AFRICA

Bergmann went on to study economics and engineering at Queen’s University and later completed an MBA at the University of Michigan. He had the entrepreneurial itch from an early age. During university, he founded a company that organized grad and spring break trips, and Crescent was one of his first clients. Realizing that to be a successful entrepreneur he needed experience in a wide variety of business functions, he spent five years at McCain Foods and seven years at General Mills in various roles. “I made a lot of lateral moves because I had a belief that one day, I would be well positioned for what I’m doing now.” In 2018, Bergmann took what he calls a “giant leap of faith,” joining start-up company Solar Panda.

The company was founded by Andy Keith, a fellow Queen’s graduate and a family friend since childhood. In his mid-20s, Keith started a company focused on the early-stage development of large solar farms in Ontario. When he sold the business and began looking for other investment opportunities, he came across a relatively new sector doing off-grid solar systems in Africa. He saw this as a great way to impact people’s lives and ultimately decided to start Solar Panda in 2016, trying to come up with a better service for customers. He asked Bergmann to help him achieve his vision.

One billion people in the world don’t have access to reliable electricity. Many depend on kerosene for lighting, despite its negative health effects (it’s the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day). Keith and Bergmann saw an opportunity to have a positive social impact while growing a business. The Solar Panda brand came about when Keith was playing cards and someone noticed a panda on the back of the cards and suggested the name as a joke. As it turned out, “panda” translates roughly to “climb up” in Swahili, ensuring that the name would work in both languages.

The Solar Panda business model is “pay as you go” to ensure afforability. Customers pay a small deposit and receive a home system consisting of a solar panel, a control unit, light bulbs, a radio, a flashlight, a lantern, and a phone charger cable. They then pay about 60 cents a day for the next 15 months. Once the loan is paid off, they own the system outright and have free electricity for years. Systems are built to be upgradeable so a customer can grow into bigger systems with more accessories, like TVs. The product is designed in Canada and manufactured in China. There are 37 Solar Panda shops in Kenya, 300 full-time employees, and more than 1000 field agents who sell door-todoor in rural villages. Apart from a handful in Canada and one ex-pat in Kenya, all Solar Panda employees are Kenyan.

Bergmann says Solar Panda “ticks all the boxes.” Solar power is environmentally friendly and much healthier than kerosene. Electricity enables children to study and adults to work at night. (During the pandemic, Solar Panda provided USB sticks loaded with educational content for use by customers with televisions.) Today more than one million people in Kenya have access to reliable electricity because of Solar Panda.

The company was recognized as the third fastest growing in Canada in 2021 and, remarkably, made the list again in 2022. That success ensures that it can continue to deliver its social benefits.

“We are often asked why we didn’t go the not-for-profit route,” says Bergmann. “That’s because we want our customers to be part of Solar Panda for many years. We are building a sustainable business so we’ll be around for the long haul.”

Solar Panda raised $10M in a Series A equity round this past summer and is actively engaging with new investors to help support its future growth.

Although COVID slowed plans, Solar Panda is now adding products and looking to enter new markets in Africa and beyond. Bergmann is committed to being part of it all. He says simply, “I couldn’t top this.”

01 Brett Bergmann at Solar Panda Kenya office.

02 Field Technicians installing a panel

03 Field Agents doing a product demonstration

04, 05 & 08

Solar Panda products in use

06 Bergmann on a video call with Kenyan team

07 Bergmann visiting Solar Panda customers

Written by Rob Csernyik

Hanson Mak ’07 translates design dreams into reality as an Associate and leading specialist in Building Information Modelling

Architecture

Mak, a licensed architect who spends his off-hours keeping up-to-date on the industry’s latest technological advances and trends, has that passion.

From a young age, Mak, who has worked at Adamson Associates Architects in Toronto since 2014, was interested in art and mathematics, making architecture an appealing career aspiration. But he’s also long been fascinated by how design imbues buildings with certain qualities —like how a courthouse projects an air of authority, for instance—and how collectively the experiences and feelings people get from built spaces shape our society.

Mak was already preparing for a future in architecture while a student at Crescent.

Studying in the Grade 12 arts program under Harriet Wynne-Jones left a particular mark on him. It’s there he remembers having his first experiences with defending his artistic choices for his mixed media artwork, explaining the motivations and theories behind his project. Later, as an architecture student at Carleton University in Ottawa, Mak would have to defend his work in similar juried critiques.

Today, Mak plays a special role in the architectural ecosystem at the intersection of design and technology.

While many people imagine architects’ work solely as designing buildings, Adamson is frequently employed as the “architect of record” on projects. In this role, a firm is responsible for bringing a design architect’s vision to life, using the design to prepare construction documents. Mak plays a critical role as a specialist in digital project workflow and building information modelling.

If you think of the team as translating a design into a workable project, Mak is a guide helping translate the design into the “language”—the computer programs— used by different professionals working on the project, from drafters and structural

01 & 02

Building models and materials at Adamson Associates Architects

03 Mak at Adamson Associate Architects Toronto office

04

Mak holds an early mock-up of what would become the Google Bay View campus

05

Completed consultants to builders. It’s a self-taught skill Mak developed over time. Throughout his career at Adamson, Mak’s built his own custom plug-ins and add-ons for existing architectural software to help convey geometry to builders and make sure shapes and curvature from design architects meet technical requirements.

“That helped tremendously with my career progression,” he says, including roles on some of the firm’s most complex and high-profile projects across North America and in London, England.

Take, for example, when Mak was part of a team working on the building envelope (architect-speak for the exterior skin) of Google’s Mountain View, California headquarters.

“The designers came up with a very complex and fancy building exterior scheme, and basically we had to make it work,” he says. One of the biggest challenges was figuring out drainage patterns for the unique dragon-scale tile roof— made up of silver solar panels arranged in a motif resembling reptile skin.

The tiles needed to be applied to a double-curved surface according to the design, but Mak’s team wasn’t sure it could be done. Using a 3D modelling program and an algorithm he wrote that helped generate the shingle layout on concave surfaces and project where water would pond and how it would flow, Mak was able to prove to the general contractor the design was feasible.

The software solutions he’s devised are critical to projects, allowing Adamson to make initial assessments on design feasibility, simplify complex tasks, and make internal workflows even more efficient, saving thousands of working hours.

One of Mak’s current projects is setting up the digital workflow for a longanticipated Toronto project—Forma, the pair of 73- and 84-storey residential towers on King Street West designed by the iconic architect Frank Gehry.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Mak says, noting that few people get the chance to collaborate with Gehry’s architectural team.

Though Mak’s role in architecture is untraditional, it’s increasingly important —especially in an industry where workflows can sometimes be old-fashioned.

“I think the future of architecture is going to be more software-based,” he says.

Though some people see a divide between the design and technology sides of architecture, he excels in that intersection. It’s where he believes he, and his industry, will advance and thrive.

Cameron Hubbs ’83 worked as a successful commercial photographer for 25 years, shooting for a variety of high-profile clients. He currently heads up Echo Photography, focusing on portraits. When he isn't busy shooting, you'll find him on a golf course or squash court.

The advent of smartphones means that today, we all have a sophisticated camera within arm’s reach. In fact, it’s introduced some language into our vocabulary, notably “selfie.” Whether you are taking a photo of yourself or someone else, here are a few tips that have helped me over the years.