The Philips Innovation Award, the UN Gamechanger Challenge and the Dutch Junior Water Prize. These are just a few in the trophy cabinet of Business Administration student Meinke van Oenen. She is the founder of Algaenius: a company that develops a technique with algae to desalinate water. Recently, at 21 years old, Meinke was also the youngest person in the FD Talent Top 50 under 35. 'It is surreal to realise that in my life I will experience that we have too little water', says Meinke van Oenen about her motivation.
There is a global shortage of fresh water. Countries around the equator have been suffering from this for some time, but it is also getting worse in Europe and even in in the Netherlands, a country with so much water. According to the RIVM, the Netherlands will have a "structural" water shortage in 2030: there will no longer be enough fresh water available to meet demand. In the higher region of Twente, where Meinke van Oenen grew up, there is a water shortage almost every summer nowadays. This is how Meinke became interested in this problem from an early age. 'It is such an interesting and poignant issue, because as humans we really cannot live without water', she says.
Current desalination techniques cause even more CO2 emissions
About 3% of the world's water supply is fresh water and 1% of it is usable by humans. The rest is all salt water. If we can turn that salt water into fresh water, we can partly solve the water shortage. But how do you get that salt out of the water to be able to use it as an alternative source? The current filtering techniques for this are extremely expensive and cost a lot of energy. According to Meinke, it also creates a vicious circle: 'Much of the current water scarcity is due to drought and that stems from climate change. And that is currently solved by a technique that emits a lot of CO2. I cannot get my head around that.'
Let algae do the work
She immersed herself in nature-based techniques, where you look for the solution in nature. In particular, she focused on algae. 'I questioned if they can they absorb salt from water significantly and that affects their capacity to absorb CO2?', Meinke van Oenen explains. 'It turned out that algae can remove 70 to 90% of the salt, depending on the temperature. The warmer it is, the better it works. Which is perfect, because the warmer the area is, the greater the water shortage often is.' In addition, algae absorb a lot of CO2 at the same time and no waste is created because algae are biomass. After a while, the idea for her company Algaenius arose as a result from her research into this.
Above Algaenius
The start-up Algaenius is developing a new desalination method with halophilic algae to purify seawater for agriculture and industry. The process also captures carbon dioxide, addressing both water scarcity and climate change mitigation.
Business Administration language
The company is now in the "pre-seed" phase. Meinke explains: 'Water innovations are about large scale, only then does it become competitive. You need capital to scale up and build infrastructure.' To better understand the business side of her company, Meinke made the switch from studying Systems Engineering at TU Delft, Policy Analysis and Management to Business Administration at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. 'You really learn the language of business administration here and I now have more freedom to spend time on my company.'
'There is no such thing as the perfect combination of study and business'
Combining business and study is not always easy. For example, during her studies at TU Delft, she had the opportunity to go to the UN in New York, at the same time as an exam. 'If you are enterprising, you tend to take a little more risk and you don't go to an exam for once. That's difficult', says Meinke. 'You're not really going to get a perfect combination between study and business, it's just a matter of setting priorities.' Studying Business Administration is a conscious choice for Meinke: 'I just want to get it within three years. And this bachelor's degree in Business Administration is also simply the best in the Netherlands.'
A well-stocked trophy cabinet
In New York, she also won the UN Gamechanger Challenge. She was also able to add the Dutch Junior Water Prize and a place in the finals of the Philips Innovation Award to her record. 'It's just about taking risks', says Meinke. 'I was 19 in New York, by far the youngest, and I thought: I'm just going to do it. And look at me now!' She also won the Young Lady Business Academy from Businesswoman of the Year Elske Doets and with that a 3-month internship in America, she was interviewed by Harm Edens for the book "The most important questions of your life" and was included in the FD Talent Top 50. She says it is important to remain humble, but that it also opens doors. 'If you are young and you want to create something, but you don't have the network, you will get places with it. If you are open and curious, a lot of people will want to help you.'
Entering the market in 2030
Meinke is currently looking for co-founders in the field of finance that are focused on technology. In addition, she would like to test her techniques in the AlgaeParc of Wageningen University & Research. She is still unsure about the choice of her master's, but she wants to be able to enter the market with her company in 2030. 'You shouldn't enter too early because awareness is still low and it's a technology that needs a lot of iteration before it works. Working with nature brings a certain challenge, it is very different from working with a machine and that simply takes time.'
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Press
For more information reach out to Danielle Baan of Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.- Related content
