Team

Gerrie Brink

Founder and Managing Director

With a degree in Mining Engineering and extensive experience in management, planning, production and projects obtained during his employment at Sasol, BHP Billiton and South32, Gerrie not only has the ability to see the long term big picture, but he also has the practical skills to simplify complex issues and effectively transforms good ideas into workable solutions.

Armed with a bold vision, a passion to make a difference in South Africa and an MBA from the University of Stellenbosch Business School, Gerrie pursued a new career to be part of a solution to an old problem: help save water. He started AQUAffection in 2015, as the vehicle to drive this dream and instigate change.

Passion being what brought the AQUAffection team together, Gerrie believes that the power to affect the much-needed change to make a significant difference lies in the collective effort to save water, one-drop-at-a-time. For the past 6 years, the team has lobbied anyone within earshot to join the good fight, to truly understand the water challenges we face, and to start by fundamentally changing our relationship with water.

Some achievements of AQUAffection's journey to date:

More than 2 Billion litres of water saved through the combined efforts of individuals and companies.
Started the #SurplusWater2025® movement to educate, raise awareness and provide tools and tactics to help reduce water demand and to track the impact in South Africa. This provides a way to quantify savings, operational effectiveness and sustainability (ESG) measures.
Development of an online training platform and resource hub to digitally support the #SurplusWater2025® movement, increasing reach and making information available and accessible to a wider audience.
Developed and patented a toilet outlet valve, a cost effective retro-fit of existing systems, resulting in massive water savings, and available at most major plumbing outlets

Qualifications:

BEng (Mining Engineering), University of Pretoria
Mine Managers Certificate of Competence (MMCC), Department of Mineral Resources
MBA, University of Stellenbosch Business School

Frikkie Snyman

Technical Director

Frikkie started his career as Design Technician after finishing his studies. He then followed heart and passion, and developed a very exclusive product for a niche market as employee of Golder Associates, specifically focused on the surface rehabilitation for opencast and open pit mines in South Africa.

Before becoming involved with AQUAffection in 2016, he was actively involved at many of the mayor coal mines located in the Highveld region of South Africa. During these 10 years as consultant, he was mainly involved in the predictive mined out topographies and the post mining landform design for open-cast coal mines, with more than 25 000 hectares of detail designs under his belt.

During 2011 and as part of a team, he received a highly commended global award for technical excellence and quality, for his contribution, during a 24-month long project for BHP Billiton Energy Coal South Africa. His creative, analytical and strategic way off thinking, extensive technical knowledge, and his holistic approach allows him to be able to come up with innovative new ideas with market value – no matter what the application.

Qualifications:

BArch (Architecture), University of Pretoria
Autodesk Civil 3D Certified Professional
Higher diploma in Mineral Resource Management and Mine Planning, University of the Witwatersrand