Volunteer Profile: Mark Vermeij

Mark Vermeij has over 20 years of experience at Cargill in oil refining. When he was recruited to join PFS in order to provide support to Jackma Enterprises, a food oil producer in Tanzania, on the construction of their food oil refinery, Mark was working in Cargill’s Center of Excellence for refined oil. “Jackma was not familiar with the technology, neither the process of the refining oil or how to manage quality control. In Tanzania, there are specification that refined oil has to meet so I started helping them to understand how to update their practices to create quality oil that meets these standards,” said Mark.

Mark played an integral role by offering technical support to Jackma, answering questions that came up as the processor began constructing their oil refinery. When the newly purchased refinery machinery did not come with a manual, Mark utilized his connections internationally at Cargill to get the necessary information on the machinery from the supplier in India. With this information, Jackma was able to expedite the construction of the oil refinery.

Mark was also quick to admit that he also acquired key knowledge from his time working with Jackma. “For me, the most valuable piece was learning about the context that these processors are working in. These experiences open your eyes to how business is done in various parts of the world and I put all of those experiences in my backpack so when I’m talking to managers at Cargill about expected complications during construction or the timeline when we build in different countries, I have a frame of reference that informs my decisions,” he said.