Wise lessons from Grandpa Kees
“Ever since I was a little girl, my grandpa (the late Kees Mourik) and I would often go for walks by the seepage area in Groot-Ammers. We would watch the nature and the animals that passed by. He had benches placed everywhere where we would chat endlessly about everything: nature, what was happening in the world, and also a lot about the wonderful company Mourik. He could talk about it enthusiastically for hours. Occasionally I was allowed to join meetings, even though I didn’t understand everything yet, of course. ‘Come sit in and listen, experience it for yourself,’ he would say. What did I learn most from Grandpa Kees? That you never do it alone, but always together. ‘If you are good to others, they will be good to you’, he always said.”

The fourth generation of Mourik at work
“What I learned from Grandpa, I encounter on a daily basis at work. I am the first of the fourth generation to be allowed to become part of this wonderful company. Everyone around me asked if I was nervous to start at Mourik, but I never felt that way. I more or less grew up with the Mourik culture in Groot-Ammers. My little brothers, cousins, and I also go on at least two ‘work visits’ a year to a Mourik company or a great project to get to know the company and the culture better. That’s also why the onboarding at MVOI felt so familiar, from the very first day I was there. Everyone works together, and if you have a question, you get the help you need. My official job title is project coordinator. But my work is very broad: work preparation, stakeholder management, checking on-site with colleagues to see if everything is running according to schedule, and more. Creating a project together and involving each other. Exactly as I remember from the many stories in the past.”

How is Sophie shaping tomorrow?
“How Mourik once started, and how big Mourik is now with all the different disciplines, I really find that impressive. The Mourik Maakt Morgen (Mourik is Shaping Tomorrow) book published this year shows that beautifully. I was really drawn in and there were photos I had never seen before. For example, that we helped renovate De Kuip in Rotterdam. Amazing for a true Feyenoord family like ours. And we are still working on wonderful projects: the hydrogen excavator, the first electric roller, VR simulations at Traffic & More, countless innovations at Mourik Industry. I really can’t wait to see what Mourik will look like in ten years. I hope the feeling of the family business and the sense of togetherness will remain, because the Mourik yellow heart makes our company unique. Together we are shaping tomorrow. Grandpa used to say: ‘you are family and you do it as a family.’”

Curious how we are shaping tomorrow for future generations?
In this video Sophie talks with her father Kees Jan Mourik about working sustainably for the next generations.