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Fiji

Barefoot College identified Fiji and the Pacific Islands as an area to work in 2012. Since our first visit to the region, we have trained 77 Barefoot Women Solar Engineers in 13 Pacific Island Countries, across the three major island groups of Micronesia, Polynesia, and Melanesia.

We are currently working in Renewable Energy and Livelihood Development in the island countries of Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, Palau, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Tuvalu, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

Our mission is to foster self-sufficiency and promote sustainability among the rural poor through women empowerment and community partnerships by instigating and supporting programs for sustainable, renewable, clean energy. We also endeavour to create livelihood opportunities for marginalized, mature women, boosting their income and providing eco-friendly, self-reliant solutions for village communities across the Pacific Islands.

 

 

 

Miriam Levy Turner

Miriam Levy Turner is an experienced fiduciary and governance professional with more than two decades of expertise spanning fiduciary services, international corporate structuring, compliance, and logistics. As Director of Sanctuary Swiss – Sanctuary Fiduciary Services SA in Geneva, she provides personalized fiduciary and corporate administration, trusteeship, and foundation council services for both private clients and organizations of public utility. She also serves as Head of EMEA Governance, Legal & Compliance at Max Midstream Texas, where she oversees compliance and budgeting functions across the region. Previously, Miriam spent over 12 years as Director at Whitmill Trust (Suisse) SA, specializing in cross-border wealth planning and corporate administration. Her early career at Louvre Trust (Suisse) Sàrl gave her a solid foundation in client relations, compliance, and accounting.

Miriam holds advanced professional certifications with STEP – the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, where she earned her TEP designation and an Advanced Certificate in Fund Administration. Fluent in English, French and Portuguese, she combines technical expertise with cross-cultural communication skills. Beyond her fiduciary career, she contributes actively to the social impact sector, serving on the board of TRIAL International and having held leadership roles with the Giving Women Association. Her career reflects a consistent commitment to both professional excellence and social responsibility, and she brings the full force of her expertise to her work with BCI to improve lives.

John Cheesemond

John Cheesmond is a founder of Two Oceans Partners, focused on impact investment in natural and organic cosmetics, ingredients and nutrition in Africa. His prior experience includes Global Head of Finance at Ciba-Geigy, one of Switzerland’s largest global companies, EVP Ciba Specialty Chemicals, and CEO of Inolex Philadelphia, a cosmetic ingredient supplier. In the NGO sector, John served as CEO of Phytotrade Africa, a non-profit trade focused development organisation working across Southern Africa.

John has also served as Partner in Schroder Venture Lifesciences London, and as a Partner at Deloitte South Africa, as well as serving on numerous private boards, and a number of boards of public companies which are leaders in their fields, including: Hexcel (aerospace composites); Mettler-Toledo (scientific instruments); Orchid India (pharmaceuticals); and Cognis Dusseldorf (cosmetic ingredients). The linking themes in his career have been innovative science and finance, and a global outlook on strategy. John is a Member of The Explorers Club, Swiss Alpine Club and Mountain Club of South Africa. He has been a Governor of Aiglon College Switzerland, and holds an MSc from the London Business School.

Hugh Stevenson

Hugh is a Private Equity and Venture Investor, specializing in Healthcare, Healthcare Services, Biotech, and Software. He is a Founding Partner in Fulcrum Ventures (later Fulcrum Equity Partners); Fulcrum Equity Partners is a growth equity firm focused on providing expansion capital to rapidly growing companies, and it has been successfully investing in innovative high growth businesses since 2000. Hugh is additionally a Founding Partner of Chatham Capital, a mezzanine finance firm that concentrates on small to middle market companies with sustainable cash flow from operations, principally investing in healthcare, manufacturing, and service companies.

Hugh previously held senior executive positions in IBM, Silicon Graphics, Siebel Systems and Target Marketing Systems, ranging from System Engineer through to Global Head of Consulting (Siebel Systems), to Senior Vice President Open Systems, Europe (IBM), CEO (Target Marketing) and President (Silicon Graphics EMEA, SEA, and Swiss Manufacturing). Hugh has additional experience as a Board Member of IT and Biotech companies. He was a member of Stanford University Advisory Board for seven years, and was originally trained in Mathematics at the University of Glasgow, where he was the first in his family to go to university, achieving a BSc and MA before eschewing a PhD to pursue more functional business interests.

