Eight people, three tents, two cars, one mission: To have a great time with the entire team out in the Sahara desert! Team events are extremely important for companies, especially when teams are growing together. This is certainly the case at VIRIDE where our young company employs a new person with great skills almost every month. We brought the entire team together including production, laboratory, machinery, maintenance, and management and we went out into the wild: Straight into the Sahara desert!
Now, you would think that this is a piece of cake if you work in Dahkla, Morocco, which feels like the centre of the desert. But as it turns out, most people in the region don’t go there for relaxation; rather they don’t go there at all! The only people we met during 3 days and 2 nights of exploring the wild were shepperds who watched their camels. They were mildly surprised when they saw us – two pick up trucks fully loaded with tents, water, shovels in case we get stuck (which we did) and yes, nice food which we prepared in our tents at night or in the shade when we did find a tree. Yes, there must be water in the desert, because there are trees here and there!
It was fantastic to spend time with the entire team and to get to know each other. Event though we are still a small team, communication between functions is essential! To understand each other well is the basis for great collaboration!
For us as a German startup we want to ensure our team is growing bigger and better every day with the right mindset. That is to be respectful with each other and with nature; to listen to and to help each other whenever we can; to make sure the best idea wins and not any form of hierarchy; that communication is key to success; to make no difference between gender, ethnic group, etc. We were happy to observe that this is really the case in our team! A company is always the sum of its team members and we are confident that we can grow into a large and strong company when we presserve the core values that we saw out there!
The image shows the team looking out for some shade to have lunch. Yes, we succeeded!
The first thing to learn was how to put on some local sun protection. Sounds easy? Well, it requires some practice. Some of us needed some extra help … Others were quick to adapt the style and local forms for communication (no cellphone, only old school radio available).
Of course, setting up the tents was an adventure. But the sunset really made up for it.
Now its time to grow and harvest some algae, but all of us agreed that we want to be back, soon! Maybe you, yes – the person reading this, is part of our team then as well 😉 Let’s see what the future brings!
The VIRIDE team is definitely on the right track! Our path leads us to a lot of microalgae that is grown in non-arible land! During the team event the team stood up for the proof: THE VIRIDE TEAM IS READY!
#PowerOfAlgae #Sustainability #Team
