15-09-2023
After many years working for Hortimare the time has come to broaden my horizon. I will miss working with this highly talented group of people, but I know for certain that our paths will cross again. Companies like Hortimare might not yell it from the rooftops, but it is companies like these that are at the forefront of the new circular economy. What often strikes me is the incredible mindset that the Hortimare employees display, every day, when they are busy perfecting their unique craft of seaweed cultivation. What is even more striking is that this rare mindset I observed at Hortimare can be found all across the board of the seaweed industry.
This last decade I had the privilege to travel the world and see the seaweed farming industry in all its glory. It's hard to describe how fulfilling it is to do seaweed research, to teach aspiring seaweed farmers the craft of seaweed cultivation, and even be a seaweed farmer myself. To see people actually build an industry from the ground up, or better yet, from the ocean down, is awe inspiring. From small scale startups with highly motivated founders that have crazy awesome ideas, to large scale industries that aim to lift this promising industry to the next level. Every inch of this seaweed adventure is fascinating to observe. If there is a way to describe the zeitgeist of todays seaweed entrepreneurs in one sentence, it has to be this adapted version of Norman Vincent Peale's quote;
“If you want to reach the moon, you have to aim for the stars.”
Because seaweed pioneers understand, as so many pioneers in the circular economy, that to make a positive dent in our collective future we need to be audaciously ambitious. History tells us that in order to make a change, and reach the moon, we aim higher than we are comfortable with. Human progress is written by those people who believed in something larger than life, and just thought “why not” in the face of uncertainty and adversity. It is therefore not naïve that so many seaweed farmers set these seemingly improbable goals and actually aim for the stars. It is the only way out of our predicament. This is the unique mindset which I found to be omni-present in the seaweed industry, and what the world actually needs more of. Not just the stories of the positive potential of seaweed farming deserve to resonate more, the mindset of these 21st century pioneers also deserve more time in the limelight. Pioneering people I hope to emulate as greentech pioneer myself, and that I hope to aid in my new role as Innovation lead at Tekkoo.
Picture is of Petra Steenhoek - Seaweed cultivation specialist and dive enthousiast
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