“In early 2000 I took myself off to Australia. Off to the unknown, to the distant family my grandmother had told me about. It was a fantastic year. I crossed half the country, worked on my family’s cattle farm and became a woodcutter. I learned what it is to be independent, to think for yourself, to create. I experienced a special, pure kind of peace, comparable to what we now call mindfulness. And I fell in love. With the country, but also with a woman: I met Milou during the Olympic Games in Sydney. Since moving back to the Netherlands, we’ve visited Australia often. It feels like home there, like one big sweet jar full of opportunities.”

Breaking with tradition

Opportunities and adventure: Overbosch has sought them out since a young age. Even studying at Maastricht University went against the ‘family tradition’. “I had this idea that there was more to discover in the young student city of Maastricht than in, say, Utrecht or Groningen. Problem-Based Learning also really appealed to me. I chose Business Economics because I was drawn to the human side of economics.”

He enjoyed his student days, including the requisite wine and cheese at In ’t Knijpke and nights out with student association Tragos. But he worked hard, too. He spent a year as president of Tragos, participated in the Research Project Colombia and learned a lot. “I have warm memories of the lessons by professors Ad van Iterson and Mariëlle Heijltjes. And it was Professor Kimman’s business ethics course that got me into sustainability.”