Megane Gillard
Account Manager
“The passion for flowers has been with me since childhood. I grew up in France and I always knew one thing for sure: I want to do something with flowers later. Coincidentally, I had an uncle who worked in flowers and thanks to him, I was introduced to OZ-Hami in the Netherlands. I then immediately set about arranging an internship there! Once I had two months at OZ-Hami, I didn’t really want to leave. And so, after my internship, I kept calling them until I got to work permanently as a salesperson for region France. I then crammed everything that could go with me into my Citroën and drove that way to the Netherlands for the love of the job! Now I am happy to work every day with the áll most beautiful product in the world, flowers! Because the moment you buy a flower, you buy not only a lot of colour, but also beautiful memories and feeling. For example, I once had someone on the line who wanted her wedding to have her late grandmother’s favourite flowers. Then again, if you can arrange that for someone, it’s the best feeling in the world. That is why I am happy that at OZ-Hami I can really do something special with my passion for flowers.”
Read the stories of my colleagues.
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Robert Donicie
Logistics team leader
Ever since I was born, I came into daily contact with flowers. After all, I grew up among the roses grown by my uncle and my father. The older I got the more often I started helping. We often made bunches of our roses to give away to friends and family. That’s basically how I stuck in the flower business all my life. I am currently working as team leader packing and sorting centre at OZ-Hami. After an open application, I started at trolley construction and then went through a number of departments. It was a very nice experience to work in different departments, and this way I have a good understanding of what happens in each department. It is a satisfaction and challenge to ensure that the flowers we process and pack in the department go to the customer in the best possible way. Whether by highway or by air. Together with my team, we try to ensure satisfied customers every day in a nice working atmosphere. It makes me happy to be part of this beautiful and great company. Besides hard work, we also thoroughly enjoy company parties or an organised staff association activity.
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Linda Ceelen
Verwerking
I have now been working at OZ-Hami for more than 12 years and still enjoy working there. What I love about my job is that we are responsible for the finishing touches. What the customer wants, we try to provide. Mooi ingezakt met een barcode erop zodat het makkelijk verkocht kan worden. “Done!” Een mooie mix van bloemen maken. “Geen probleem.” Kou-gevoelige bloemen warm inpakken. “Sure, after all, we want customers to get good quality.” And knowing that our work, our product, our flowers go all over the world and create happy faces everywhere is something I find special and am proud of. Not everything goes abroad, by the way; we also sponsor great initiatives in the Netherlands. Last year, for instance, we delivered small bouquets to participants of NLdoet, we co-sponsored the annual ‘tulip garden’ on Dam Square in Amsterdam, and, among other things, our flowers were in the church at the coronation of King Willem-Alexander. That really puts a smile on my face that we got to do that. Besides flowers being very beautiful products (after all, a party without flowers looks sparse), I stayed here for the atmosphere. In my view, OZ-Hami has become big by staying small. We are not a small company, certainly, but we treat each other very familially. It is cosy, informal and we help each other. I have enjoyed working here for over a decade now, and hope to continue working here for a long time to come.
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Brian Vogel
Account Manager
I have been working in flower export since I was 19. I have mainly always worked in air freight to distant destinations, where I learnt the complexities and challenges of logistics and transporting flowers. I also used to buy in for several years. Thanks to this experience, I know what is going on in the market and understand that procurement is not always easy. These super valuable experiences have made it easier for me to work effectively with my colleagues in procurement. Since about 10 years, I have found out that selling is really my thing. The contact with customers I have every day is something I really enjoy and find enriching. The flowers we sell are packed in boxes and taken to their faraway destination via air freight. There are many factors to consider here. In this line of business, it’s all about the details. The process of constantly improving and innovating everything we do is what I love about my job. Especially when customers come with special requests, I see it as a challenge to organise everything as well as possible and exceed their expectations. It gives me immense satisfaction to see our flowers arrive at their destination in perfect condition, knowing that I contributed to that success.
