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Drew Corbyn
Program Manager Consumer Protection & Technology at GOGLA
Professional Background
Drew Corbyn is a distinguished professional with over a decade of rich experience in the off-grid light and power sector, dedicated to driving market innovation and promoting private sector development. His career is characterized by a firm belief in the importance of high-quality products and services, crucial components that foster market development and sustainability in the energy sector. Drew has honed his skills as a development consultant, delivering impactful assistance to a diverse clientele which includes companies, governments, donors, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
One of Drew's most notable achievements includes his instrumental role in establishing Malawi’s first independent power producer—a pioneering hydro mini-grid social enterprise dedicated to empowering communities with reliable power solutions. He has also provided extensive support to six off-grid lighting companies in Malawi, thereby significantly advancing the accessibility of energy in the region. His expertise extends beyond hands-on technical work; Drew is a prolific author, having penned numerous publications and articles that delve into market intelligence, policy guidance, and advocacy within the renewable energy space. His insights are invaluable for those navigating the complex landscape of energy solutions in both developing and developed markets.
Drew currently serves as the Program Manager for Consumer Protection & Technology at GOGLA (Global Off-Grid Lighting Association), where he leads initiatives aimed at safeguarding consumer interests and enhancing technological advancements in off-grid lighting and energy solutions. His role is pivotal in shaping industry standards and fostering sustainable practices within the sector, ensuring that consumers receive high-quality and safe energy products.
Education and Achievements
Drew Corbyn’s educational foundation comes from a solid academic background in mechanical engineering. He earned his Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the prestigious University of Nottingham, where he specialized in renewable energy. Further enhancing his expertise, Drew pursued studies in Renewable Energy Engineering at the University of New South Wales, known for its focus on cutting-edge energy technologies and sustainable practices.
His well-rounded education has been complemented by a wealth of international experience. Drew has had the privilege of living and working across various continents, such as Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe. This extensive exposure to diverse cultures and markets has greatly enriched his perspective on global energy challenges and solutions. Drew's work in different regions has equipped him with the unique ability to adapt strategies that cater to the specific needs of each locale, making him an adaptable consultant in the field.
Drew’s sincere passion for the outdoors, especially his love for mountains, reveals a deeper appreciation for the environment and sustainability. His current residence in the Netherlands reflects his connection to nature and serves as a base for his continued work in renewable energy and off-grid solutions.
Achievements
Drew’s contributions to the renewable energy landscape are numerous and noteworthy. He has been a leading force in developing market strategies that enhance accessibility to off-grid lighting and power solutions. His efforts have not only advanced local initiatives but also contributed to global discussions on clean energy access.
Through his consultancy roles, Drew has advised key stakeholders on effective energy policies and strategies, guiding them towards impactful decisions that align with sustainable development goals. His involvement in the establishment of Malawi’s first independent power provider is a key testament to his ability to turn vision into reality while addressing the energy needs of underserved populations.
As part of his role at GOGLA, Drew continues to strive towards improved consumer protection mechanisms in the off-grid energy sector while promoting innovative technologies that ensure safe and efficient energy solutions for all. His ongoing work as an advocate for consumer rights and market transparency positions him as a vital player in the global renewable energy narrative.
In addition to his professional accomplishments, Drew Corbyn recognizes the importance of knowledge sharing in the industry. His publications and articles not only contribute to the academic discourse but also serve as practical guides for stakeholders looking to navigate the complex landscape of renewable energy opportunities and challenges.
Through his multifaceted work in the renewable energy sector, Drew Corbyn exemplifies leadership, innovation, and a commitment to improving energy access around the world. His journey thus far showcases a remarkable blend of technical expertise, strategic thinking, and a genuine desire to make a positive impact on soci
Highlights
@ GOGLA members in Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, South Africa- funding opportunity 📢
P4G will provide up to $350k grant funding and technical assistance to help the early-stage business in the partnership become investment ready. They support Renewable Energy, Climate-Smart Ag, E-mobility and have funded off-grid solar previously.
https://lnkd.in/epR-DyxD
Big green shoots 🌿💲 from the #WorldBank spring meetings. This is worth a watch:
The top dogs at the WB and African Development Bank - President Ajay Banga and President Akinwumi Adesina no less- have thrown their weight behind a new target for their institutions to bring electricity to 300 million people in sub-Saharan #Africa in 2030. In the fireside chat (first 20mins), the two Presidents enthuse that "energy is a lifeline" and that "getting electricity to people is mission 1, 2, and 3". Finance, private sector, and enabling environments are the three pillars, and the next steps include an African Energy Summit and Compact in 2024.
It's encouraging that #OffGrid #Solar features strongly in the panel debate that follows, with T. Patrick Walsh CEO of #SunKing, describing how the industry is ready to scale rapidly with more public funding. The industry is working. People are paying and subsidies dramatically increase affordability. We need to increase pace by a factor of 10.
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.