Outside the BBOXX

A company set up by students of our department was named the best enterprise in the UK at the Lloyds TSB Awards 2013.

BBOXX co-founder Laurent Van Houcke and CFO Robin Claessens were on hand to collect the award from Lloyds TSB CEO Antonio Horta-Osorio together with a prize of £50,000, plus mentoring and support from senior Lloyds TSB advisors.

BBOXX was established in 2010 by former undergraduate Electrical and Electronic Engineering students Chris Baker-Brian, Mansoor Hamayun and Laurent Van Houcke as a spin out from the e.quinox project, which provides battery charging stations powered by renewable energy, to communities not connected to a grid supply.

The BBOXX system links solar panels to a battery pack into which people can plug lights, phone chargers and televisions or power a space up to the size of a small office, depending on the size of the system. The company has now opened a joint-venture factory in China and has attracted franchises in 14 countries, including Rwanda, Ethiopia and Uganda. BBOXX currently employs around 18 people in the UK, 130 in Africa and 50 in China.

Commenting on the award, Laurent said "This is a fantastic recognition of all the hard work that the BBOXX team has been putting in over the last three years to grow our business into over fourteen countries across Africa and Asia, as well as develop and build a global supply chain."

Read an article about the award in the Daily Telegraph (1/5/2013)