Zayde Gutiérrez Gallardo 

Zayde (35) found herself immersed in the world of food exports, bridging connections between Latin America, Asia, and Europe. “I have a background in International Business and extensive experience working with various stakeholders globally. I went to live in China for 3 years to learn and explore its culture and business landscape. Here I worked in Business Development for food exporters in Latin America.” 

When the pandemic hit, Zayde returned to Mexico to continue her work in food exports. However, she started to observe firsthand that disruptions in food production were becoming more common. “I started to see ´atypical´ climate disruptions– especially in draught and the reduction of yields – that increasingly became typical. This sparked my curiosity about sustainable food systems.”  

Her discovery journey brought her to the Netherlands, initially to explore some food exhibitions where she encountered innovative ideas about food innovation for sustainability that inspired her to delve deeper into the field. “I got very inspired by the food innovation landscape in the Netherlands, sustainability is not widely discussed among companies in Mexico, the way it is here.” 

Driven by this inspiration, Zayde stumbled upon the master's program Food Systems Innovation. She visited the campus and met Marjan in person, which solidified her decision. “This program was a good fit for what I wanted to learn: a hands-on and innovative approach to fixing our food system.” 

The hands-on approach of the master's program resonated with Zayde, who appreciates the opportunity to apply theory to real-world challenges. “We went on a city study tour to Ghent, Dortmund, Copenhagen, and Nairobi virtually. We met and spoke to people who provided further insight into innovative solutions within the food sector. This was a very enriching learning experience.”   

Despite the fairly intense workload, Zayde finds the learning process rewarding, especially because of the opportunity she had to work on projects with organizations like the government of Nairobi and the province of Flevoland.  

“For my graduation project, I chose to work with Nimble. This Rotterdam-based startup focuses on vegetable processing and building transparent short food supply chains between farmers and caterers. This aligns with my interest in building sustainable value chains”. 
  
Looking ahead, Zayde envisions herself driving sustainable change. “We have so many things to do, so many challenges in our food system. I want to solve them all!  But with my future work, I really want to focus on becoming a changemaker within global food value chains. And I want to do it in companies, consulting firms, or startups that have a particular focus on transparent, and sustainable business models.”