First of five
It was Obama’s first year as president, Michael Jackson passed away, the iPhone 3 was released, and Lionel Messi won his first Ballon d’Or. 2009 was certainly a year that feels worlds apart from today. At that time, SGL had only four employees, and Marc joined as their fifth.
In 2009, Marc Zeestraten was a 20-year-old Business Administration & Agribusiness student in the final year of his bachelor’s degree. He connected with SGL through one of his teachers, who put him in touch with Nico van Vuuren, the founder of SGL. “My teacher texted me in the morning to let me know that Nico was expecting my call that afternoon. I called him, and Nico happily told me he was looking for an agronomist, but that wasn’t me. He invited me over for a conversation anyway, but I honestly thought it would be a waste of time. The next day, I was hired for one day a week. Not as an agronomist, of course.”
Marc witnessed SGL grow from five to fifty people and reflects on the times when SGL was still a small company. “Back when we were only five people, I was flying through the organisation from left to right, picking up any tasks I could. We were really pioneering in such a small group. It was hard work, but also really fun to help the whole organisation grow step by step.”
And fly through the organization he did! But not every step was a big success: “I learned a lot in every role and task I took on, but one day it was someone’s idea to make me responsible for IT, and that was definitely not my scene.”