Meet the Team

  • Sarah Msambira

    DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, AGRICULTURE

    Ever since growing soya on her family farm as a young girl, Sarah has been passionate about integrating best practices in agriculture and business to create pathways for upward mobility for Malawian farmers. Sarah is a classically trained agronomist with experience in managing and optimizing commercial greenhouse production for over 60,000 tomato plants. Under her leadership. SFC has harvested over 200 tons of tomatoes. Alongside her agronomy work, Sarah focuses on investing in youth leadership development through our internship program and overall business operations and strategy, with a focus on contextualising Ag-Tech in rural Malawi.

  • Mpho Laisi

    DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, HR+

    Mpho Laisi manages HR at Mpingu Gardens and Njewa Development Center as well the driver of our marketing and internship programs. Mpho has hired and trained 100s of workers, with a speciality on entrepreneurship basics and digital education for those with minimal formal educations. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communication and well as a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration and a Certificate in Accounting.

  • Jonathan Phwitiko

    DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, CONSTRUCTION/HR/FINANCE

    Jonathan is playing a major role in leading the development of our newest site, Nsaru Titanium Gateway. With responsibilities ranging from construction, HR, and finance, Jonathan coordinates various departments to ensure construction moves forward safely, efficiently, and hyper-affordably. Jonathan’s background in communication across various companies and the government prove vital as he shares, contextualizes and builds new communities.

  • Mickness Banda

    DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, DESIGN + CONSTRUCTION

    Mickness brings ideas into reality by leading the planning, rendering, and construction of our new sites. A graduate of Inscape, South Africa, in Environmental Design, Mickness has pushed the boundaries of “hyper-affordability” for home and community construction by incorporating sustainable, locally sourced materials into the fabric of each design. Through her leadership, over 60 homes and 200 individuals will be living in new homes by mid-2024.

  • Administrative Assistant

    Will has a diverse background, serving as a manager at Annies Restaurant, a hospitality team leader at Flood Church, and a volunteer leader at YoungLife Malawi. He holds a degree in Business Administration and Christin Leadership.

  • Technical Associate

    Tionge holds a certificate in Welding and Fabrication and a certificate in Business Management. She has a wealth of experience working with companies such as Pamudzi Property Investments, THD Engineering and First Live Engineering.

  • Technical Associate

    Martin serves as a carpenter focusing on furniture construction and greenhouse maintenance. He comes with over 10 years experience, and has worked as a carpenter at Central Poultry, a sub contractor for Mercury Construction, and has opened a personal workshop.

  • Co-Founder & COO

    Leif Van Grinsven is Co-founder and COO of Small Farm Cities Africa. Most recently, Leif was Project Director for E-Commerce Africa for Dubai Ports World (DP World), where he was based in Rwanda. Leif is the founder of UPSource, a Rwanda-based technology start-up connecting talented African young professionals with remote digital work from around the world. Prior to this, Leif was an emergency consultant on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) COVID-19 team based in Denmark. Leif has degrees in risk management and development and has engaged with businesses, academic institutions, and multilateral organizations to manage operations in fragile situations in countries such as India and Pakistan.

  • Founder & CEO

    Jon Vandenheuvel is CEO of Small Farm Cities Africa. Most recently, Jon was Executive Director for E-Commerce Africa for Dubai Ports World (DP World). He is an advisor to the National Planning Commission of Malawi, part of the secondary cities research group. Before that, he was private sector consultant for African e-Commerce for the Universal Postal Union in Ethiopia and organized infrastructure and research initiatives in Somalia, Kenya, and Nigeria. He co-founded a laboratory farm on the shores of Lake Volta in Ghana and co-authored a book based on the lab, Africa Risk Dashboard, with former Harvard Senior Fellow and Dubai logistics icon, Issa Baluch, while serving as a visiting scholar for African urbanism at MIT. Earlier in his career, Jon served as a staff director for the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., and during his school years, worked part-time on farms, landscaping, and land surveying in Iowa and Michigan.

  • Development Associate

    Elcah has an Advance Diploma in Transport and Logistics and she is now pursuing a bachelor's degree for the same at the Exploits University. She has worked as a Clearing Officer at Bollore, an international transport company. At Small Farm Cities Africa, Elcah works as an Administrator. Her duties involve overseeing all the operations at the Njewa office.

  • Development Associate

    Isaac Kachala holds a Bachelor of Science in Aquaculture and Fisheries Science from Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Before joining Small Farm Cities Africa, Isaac has worked with Madelco Fisheries as an aquaculture Intern. He has also worked with Dowa Fisheries as a Replacement Fisheries Officer.

    Isaac is an expert in fish ponds, sampling and record tracking.

  • Technical Associate

    Reuben is a graduate from Lilongwe Technical College with Grade One Trade Test Certificate in Plumbing. Before joining Small Farm Cities Africa, Reuben has worked with MM Plumbing Services Company for five years. Reuben supervises landscaping, construction and handles the plumbing systems and water infrastructure across horticulture, aquaculture, and residential areas.