Oceans-why?
"We live on a shared planet"
Ocean – Why?
My connection to water goes back as far as I can remember. Whether swimming, diving, sailing, surfing, or simply being near the sea -waves and wind have always had an almost magnetic pull on me. Water is where I feel most alive.
For most of my career, that connection stayed personal. Professionally, I focused on traditional finance, then on impact investing in the green economy. The ocean was where I went to recharge, not to work.
That changed.
Connecting the dots
The more I immersed myself in sustainability and impact investing, the more one realisation kept surfacing: we talk endlessly about the green economy, yet we largely ignore the 70% of our planet that is covered by water. The ocean is the world’s largest carbon sink, its most biodiverse ecosystem, and one of the most underfunded investment frontiers on earth.
I am now fully committed to channelling my experience in finance, impact investing, strategy, and ecosystem development into the blue economy -helping it grow, mature, and attract the capital it urgently needs.
Where I aim focus
The blue economy does not lack innovation or scientific ambition. What it lacks is the connective tissue between ideas, capital, and scale. That is exactly the gap I want to help close.
Concretely, I focus on:
- Strengthening the narrative -making the investment case for oceans tangible, specific, and compelling for capital providers who are not yet in the space
- Connecting capital with opportunity -raising awareness among investors and introducing them to credible, investable ventures
- Ecosystem development -bringing together technology, science, finance, and policy to build a healthier, more functional blue economy ecosystem
- Portfolio thinking -helping ventures and investors see the synergies across the space: renewable ocean energy, climate restoration, circularity, aquaculture, and more
- Facilitating knowledge transfer – bridging the language gap between scientists, entrepreneurs, and financiers so that conversations lead to action
What I bring
Over 25 years of experience in strategy, investment management, and business development – across development banking (FMO), impact investing (Triodos Investment Management), and international financial services (ABN AMRO). I know how capital moves, what investors need to commit, and how to build the cases that make that happen.
The blue economy is where I am putting all of that to work.
Let’s connect
If you are a fund, venture, development bank, or institution looking to move into the blue economy -or if you want to think through strategy, build an investment case, or simply explore what is possible -I would love to hear from you.
