A Night with Spartans in Silicon Valley
For our founder, Nthanda Manduwi, the journey to our launch moment at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 began long before stepping onto the stage at Thermo Fisher Scientific in South San Francisco.
When she chose to pursue her MBA at Michigan State University’s Broad College of Business, it wasn’t a random decision — it was a return to purpose. She chose MSU because she had aspirations of building the Kwathu Farms, and the Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation had first caught her attention during her application process. Its promise of nurturing student founders and its culture of experimentation mirrored her own path as a Malawian entrepreneur who had built creative, digital, and social enterprises from the ground up.
“The Burgess Institute was one of the reasons I chose MSU,” she shared. “I remember reading about it and thinking — this is the kind of environment where ideas become systems.”
That instinct proved true. The Burgess ecosystem became both a classroom and a community that fueled the birth of Kwathu Smart Innovation Farms (KSIF) — the flagship of Q2 Corporation, designed to blend farming, gaming, and learning into a single interactive experience.
From Xbox to AgTech: The Unexpected Link
While at MSU, Nthanda took a professional detour — interning with Microsoft Xbox, where she led research on global expansion and developer acceleration. Working within the ID@Xbox program, she analyzed simulation games and discovered an unexpected parallel: the mechanics of game design could also teach real-world systems like agriculture.
That insight became the foundation for KSIF’s Play | [L]Earn | Build model — a deliberate wordplay that captures the fusion of play, learning, and earning. What began as a curiosity about farming and simulation soon evolved into a system for interactive agricultural innovation.
Debut on the Global Stage
Fast-forward to October 2025, when KSIF made its international debut at Spartan Ventures 2025: An Evening with Student Founders — hosted by the Burgess Institute in partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific and the Silicon Valley Spartans Alumni Club.
Representing Q2 Corporation, Nthanda Manduwi (MBA ’26) and Alvaro Anaenugwu (B.Eng. ’25) presented KSIF’s vision of building resilient communities through interactive digital solutions. The event, held on Thermo Fisher’s campus overlooking the San Francisco Bay, brought together MSU alumni, innovators, and investors — a cross-continental community bound by curiosity and purpose.
For KSIF, this was more than a presentation. It was a statement: innovation born in Malawi could travel across oceans and still feel at home among the world’s leading thinkers.
The Legacy Behind the Moment
Among those in attendance was Brian Burgess, son of the late Bob Burgess, whose vision and generosity established the Burgess Institute. After his father’s passing in 2024, Brian stepped in to continue the work, ensuring that the next generation of Spartans would have the same opportunities his father created.
Meeting him was a full-circle moment — a reminder that innovation is sustained not just by ideas, but by legacies of belief and mentorship.
A Shared Mission for Innovation
The partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific, a global leader in life sciences and biotechnology, underscored a shared value: building solutions that make the world healthier, safer, and more sustainable. For KSIF, the alignment was clear — technology in service of humanity, whether through precision farming or purpose-driven design.
As MSU student founders mingled with alumni and industry leaders, the energy was electric — part celebration, part call to action. Every conversation reaffirmed what KSIF stands for: that playful curiosity and serious purpose can coexist, and that Africa’s next generation of innovators belongs in these global conversations.
The Journey Ahead
Spartan Ventures 2025 marked KSIF’s first international appearance — but it is only the beginning. From the research farms in Malawi to prototypes built in Michigan, from classrooms to cloud servers, KSIF continues to grow as a bridge between education, entrepreneurship, and technology.
The dream that began at the water’s edge in Mangochi now stretches across continents — connecting farmers, learners, and creators in one ecosystem of possibility.
Dream with US
Q2 is building Africa’s next-generation innovation infrastructure — from AI-powered farms and logistics systems to interactive simulations that make learning profitable.
Investors & partners: Work with Q2 to scale Malawi pilots, co-finance Smart Village nodes, and co-publish Q2 Sims across mobile app stores and console portals: invest@q2corporation.com
Developers & creators: Join Kwathu Kollective as we build Africa’s ag-simulation franchise.
Public sector & donors: Co-fund digital extension and IoT at the last mile to de-risk farmer adoption. Get in touch: kollective@kwathu.org
