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"I had no idea what I was getting myself into," is how Nikhil Abraham, now Supply Chain Coordinator at Eveon, describes his career choice. He was born in Kerala, India, an area known for its Ayurveda wellness and popular with tourists. A bit curious, but mostly because many of his acquaintances chose this path, he trained as a marine engineer. What Nikhil thought less about at the time was where this path would take him.
Seafarer without privacy
A few months later, Nikhil is standing on a tanker off the coast of Yemen. A marine engineer, he now works on large oil and gas ships. "On a ship, you are cut off from the outside world. There are hardly any ways to make phone calls and the captain may even read emails before they are sent," Nikhil recalls, "And privacy doesn't exist anyway." Clearly, for Nikhil, seafaring was not his dream job and yet it has taken him on numerous adventures. Some were even quite dangerous. Like the one time when he was on board a gas tanker, just a little bit off the coast of a crisis zone as armed men surrounded the ship.
Explosions on the horizon
"The men told us they were responsible for our safety," Nikhil recounts, "’Safety from what?’ we asked them back." But the men remained on board. The ship was moored offshore, waiting to unload when night finally fell - and suddenly bombs were falling. It's the outbreak of the Yemen conflict. Different factions were fighting each other with heavy ordnance. "We saw a lot of things," Nikhil says, "Pirates off Somalia, for example, frequently happen, but when bombs hit 800 meters away, you rethink your life choices."
From Yemen to Rotterdam
As we conduct this interview today, we all know that the story ended well. But Nikhil has hung up his seafaring career. He completed his master's in Rotterdam, focusing on maritime economics and container logistics. That was when he came across a LinkedIn ad from Eveon and applied. After a few interviews, Nikhil is enthusiastic: "Eveon is a start-up with a lot of potential and is bursting with energy."
"The potential to make a difference is huge"
Today, Nikhil takes care of many aspects of logistics at Eveon, deals with the market environment, finds new suppliers and partners. "It's a great challenge, and the potential to make a difference in and with this company is enormous," Nikhil enthuses. "In my life, I strive to always have everything in motion, and to be constantly evolving. I feel like I was in the right place at the right time for that, to grow with Eveon."