User:Powellmponel/sandbox

Powell mponela is a Malawian born on 1st Augst 1980 in Chilumba Karonga. He attained his primary education at the then H structured Ponda Full Primary School and attained his Malawi School Leaving Certificate from Chilumba Secondary School, though evening classes. He was then employed by Malawi Sugar Company Illovo where he worked in the quality insurance department and learnt how to use a computer, prepare and edit standard operating procedures for the company and distribute to the senior staff within the company. He was enrolled at Mzuzu University to pursue Bachelor of Science in Education but after successfully completing his first year, Powell rewrote entrance exams, this time he enrolled for Bachelor of Science in Forestry. In his second year, Powell was amongst the first student to be on study exchange with Kymenlaakso Polytechnique of Kotka in Finland where for the semester, he studied Forestry Products Trade and Marketing. after completing the Bachelor degree, Powell worked as a teacher at Mponela community secondary school where he inspired students and contributed to changes in the mindset of students towards self-learning. He later enrolled in a masters program at bunda College of Agriculture where he graduated with Master of Science in social Forestry. From his Thesis, he published two papers. His work on Jatropha growing for Biofuel by smallholder farmers was published in the Journal of Biomass and Bioenergy and the corresponding paper on biodiversity in areas marked for Jatropha was published in African Journal of Agricultural Sciences. Soon after defending his thesis, Powell was recruited by International Centre for Tropical Agriculture where he worked for nearly 7 years as a field data collector. He contributed to the scientific knowledge on soils of southern Africa. He also helped the research teams in Ghana and Ethiopia to conduct land degradation surveillance. He has also contributed to the mapping of soils and vegetation in Namibia for Land Degradation Neutrality studies.