TERRA ENDEAVORS
About Us
Charles Abramson, Founder & CEO
Charles' work background is in energy consulting, finance & marketing. He's worked as an energy analyst evaluating various alternative energy projects, on Wall Street as an investment banker, a business school professor & researcher.
In December of 2007, Charles was fortunate enough to be able to travel to Tanzania, and spend time in this remarkable country & part of the world. Inspired by the people's warmth & kindness, he left wanting to find a way to help improve their standard of living, while preserving the majestic enviornment in which they live, if somehow the opportunity presented itself.
Terra Endeavors was formed with just this in mind. The remarkable group of committed, experienced & talented partners who join Charles are all committed to collaborating with rural communities throughout East Africa & beyond to utilizing low-cost, cutting edge, biotechnology solutions to produce a wealth of outputs & employment opportunities capable of significantly raising people’s standard of living, which not only preserve, but enhance, their uniquely beautiful environment.
Rex Zietsman -- Technical Advisor
Rexis a chemical engineer with over 25 years experience. He has practiced as a design engineer for the past 15 years.He is a major shareholder and the Sales Director in a process engineering and project management company. Clients include Sasol, Senmin, Ciba, Sappi, NCP, AECI, Impala Platinum, Foskor, and Tongaat Hulett Starch among others.
Rex is passionate about renewable energy and has been involved with projects including anaerobic digestion of manure from 85,000 feedlot cattle; pyrolysis and gasification of 100,000 tons/year of chicken litter; an 8MWe wood fired, steam Rankine cycle power station, a 6 MWe solar power station for Botswana, etc. He has built and tested an algae-to-ethanol plant on his farm in the South African KZN Midlands.
David Sieg, Technical Advisor
Writer and bestselling author of "Making Algae Biodiesel at Home", David is the consultant who "wrote the book" on algae biodiesel. Specialist in design and fabrication of algal PBR's for diverse applications such as bio-fertilizers, animal feeds, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, bio-plastics. Former Managing Director of International Biofuel Solutions, LTD (Thailand), a biofuel consultancy for South East Asia and President of Information Specialists, Corp. USA, specializing in providing hard to find information on all aspects of the algae/biofuel revolution.
Beny Mwenda -- Advisory Board
Beny is an agricultural tutor and highly motivated rural development activist. He specializes in crop production, agricultu,ral extension, rural development and political science.
Beny has worked hard for over the past two decades to bring changes to the lives of poor rural communities in the lake zone Tanzania, who depend on subsistence agriculture for their livelihood. He has been in the forefront in generating ideas, formulating and planning and implementation of projects aimed and directed towards helping communities to improve their agriculture, rural energy, health (HIV/AIDS awareness) and entrepreneurship.
He demonstrated good quality leadership by aspiring and holding several leadership positions that include: East African Technology Development Network Tanzania Chapter (EAETDN –T) national chairperson, and vice chair at East African level, TSAEE national vice chairperson, TSAEE lake zone chairperson, to mention but a few.
Beny is a well articulated person and has maintained very positive relations with both national and international institutions/organizations that have supported rural development initiatives and efforts. He recently graduated in Bachelor of Science Degree offered by the Open University of Tanzania. And he is a leader of the DEEP Tanzania team.
Vikram M Pattarkine, PhD — Technical Adviser
Dr Vikram M Pattarkine has a distinguished career spanning more than 25 years as a chemical-environmental engineer with expertise in processes related to waste treatment, nutrient management, water quality, and renewable energy. He has extensive international
experience covering research, consulting, and training. He serves on several prestigious committees such as the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee of the Chesapeake Bay Program and the Municipal Wastewater Treatment Design Committee of the Water Environment Federation. He has authored chapters in manuals, peer-reviewed papers,
and made technical presentations at conferences worldwide.
Pattarkine is the founding partner and the Chief Executive Officer of PEACE USA, a consulting practice based in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, to provide environmental stewardship strategies and solutions worldwide. During 2009, as the Chief Technology Officer and Chief Scientist of OriginOil, Pattarkine added outstanding value to the
company by imparting scientific rigor to its technology development. During 2006-2008, he was the Senior Vice President of Brinjac Engineering, Inc., an engineering design and consulting firm in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Before that he was Director of Process Engineering at Columbia, Missouri-based Environmental Dynamics, Inc., a leader in the development, design, and manufacture of aeration systems for wastewater treatment. During the 1990s he led the Environment and Natural Resources Management consulting practice of Tata Consultancy Services, Asia’s largest consulting firm. Prior to that he worked on energy-environment interface issues at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), a premier think-tank in India.
Pattarkine holds a PhD in environmental engineering from Virginia Tech and a Master of Technology in chemical engineering from Nagpur University, India. He is an adjunct professor of environmental engineering at the University of Missouri and has also taught graduate students at Pennsylvania State University.
