Alastair Child

Alastair (trustee) founded Bright Sparks in 2004 after a period teaching in Malawi. The inevitability of the poorest yet most talented students being forced to drop out of education galvanised him to act. Alastair enlisted a handful of friends and family to back the education of the first Bright Sparks and has been improving the model ever since. He has a decade of experience as a senior sustainability and development professional and now serves as Chief Sustainability Officer, Mars Wrigley, one of the largest confectionery companies in the world. He holds a first class Masters degree from the University of Oxford.

Patrick Chimzimu

Patrick is a Bright Sparks graduate, holds an accountancy degree from the University of Malawi, is a chartered accountant with a Masters in Forensic Accounting at the University of South Wales. Patrick worked initially for a leading international accountancy firm in Malawi as a financial auditor, and now works for the Malawian government as a Manager in their Inland Revenue Department. He is a member of the Bright Sparks Malawi Management Team and is our Finance and Operations Officer. Inspired by his own journey from a subsistence village near Salima, where he would study books beneath Baobab trees whilst the family struggled to grow enough food to eat, Patrick is determined to pay forwards his Bright Sparks scholarship and help as many other Bright Sparks in Malawi as he can.

DR. BOSTON ZIMBA

Boston is a Bright Sparks graduate, a qualified Doctor from the College of Medicine, University of Malawi, and a member of the Bright Sparks Malawi Management Team. His consistently impressive achievements earned him a scholarship to work at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford (UK) in 2013, and in 2017 he began a further scholarship to study Masters in Vaccinology and Pharmaceutical Clinical Development at the University of Sienna, Italy. Since graduating Boston has taught and inspired others as a mentor to our Bright Sparks students and as a teacher at the University of Malawi.

Boston´s story epitomises Bright Sparks and it is no surprise that Boston has been featured on Malawi national radio. Boston´s father died before he was born, and his mother passed away when he was six months old. Weaned and cared for by his elderly grand mother and later his sister, the first 15 years of Boston´s life was literally a fight to survive, relying on relatives for food and shelter within subsistence communities. Boston´s spirit inspires everyone lucky to meet him. From the entrepreneur who worked long hours selling bags of water to pay for his bus to school, to the young Doctor that travelled to the UK and met those who had funded his education for so many years, to the Doctor, researcher, teacher and mentor that he is today.

Shannon Gonzalez Child

Shannon (trustee) is a chartered marketer and has been a driving force for Bright Sparks from the outset. Inspired by the opportunity offered by her parents when her life started in Mexico, Shannon has been passionate about the plight of young disadvantaged children all of her life.