I WILL connect people and enable them to make an impact

“Connecting people, ideas and values really makes me tick. This puts other people in a position to grow, develop and shine in life. I want to boost my platform EngelenTafel, which is about celebrating Christmas together for people who don’t have a chance to do so. I feel it gives people a positive boost and meaning in life to feel strong enough to reach out to others. The reactions of the guest after Christmas gave me the most amazing feeling I’ve had in the past year. The focus is on Christmas, however there will be a spin off for activities year round.

Somehow people, money and solutions come to me. The universe works somehow when you have a good idea, a strong base and a passionate aim. Small is the new big. Anyone can create social impact and make a significant change.

The NRC Live Challenge helps me focus on gathering new ideas and working them out to spread the idea nationwide. I share the goals and what we need to reach them. When other people see the incredible impact and outcome, they react on it by talking about it and starting to act themselves. These people are what make the EngelenTafel come to life.” 

Jeannette Saatrube Vernooij, founder and chairman at EngelenTafel

I WILL inspire my employer to create a sustainable business

“I want to be brave, grow and develop to have a positive impact much bigger than I can have by only changing my personal life. My company can drastically improve its efforts towards environmental sustainability. Together with a colleague, who is also participating in the NRC Live Impact Challenge, we want to learn what data we need to make business cases that can support our proposals for change towards a more circular business. 

With good, convincing and appealing stories towards management and leadership, we hope to achieve buy-in from our company leadership. We need to create an inspiring story of how a circular business will eventually benefit our business to make it stronger and future-proof. 

I created a ‘sustainability team’ at our Eindhoven site, which has about 1,000 employees. We organise awareness events and actions such as a waste reduction project, a clean-up event, and a bike to work event. This resulted in a surprising new network, with people who help find data across our organisation including from operations, logistics, sourcing and marketing. I can suddenly reach much further corners of the company. Through the NRC Live Impact Challenge, I can also reach people in companies like Philips that are years ahead of us. 

My plan is to initiate more sustainable business cases in my company, and inspire change in several sections such as renewable energy, sustainability in new product design and business travel. I’m flexible in the topic, but want to inspire my employer to initiate change.”

Linda van Driel, market intelligence analyst at Thermo Fisher Scientific

I WILL make a step to a better future

“I believe that many small steps is also one big step. I want to use my new knowledge and tools to implement the SDGs into our company – in big and small steps. I’m exploring how our parent company in the UK is involving our stakeholders to achieve the SDGs. And in our department of geohydrology we’re looking into extending our work scope with advising about warm and cold storage, on an international scale. In my role and as a member of the CSR team, I aim to inform and inspire as many people as possible to get on board to achieve the best results.”

Renate de Man, KAM co-ordinator (quality, health and safety co-ordinator) at RSK Group Netherlands