Ocean Health: Bennet Gartelmann

“My name is Bennet and I have been an intern of Ocean Health for the last three and a half months now. I am studying a master in Global Business and Sustainability, and here at Ocean Health, I am part of the project development team.”?

How exactly did you become part of the Ocean Health team? ?

“I was always interested in sustainability and especially in nature-based solution, so I was talking with my friends about this a while ago when one of my housemates here in Rotterdam mentioned that the Ocean Health team within Van Oord was looking for somebody to support their project development activities. I thought this was a great way of engaging in my field of interest while kickstarting my professional career.”??

Why do you do this work? ?

“I do this work to learn. In the context of nature-based solutions, new developments currently happen at a very fast speed, and I feel like I can really learn a lot from the team that is surrounding me here. Coming from many different functional areas, each person in our team has their own specialization. For example, I have colleagues that specifically focus on financing, communications, or on marine engineering. I feel like now I can look into different parts of the organization and just try to take away as much as I can from these people, while also improving my corporate skills and communication at work.”?

What drives you most in what you do at the moment? ?

“What drives me the most is that I have the chance to apply the theoretical knowledge of my university courses in a real-life environment with actual, innovative projects. It is incredible to see the potential impact that we can generate, since we are this entrepreneurial organization within a very large and knowledgeable company. We also have, for instance, the capabilities to scale up our projects. For example, when we have a project about mangroves restoration or coral rehabilitation, we can tackle the underlying issues at a large scale, so I strongly believe that we can create a substantial net positive impact on nature. That is what I am most passionate about.”?

What is the best part of being an intern at Ocean Health? ?

“As said before, the learning process is the best part. Although I have only been here for three months, the team provides me with a lot of responsibility and trust. Since this is such a young initiative, there are so many different tasks that urgently need to be done. So, for me, the combination of having the flexibility but also the responsibility to have my own projects and to contribute to the mission of what we want to achieve are the best parts of being an intern. Besides learning, having a positive impact on nature is incredibly fulfilling as well.”?

What did you learn within these first few months of your internship? ?

“I basically learned two major things here within these first few months: corporate skills, for example learning how to pitch properly to clients or how to create propositions about potential project pilots, and how to communicate within the team more efficiently. I also learned a lot about the complex, ecological processes behind our projects. For example, I was never really aware that oysters indeed sequester a tiny amount of carbon as well, because of their shells. As a nature enthusiast myself, I find it very interesting to learn more about how nature functions and how we can create innovative nature-based solutions at a large scale.”?

Where do you see yourself in the future? ?

“Good question! In the future, I see myself working at solutions that combine nature and business. What I really try to do is to integrate these two areas into a path that essentially combines the best of both of worlds. This means that these projects will be beneficial to nature, as well as financially self-sustaining in the long-term. What I try to achieve in the future is really to partly solve this puzzle of how we make sustainable projects more profitable and how we can make profitable projects more sustainable. It is incredibly energizing to see that societies around the world are slowly developing in this direction as well. But more needs to be done.”?