‘I come from a small village to the north of Athens. As a child, I was curious and would take apart my toys. How does this move? What makes this jump? Maths and physics were my favourite subjects at school. I also regularly helped out in my parents’ bakery. That taught me that hard work can be very rewarding. But I knew the bakery wasn’t for me: I would never be able to apply my passion for maths and physics there. It was a logical step, therefore, to study civil engineering. After I graduated, a financial crisis in Greece meant that there weren’t many opportunities for young engineers in the country. So I decided to go to the Netherlands and do a master’s at TU Delft. Many young Greeks go abroad. There’s even a term for it: brain drain.’

‘Besides being a project manager, for a year now I’ve been group leader of the Structural Dynamics group that was set up when I started at Witteveen+Bos. Although I wasn’t thinking in terms of management and entrepreneurship in the first few years, I really enjoy it. For a long time, I thought of myself as someone only focused on the technical side: sitting at the computer, doing difficult calculations, building complex models. I’ll never be a proper salesperson, but enjoyable and fruitful discussions can arise during a conversation on a technical subject. That creates trust and, as a result, business opportunities. What also gives me energy is passing on to younger colleagues what I was given when I started here. I want to offer guidance while also leaving room for development.’