Qi Gong enthusiast. She studies Japanese in her free time.
Samantha
Deane
Partnerships & Fundraising
Business builder with a career background in international finance. Holds a Law and Economics degree from Durham University. Samantha grew up in Buenos Aires and has lived in the UK and the Middle East, and is currently based in the Netherlands. She loves the arts and being outdoors. Thus far, her favourite place to scuba dive is Bonaire and she’s waiting to find a good place to wreck-dive.
Ferdi
Knoester
Project Engineer
Recently graduated with a Masters in Hydraulic Engineering from TU Delft. Built an artificial reef to combat coastal erosion in North Sulawesi and built a bamboo factory in the jungles of Nicaragua while working together with the indigenous Miskito populations.
Ferdi loves to dive and does this in every place he visits (where possible), has run the Rotterdam marathon and completed the Barcelona Iron Man 70.3.
Greater
Mukumbira
Administrator
A passionate believer in leveraging the power and enthusiasm of the youth to change the planet. Has extensive experience bringing multi-disciplinary teams together and providing the necessary support and structure to creative thinkers.
Greater loves cooking and running and has been known to lose flip-flops in the sand dunes.
Michael
Fleischman
Seaweed Sourcing and Propagation
A true seaweed enthusiast. Holds a Masters degree from the University of Cape Town in Phycology and Aquaculture and comes from an abalone aquaculture background.
He loves being in the water, is a patient teacher and can often be found sprinting up and down Table Mountain.
Maxime
Penning
Processing
Dedicated to understanding how cells can be seen as factories of the future. Is passionate about ensuring a total and complete usage of the seaweed, ‘waste’ is not a word in her vocabulary. Extensive experience in process optimisation and liquid separation/filtration processes.
On windy days, can often be found kite-surfing and is dedicated to living a life full of adventure.
Dr Sunny
Sanderson
Research, stakeholder engagement, environment & communities
A doctorate in political ecology and human geography and a research master’s in biology. Past projects range from studying zoonotic malaria transmission and agricultural land use in Indonesia, orangutan & gibbon ecology, to investigating the impacts of large-scale oil palm development on rural livelihoods in Malaysia.
Sunny grew up by the sea and spent her time ocean diving and exploring the local seagrass beds.
Cayne Moffat
Strategic Planning & Analysis
Was offered a place at university at aged 15 but decided to live a little and entered at 17. Holds a degree in Mathematics from the University of Edinburgh and is a CFA Charterholder.
He’s proudly Scottish, loves playing football, and is known to be highly competitive. At the moment he’s learning Dutch.
Tom Andrews
Chief Technical Officer
A seasoned project leader with extensive experience of delivering engineering and construction projects to operations around the globe. He’s constantly focused on delivering with integrity though collaborative working relationships.
He’s an obsessive National Geographic reader and can often be found cross-country skiing in the mountains of Norway.
Iryia Jona
Processing and Operations
Valentin Pitiot
Sales and Market Development
Valentin recently graduated from ISTOM in Angers, France with Masters in Agronomy with a specialisation in Agriculture. He’s worked at the World Bank and became a seaweed enthusiast when he discovered the amazing potential of seaweed to usher in a new dawn of how to do business.
He’s super sporty, any and all, but has a particular fondness for basketball. And doesn’t drink coffee.
Protasius Mutjida
Geochemist and Environmental Monitoring
Special Advisors
Prof. John Bolton
South Africa’s Seaweed Authority
Prof. Mauro Sérgio Gonçalves Pavão, PhD
Institute of Medical Biochemistry – Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
