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the WFP in 2002, it has been completely out of its comfort zone in terms of finding the technical expertise required to build a biodiesel plant. It was something that Van Dijk had puzzled long and hard about. Until a solution virtually presented itself on a plate when he was invited to a wedding in the Netherlands last year. At the reception, he got into conversation with the bride’s brother, Theo Horbach, production manager at AkzoNobel’s Industrial Chemicals plant in Rotterdam. As luck would have it, he turned out to be just the man Van Dijk was a looking for. Horbach recalls the meeting with some amusement. “I listened to his story about TNT’s plans to help create employment in Malawi. How they were trying to resolve the chronic shortage of good fuel and how the only thing that was missing was the technical know-how to build the processing plant. I told him he needn’t look any further. I was immediately sold on the project. The next day, it was a Monday, I gathered my team together, told them I was looking for volunteers to go to Malawi in their own free time to build a pilot plant. I couldn’t have asked for a better response.”
The only caveat, added Van Dijk, was that a pilot plant had to be up and running within four months to coincide with the first harvest of seeds, which would need to be gathered and processed. No problem, said Horbach. Over the next four months, his team of volunteers (Henk van der Werf, Toine van de Lindeloof, Michiel Bosch, Johan Breugem, Igor van der Hel, Evelien Pingen, Sybren Bakker and Frank Smalberg) took turns to visit Malawi to ensure everything was on track. Despite the lack of an infrastructure and the unknown territory, it was a highly rewarding experience for Horbach and his team. “It really was back to basics, with none of the tools we would normally take for granted,” he goes on. “Everything had to be trucked in from South Africa. We just had to rely on traditional methods and the many willing helping hands provided by the local people. It was very gratifying. At one stage, we ordered a conveyor belt, but we were sent one intended for a customer in Sierra Leone. No matter, we thought, it’ll do. That’s the way it is, you’ve just got to think out of the box and get the job done.” By the summer, a small pilot plant big enough to fit into a warehouse had been built and will serve as a blueprint for the large plants that will follow. For Van Dijk, the entire exercise has exemplified what can be achieved when companies and people are willing to come together to share knowledge and expertise. TNT’s strength is in logistics, AkzoNobel was able to meet a shortfall in another area. Other companies, such as Atos Origin and PriceWaterhouseCooper, are also pulling their weight in Malawi. “Our goal is for the BERL project to run as a sustainable business in its own right,” concludes Van Dijk. “The project has the full backing of the Malawi government and with 20 percent of the business in the hands of Malawians, they have a vested interest in making it work. It’s amazing just what can be achieved with committed people and a little help from natural resources in the shape of the humble Jatropha tree.”