A native Californian, BOM General Manager Ana Alecia Lyman has been working in community development and education in Mozambique since 2005. A strong believer in the power of groups of organized individuals, she seeks to bring rural communities into the global economy through innovative private and public-private initiatives. Ana Alecia co-founded Bio Óleos de Maxixe to create economic opportunities for rural Mozambicans, and to demonstrate the effectiveness of giving individuals the knowledge, tools and opportunity to market their works globally.

Ana Alecia has served on the Board of PhytoTrade Africa, the Southern African Natural Products Trade Association, and is overseeing BOM's application for membership in the Union for Ethical BioTrade. She is also co-owner of the Mozambique-based graphic design and marketing company Serviços Njale.

BOM Technical Director and co-founder Allan Schwarz brings a lifetime of experience in developing sustainable technologies to challenges in the developing world. One of the first "green" architects and a former professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Allan was elected an Ashoka Fellow for his work in community-based forest management with the Mezimbite Forest Center (see packaging).

While at MIT, Allan designed and taught a course called "Design with Nature" and developed the "Schwarz Matrix" for Cradle-to-Grave analysis of building and manufactured product. Since 1996, he has been in Mozambique establishing the community forest management programs, and first and biggest indigenous species reforestation project in Mozambique. Learn more.

The Union for Ethical Biotrade is a non-profit association that promotes the "Sourcing with Respect" of ingredients that come from native biodiversity. Ethical BioTrade is a set of business practices that follow the Ethical BioTrade Principles and Criteria that contribute to ethical sourcing of biodiversity. Members commit to gradually ensuring that their sourcing practices promote the conservation of biodiversity, respect traditional knowledge and assure the equitable sharing of benefits all along the supply chain. BOM has been a member of the UEBT since 2010. Learn more.

PhytoTrade Africa is a non-profit trade association that promotes sustainable harvesting of fairly traded natural products from Southern Africa. PTA represents private sector businesses, development agencies, individuals and other invested parties from Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. PhytoTrade's goal is to alleviate poverty and protect biodiversity in the region by developing an industry that is not only economically successful but also ethical and sustainable. Learn more.

Photographer and photo journalist Jeff Barbee has worked in Africa since 1996 and his photographic work on AIDS, education and environmental topics appears regularly in the New York Times, Time, the Guardian, Smithsonian Magazine, Newsweek, GEO and other newspapers and magazines. Jeff covers South Africa as a photojournalist for GlobalPost. Learn more.

Model and environmental activist Summer Rayne Oakes is known for her social entrepreneur work in ecofashion and related sustainability ventures. She supports environmentally- and socially-conscious companies, designers, and projects as a model, spokesperson and sustainability strategist. She is a host for the Discovery Channel's Planet Green Channel, and appears regularly in various publications world-wide, as a model, writer and featured celebrity. Learn more.