George M. Rehm

Mr. Rehm is a founding Partner of aeris CAPITAL AG, Switzerland and has over twenty five years experience as a lawyer and executive in international licensing, technology transfer, investment and privatization transactions, involving the US, Europe and Asia, prior to commencing his current career in 2000 in private equity. In this capacity, he currently holds board seats in GenomeDx, La Jolla, CA and Vancouver, BC, Dabo Health in San Francisco, as well as Jiff Inc. in Palo Alto, CA, and Butterfly Networks in Guilford, Connecticut. He also serves as Board Chairman of Sensovation AG, Radolfzell, Germany and as a director of TTtech AG in Vienna. In these board positions, Mr. Rehm has been actively involved in assisting portfolio companies in IPO`s onto the NASDAQ, reverse mergers onto the London Stock Exchange, international licensing transactions, development of IP strategy and product licensing transactions, as well as leading a major transatlantic financing round, in excess of $80 Million for Butterfly Networks. Over the past seven years he sourced and assisted in exiting investments in Ion Torrent, Crescendo Biosciences, ConFormis, Affimed Therapeutics, and Adamas Pharmaceuticals.

Prior to beginning his career in private equity in 2000, Mr. Rehm was legal counsel in numerous international technology transfer transactions, including transactions in China and Russia for Nutrasweet, Applied Materials, Monsanto, Spectra Physics, Dow Corning, Mitsubishi Heavy Metals, and Daewoo Electronics. He was engaged for over eight years in a law practice focusing on privatization and cross-border investment transactions in Eastern Germany, the Czech Republic and the former USSR, where he was responsible for managing law offices in Leipzig, Prague and Moscow, representing such companies as Xcel Energy, Allied Signal, and Alliant Tech Systems in investment and privatization transactions. Prior to this, he served as legislative counsel on foreign trade and European Investment to major US electronics industry associations (AEA, SEMI), providing testimony and representation for them before the US Congress, as well as representing the founding members of BIO. Mr. Rehm also served as chief European consultant to Bristol-Myers-Squibb on a clinical oncology care project, involving delivery of services throughout the EU. He received his BSFS from Georgetown University, and a JD from the University of California, Hastings College of Law, completing course work in law and city planning and serving as research assistant and lecturer at the University of California-Berkeley, Earl Warren Institute. Mr. Rehm has written and lectured frequently in Germany and the US on international trade, investment, technology transfer, health care, and venture capital.

Milena Cvijanovich

Serbo-Swiss architect and founder of Milena C Designs, an interiors and architecture design firm based in Monaco and Miami, and Nomadessence, an eco-luxury products and services trademark label, Milena Cvijanovich has always been passionate about sustainable design, alternative energies, social entrepreneurship and business opportunities. With a MA in Architecture from Carnegie Mellon University and inspired by a physicist father, one of the first inventors of the solar panel, she is the recipient of numerous scholarships and awards in architecture and entrepreneurship. Milena has taught sustainability, sustainable luxury and cross-cultural design management and is now launching a Sustainable Luxury Lifestyle platform. Specialized since 1994 in eco-luxury architecture and design, Milena has created environments and consulted for luxury brands such as Patek Philippe, Blancpain, Beaufort Hotels, Intrawest, and numerous prestigious private clients. With partners worldwide, Milena also runs a sustainability and sustainable luxury consultancy and is involved in several projects in eco-luxury tourism, hospitality and wellness, fusing sustainability with the world of luxury and combining heritage conservation, environmental protection and social entrepreneurship with interesting investment opportunities.

Milena believes that as the world becomes more conscious of the responsibility we all have to the earth and to each other, sustainable luxury can, in fact, be an exciting, glamorous and creative solution to provide and enjoy the best life has to offer, while simultaneously supporting the preservation of nature and culture.