William Kamkwamba

Current Company

Moving Windmills Project — Founder & Innovator

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

William Kamkwamba was 14 years old when famine forced him to drop out of school in rural Malawi. With no money for tuition and his family struggling to survive, Kamkwamba walked to the local library and found a textbook on energy with a picture of a windmill on the cover. Using bicycle parts, tractor fans, blue gum trees, and scrap materials, he built a wind turbine that generated enough electricity to power lights and charge phones in his family's home — a feat that eventually brought running water to his village.

William Kamkwamba's story spread from local curiosity to global phenomenon. He was invited to speak at TED in 2007, his memoir The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind became an international bestseller, and Netflix adapted his story into a feature film directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor. Kamkwamba earned a scholarship to the African Leadership Academy and then to Dartmouth College, where he studied environmental science.

Bringing Innovation Home

William Kamkwamba founded the Moving Windmills Project to bring clean energy, education, and water access to rural communities in Malawi and across sub-Saharan Africa. The organization has built solar-powered water pumps, installed community lighting systems, and supported STEM education programs in the communities where the need is greatest. Kamkwamba's approach is rooted in local knowledge and local materials — the same resourcefulness that built his first windmill.

As Founder of Moving Windmills, William Kamkwamba represents something rare in the technology world: a founder whose origin story is not about disruption or market opportunity, but about survival, curiosity, and the refusal to accept that poverty means powerlessness. His work demonstrates that innovation doesn't require a Stanford degree or a Silicon Valley address — sometimes it just requires a library book and the determination to build something that works.