About MarillionEx
Replacing failure with a model that works.
MarillionEx was founded to do what Zimbabwe's $180M afforestation programme couldn't: deliver real woodlots, real carbon, and real outcomes for the people who own the land.
Founder photo — to be added
Founder
Built by Nick Havercroft
[FOUNDER STATEMENT PLACEHOLDER — Nick to provide: background, why MarillionEx, time on the ground in Zimbabwe, the moment the model crystallised.]
Founder & Director
MarillionEx Limited (UK Co. 14415715)
Marillion Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, Zimbabwe
The Problem
- $180M in industry levies collected since 2013
- Only 24,500 ha established — 86% failure rate
- State-administered programme plagued by mismanagement
- Eucalyptus monocultures destroying water tables
- No verifiable ESG outcomes for international buyers
- Tobacco industry facing EU deforestation regulation risk
Firewood-dependent curing barns — the supply chain Zimbabwe's tobacco industry must move beyond.
The MarillionEx Solution
- Turnkey woodlot design, establishment & 30-year management
- Indigenous species: Fever Tree, Albizia, Teak — native to Zimbabwe
- Biochar Loop: pruning waste → biochar → BCR carbon credits
- Diamond Standard ESG certification for buyer compliance
- Verified carbon credits (ARR, BCR, Water, Wildlife)
- GIS monitoring with real-time survival and growth data
The Platform
What We've Built
Four public tools that make the programme transparent, verifiable, and accessible.
Woodlot Investment Simulator
Model the 30-year economics of any size woodlot. Input your hectares, species mix, and curing method — the simulator outputs carbon credits, timber revenue, revenue share, and IRR at Year 15 and Year 30.
Open the simulatorLive Operations Map
Real-time satellite view of every active woodlot in the MarillionEx programme. GPS-verified planting records, survival rates, and inspection history — public and unpaywalled.
View the live mapPublic Credit Registry
Every credit batch we issue is traceable to its source woodlot — vintage year, verification method, volume issued, volume retired. No login required. No paywall.
Browse the registryLandowner Registration
If you have land and want to join the programme, start here. A 10-minute online form gets your details to our field team. No fees, no obligation until we've agreed terms.
Register your woodlot
What Sets Us Apart
Key Differentiators
The Biochar Loop
Pruning waste converted to agricultural biochar via pyrolysis, generating BCR carbon credits and improving soil fertility across tobacco growing regions.
Diamond Standard
Zimbabwe's most rigorous ESG certification for tobacco merchants, meeting BAT, PMI, JTI and EU deforestation regulation requirements.
Carbon Credit Desk
In-house brokerage for ARR, BCR, Water and Wildlife credits — from registration to listing on international voluntary carbon markets.
Indigenous Species Expertise
Deep knowledge of Vachellia xanthophloea and native Zimbabwean silviculture, developed over decades of on-the-ground experience.
The Vision
From Zimbabwe to a regional programme.
Marillion's immediate focus is Zimbabwe's tobacco industry. The 2029 firewood elimination deadline creates an urgent, defined compliance window, and the depth of our relationships with merchants, contracted farmers, and the regulatory framework gives us a structural advantage in this market.
The programme model is designed to scale. The same woodlot-establishment, carbon-certification, and biochar-loop methodology applies across other biomass-dependent sectors and tobacco-growing markets — Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique — and ultimately into forestry-adjacent industries in Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. Every element of the platform — the registry, the simulator, the GIS monitoring layer, the Diamond Standard certification chain — was built to be multi-market from day one.
"The opportunity is regional. The execution starts in Zimbabwe."
Programme Scale
Impact targets
Year 1 programme targets for Zimbabwe's tobacco belt. Live data is tracked on the operations map.
2,000 ha
Year 1 target hectares
3.3M
Trees to be planted Year 1
80,000 ha
10-year programme target
3
Year 1 target merchant partners