Zimba is an international and multidisciplinary group aiming to improve access to safe drinking water. The task we have undertaken, to produce a device that adds chlorine to water safely, accurately and economically, originated from D-Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We are now based in West Bengal, India, where we are working on a sustainable future for our proven technology.
Background to Task
Chlorinating water is nothing new, it was first tried over 200 years ago and is today used extensively throughout America and Europe. However, the cost of the infrastructure required is prohibitively high for economically poor areas. Zimba has refined a design that is not only accurate but made from very few components so manufacturing costs are kept low.
Team
Suprio Das. Inventor and founder. Worked for many years as an Electrical Engineer before he started designing simple devices that could make life easier for the poor.
Barid Tarafdar. Business lead in India. Retired banker who now volunteers his skills to help organizations do social good.
Rebecca Smith. Human factors specialist. Graduated from MIT in 2009 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and now works in D-Lab at MIT. Becca has previously worked in Kenya and Tanzania on water chlorination programs.
Laura Stupin. Project Manager. Keeping team efforts in India, US, and UK coordinated. Fieldwork in India, Bangladesh, Ghana, Zambia, Tanzania, and Borneo. Has been with Zimba since 2009.
James Bartlett. Industrial designer and problem solver. Working on design, design-for-manufacture and dissemination. Now working in London as a freelance designer. Has been with Zimba since 2010.
Chiharu Shirai. Marketing. MIT Sloan Business student (Class of 2013). Worked 8 years at Mitsubishi in the power business division. Majored in international law, and worked for an Indian NGO during her study at Univ. of Tokyo.
Mustafa Naseem. Engineer. Fulbright Scholar. Graduate Student in ICT for Development at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Passionate about appropriate technologies for development. Mustafa has previously worked in post-disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation in Pakistan, and has been with Zimba since 2011.
Norikazu Ogawa. Cost analysis. Social Entrepreneur. MIT Sloan Student. Spent 8 years working in Mitsubishi’s Space Aeronautics group. Passionate about business solutions for the poor.
Jessica Huang. Engineer with business training. Has been dreaming up ways to make a difference with Suprio since 2008. Before joining D-Lab at MIT, she spent some time working with Suprio in India and engaging students about water issues in Thailand, Cambodia, and Egypt.
Yumiko Yamada. Social Entrepreneur. Tufts University student. Worked with business development department for emerging markets at Toyota group for 3.5 years. Currently majors in Development Economics and Social Business.
Amit Gandhi. Mechanical engineer and product designer. Graduate student at MIT. Previously at Caltech. Joined Zimba recently to help lead the design improvement efforts.
Juan Carlos (JC) Noguera. Designer extraordinaire and instructor from Universidad Rafael Landívar in Guatemala. Exploring better fabrication processes and turning Zimba into product that customers aspire to use.