Francis Zoet, co-founder and chief operating officer of The Great Bubble Barrier

The infrastructure sector is still too much seen as a man's world. Nothing could be further from the truth. More and more women are finding jobs and a place in the world of civil engineering. And we are happy to introduce them to you in detail. In each edition of GWW-Bouwmat, we let a woman from the sector talk about her job and what makes it so great. In this edition we give the floor to Francis Zoet, co-founder and operational director of The Great Bubble Barrier.

Francis is a passionate sailor with a deep love for water. "As a person and in my work, I am always looking for smart solutions to complex problems. It's great that I can combine these two passions in my work at The Great Bubble Barrier." Francis has a Master of Science in Sustainable Development, specializing in Energy and Materials. "This degree has given me a solid foundation in sustainable development, project management and the circular economy." Before founding The Great Bubble Barrier, she worked as a sustainability consultant. "There I gained a lot of knowledge about the circular economy and sustainable policies. This experience was essential for developing our vision and strategy."

Francis started The Great Bubble Barrier with co-founders Anne Marieke Eveleens and Saskia Studer. "As friends we often took sailing trips, and during these trips we saw a lot of plastic in the water, which inspired us to find a solution. And especially a solution that would not hinder boat traffic and fish migration. The idea for the Bubble Barrier came about when we looked at the bubbles in a drink. After doing some research, we were surprised that this concept for cleaning up plastic waste did not yet exist. We developed a prototype and won several awards at sustainability competitions, such as the Plastic Free Rivers Mackaton and the Postcode Lottery's Green Challenge, which helped us realize our first large-scale pilot in the river IJssel with the Department of Public Works. After contacting German engineer Philip Ehrhorn, who was working on a similar idea, we decided to officially establish The Great Bubble Barrier in 2017." 

As COO, Francis has been responsible for overseeing finance, strategy and operational processes since inception. "Currently, my main focus is on keeping Bubble Barriers' implementation running smoothly and the efficient deployment of our technology." And that's in an industry that employs mostly men. "However, within our company it has been very evenly divided from the beginning. Even with hiring new talent, we are committed to equal opportunities, regardless of gender, for example. What is important for us within this sector is that we build on our technology and skills and continuously improve critically. A scientific approach underlies all our processes, and we also strive to grow our business as sustainably as possible. We actively think about ethical business practices, and have, for example, embedded our mission in our bylaws. For example, we only partner with impact investors, in order to continue working on the mission we once started with: cleaner rivers."

Our work is therefore very diverse and dynamic, she says. "On the one hand, we work with long bureaucratic processes and permits, because we mainly work with governments and water boards. On the other hand, it is very dynamic because we are working in a fledgling field: there are still few policies that mandate the removal of plastic from rivers. So we have to make ourselves heard everywhere to put this on the map, even if there are no well-trodden paths yet. It also connects us with many people who share the same mission for clean rivers and oceans, and that's special. We have proven we can effectively capture plastic, and strive to make a difference globally."