Our story

In 2024, three students came together with a simple but urgent question: what if technology could help protect the people most vulnerable to waterborne disease? Their journey began with schistosomiasis: a parasitic disease carried through water that affects more than 250 million people worldwide. What started as curiosity became responsibility.

By Spring 2025, MadziTech had grown from a class project into a startup. Today, they’re focused on improving public health, environmental, and agricultural outcomes through water-sampling drone technology, data analytics, and public health and professional development programs.

At its core, MadziTech is about turning action into impact, and making sure communities have the tools and information they need to thrive.

They built their first product, the base water-sampling drone, and took it to Lake Chilwa in Malawi, where the team tested it alongside their now-partner, Micromek. This experience led them to realize that waterborne diseases don't just make people sick, but they also affect how families earn a living, reduce agricultural yields, and limit access to education. The impact runs deeper than health alone.

In October 2024, Teresa Thornton, one of the founding members and now Co-Founder of MadziTech, pitched their work at the UN FAO World Food Forum’s Transformative Research Challenge. That moment led to a $10,000 grant and acceptance into the World Food Forum’s Youth Food Lab incubator, inspiring the students to keep strengthening this idea into something greater.