Pac-Man of the water: Meinke van Oenen makes salt water drinkable with algae

How do you explain to a child what you do?

''I have often done this as climate mayor, so when I take that approach, I say: we have too little water, not only in southern countries where you might expect it, but also here in the Netherlands. And most water contains salt. You cannot drink that; it does not taste good. The way we currently remove salt from water is very expensive and polluting for the environment. With my start-up Algaenius, I'm trying to change that. I work with algae, which are the grandfathers and grandmothers of all the plants you see around you, and they eat up the salt like a kind of Pac-Man. What's more, the algae absorb CO₂, which means we also solve the core problem behind the water shortage: climate change."

Can you make a living from this start-up?

"I live on my student grant. I am 21, still studying, in my third year of a bachelor's degree in business administration at Erasmus University. I pay for everything myself: it's not a complicated high-tech solution, it's algae that you can grow at home and turn into gel balls that you put in salt water. But soon I will need funding: you can prove that water technology works on a small scale, but you need money to be able to apply it in large quantities, because water is not about small quantities. So I'm looking for investors, but they often find it difficult that I'm still studying. They think I don't have the time, while I actually do."

What was your first job?

"That was at Johma, the salad company. I worked in the canteen there, making sandwiches for the men on the night shift. That's how I earned my tuition fees. I learned not to take feedback too personally. Sometimes feedback says more about the person giving it than the person receiving it. There was one lady who was very curt with me and quickly became angry if she thought I wasn't working fast enough. Later, she told me that her husband had cancer. That put her criticism into perspective."

How do you deal with criticism now?

"Good feedback can help you grow, but you should never internalise it. However, in group projects, I often see people getting upset by certain feedback, and that doesn't help. I'm not as sensitive to it anymore. I use it to learn, but it doesn't affect me emotionally anymore. When I was nineteen, I did an internship at ASML, and I received quite a lot of feedback on the things I made. Of course, I wasn't very good at it yet, but I was able to think: I did my best, it's not good, I'll do it again. That's it. My supervisor said: I've never seen anyone deal with it like that before. But that's what I've learned over the years."

What was the most difficult decision you ever had to make?

"Quitting technical public administration. That was difficult for me, because I am naturally someone who lives very much in the future. When I was just thirteen, I was already thinking about what I wanted to study, and that was technical public administration. After that, I was going to do complex systems engineering; I had it all figured out. But when I was nineteen, the opportunity for this start-up came along. The two were incompatible. I had been to New York for two weeks with my research, at the United Nations, and that fell right during exam week. That caused a lot of hassle with Delft University of Technology (TU Delft); there was no support whatsoever. So I transferred to Erasmus University. They are much more open to entrepreneurship, because sometimes you just can't be somewhere because you get a great opportunity."

What is your greatest dream?

"Nature doing well again, and there being enough water everywhere to drink and make food. I often say: look at nature, find the future. Everything that lives today has survived a great deal in evolutionary terms and is therefore very intelligent. You can learn a lot from that and come up with solutions that are not only effective but also in harmony with the wider environment. Like those algae that eat salt. People are always looking for high-tech, “grey” solutions, big machines made of plastic and metal, but those also emit CO₂. And we already have a CO₂ problem! The only thing that can absorb CO₂ is nature. So look to nature."

What is the best advice about leadership you have ever received?

''Dream, dare, do. Elske Doets said that during the Young Lady Business Academy. I think it's a great slogan. There are many young women in the teams I've worked with. I often try to encourage them to dream bigger, because I notice that my peers often think quite small, and I think that's a shame. Speak up, be bold, because it really doesn't matter what other people think of you. It genuinely doesn't. And just do something. I've tried many things and no doubt often come across as very stupid, but you learn from that. The world will keep turning anyway. I see women my age who don't dare to say anything in meetings, but I can't wrap my head around that. The more you do it, the less scary it becomes."

I understand that they sometimes feel intimidated by older people.

''There is also strength in youth. Be curious, ask questions, and nine times out of ten people will want to help you. You don't have to look up to them. Don't look up to people, don't look down on people, look at them. Older people know more, you have to acknowledge that, but they are not above you.''

Do you notice this reluctance more in women than in men?

''I primarily work with women. When I occasionally collaborate with men on a project, they have no difficulty expressing their opinions or offering their perspectives, even if they have not studied the material. It is quite remarkable. Women are more afraid of failure, and as a result they miss out on so many opportunities to gain knowledge and experience. This is also because they have often been taught that they have to be liked and seen as nice. The most terrible thing ever. Then you place your definition of success outside yourself."

If you could give away 1 million, to whom or what would it be?

''The worst thing is what is happening in Gaza. But what would happen if I sent a million there? Women's emancipation is also close to my heart, but if I keep it close to home, I would say: the Brain Foundation (in Dutch: de Hersenstichting). My mother has acquired brain damage after a serious car accident. Every day I see how difficult it is for her to live a normal life, that there is very little understanding and far too many high expectations. I wish more research could be done into how to help these people."

How did that accident affect you?

''It left me with the conviction that everything will be alright and that you can handle a lot. My father was also ill for a long time. My parents taught me that you can't change the situation, but you can change how you deal with it. Do you remain stuck in the role of victim, or does it make you stronger and more resilient? I feel like I can handle almost anything.''

What is your most difficult entrepreneurial dilemma?

''Finding the right people for Algaenius. Especially at this stage. You need a certain character, and that is really rare. In a start-up, you have to be able to cope with things often not going well, you have to be creative and willing to work long hours. I often look to see if people have already taken on things themselves, if they are intrinsically motivated – basically, whether they have that moral ambition that Rutger Bregman described so beautifully. I look for people who realise that we are extremely lucky to have been born in the Netherlands, that we didn't have to do anything to earn that. That your intelligence is also a gift. And that it therefore makes sense to give something back. How you do that is up to you, but in my business administration programme, I see sixty percent of the students simply going to work at a bank. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but they have so much potential. So why stop there?"