Welcome to the new members of the team

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Anjalee Ramjee, Oliver Marr and Katerina Michailidou

Over the past 2 months, we have been very fortunate to welcome on-board 3 new Technical Consultants to our growing Oakdene Hollins team; Katerina Michailidou, Anjalee Ramjee and Oliver Marr.

Katerina has a strong background in geology and studied a Masters in Ecological Economics at Edinburgh University. Her focus involved investigating how economic decision-making affects our society and the environment around us. Following this, Katerina gained experience in managing health, safety, environment and quality across factory environments. This allowed Katerina to uncover the importance of waste elimination in achieving process excellence, more specifically through lean principles and six sigma.

Anjalee and Oliver have both recently completed a Masters in Engineering for Sustainable Development at the University of Cambridge. Believe it or not, they both also hold a solid background in chemical engineering. Anjalee has previously consulted for Deloitte in their Johannesburg office across a variety of industries including capital projects, fast moving consumer goods, telecommunications and mobility.

In order for us all to get to know our new colleagues a little better, we have asked them a few questions about themselves.

Why did you decide to pursue a career in sustainability?

Katerina: During my previous role, I realised the commonalities between lean manufacturing principles and the circular economy and wished to use this experience to support more businesses to improve their social, environmental and economic performance.

Anjalee: From as far back as I can remember, I have been passionate about sustainability. I remember watching the ‘Inconvenient Truth’ (a documentary about what humans are doing to the planet) and wanted to proactively do something about it.

Oliver: The first year of my undergraduate degree happened to coincide with the release of the Sustainable Development Goals (2015). I was immediately drawn to the framework and decided I wanted to be apart of the journey towards making the goals a reality by 2030.

Which area of the circular economy are your most interested in?

Katerina: I am fascinated by circular design; rethinking “business as usual” solutions along the entire value chain and design for modularity. Also, the emerging technologies to improve the efficiency of problematic plastic waste streams.

Anjalee: I am very interested in new product ownership models which accelerate the move towards a circular economy, such as clothing rental schemes or automotive companies creating mobility as a service offering. This is because I believe a change in consumer mindsets is critical towards reaching our climate change targets.

Oliver: The idea of natural capital really interests me, particularly where this concerns incorporating greenery and vegetation into cities so that occupants (and the economy) can harness the wider multiple benefits. Unfortunately, these benefits are difficult to quantify in a robust and consistent way, so they tend to be neglected. However, interest in this area is certainly on the rise.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not at work?

Katerina: I love spending time outdoors – whether that is walking, running, hiking, or cycling. I love the Spanish language and culture, yoga, reading, writing, and spending time with loved ones and… cats!

Anjalee: When I am not at work, I love exploring new cities or going for casual hikes. I also love all forms of storytelling and spend a lot of time watching the theatre, films and TV series and reading books. So, I am eagerly waiting for the West End to open up after Lockdown.

Oliver: I enjoy running, rock climbing and painting (and the occasional pint of Guinness).