{"id":1332,"date":"2026-09-09T10:06:58","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T10:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/netzeroheroes-platform.eu\/?page_id=1332"},"modified":"2026-09-09T10:07:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T10:07:28","slug":"ana-maria-quijano-wittemann-case-study","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/netzeroheroes-platform.eu\/hr\/ana-maria-quijano-wittemann-case-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Studij slu\u010daja Ana Maria Quijano-Wittemann"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Ana Maria Quijano-Wittemann <\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tProfesionalna pozadina<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Pozdrav Ana, mo\u017ee\u0161 li se predstaviti i ukratko opisati svoj profesionalni put?<\/span><\/i><\/p>

Bok, ja se zovem Ana Maria Quijano-Wittemann. Suosniva\u010dica sam tvrtke RIVED koja gradi ekosustav za skaliranje upcycling mode. Djelujemo u podru\u010dju kru\u017ene mode.<\/span><\/p>

Uvijek sam znao da \u017eelim raditi u podru\u010dju odr\u017eivog utjecaja, ali ne samo s jednog kuta. Htio sam cjelovitu sliku: dru\u0161tvenu, okoli\u0161nu, sve. Ne samo tunel s CO\u2082. Moj rani karijerni put bio je u marketingu i automobilskoj industriji, \u0161to je bilo jako daleko od onoga gdje sam \u017eelio biti. Stoga sam odlu\u010dio vratiti se studiranju. Zavr\u0161io sam magistarski studij odr\u017eivog poslovanja na poslovnoj \u0161koli u Italiji, \u0161to mi je dalo sveobuhvatan set alata koji mi je bio potreban da doista ispravno gradim odr\u017eive pothvate.<\/span><\/p>

Kad sam zavr\u0161io, oko 2016.\u201317., jednostavno nije bilo poslova u polju koje sam \u017eelio. Pa sam pre\u0161ao u rizi\u010dni kapital. Nije to bio fond s dru\u0161tvenim u\u010dinkom, ali bila je rije\u010d o inovacijama i to mi je iskustvo dalo vje\u0161tine izgradnje poslovanja i ulaganja koje sada izravno primjenjujem na Rived.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIzazovi s kojima se suo\u010dava<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Koji su bili tvoji najte\u017ei profesionalni izazovi s kojima si se suo\u010dio?<\/span><\/i><\/p>

Najve\u0107a prepreka bila je to \u0161to nije bilo posla kada sam ga htio. Kad sam zavr\u0161io magistarski studij odr\u017eivosti, svi iz korporativnih financija lako su prona\u0161li radna mjesta. Onima od nas koji su htjeli poslove sa stvarnim utjecajem re\u010deno je: <\/span>\u201cZa vas nema posla.\u201d<\/span><\/i> To je bilo najte\u017ee, morati \u010dekati i i\u0107i obilaznim putem. Mislim da su stvari sada zaista druga\u010dije jer je Zelena tehnologija doista do\u017eivjela pravi procvat!<\/span><\/p>

Tu je i suptilniji, stalan izazov za koji mislim da ga mnogi u ovom podru\u010dju dijele. Stalno ste u poziciji uvjeravanja, dokazivanja i opravdavanja. Uvijek se borite za promjenu. Ranije ove godine priklju\u010dio sam se internetskom pozivu, potaknut LinkedIn porukom s pitanjem jesu li ljudi iscrpljeni od borbe za promjenu sustava i na\u010dina razmi\u0161ljanja. Okupilo se oko 100 ljudi, svi rade u zelenoj tehnologiji i odr\u017eivosti, i svi dijele istu iscrpljenost. Bio je to pravi trenutak prepoznavanja.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStrategije i rje\u0161enja<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

\u0160to vam je pomoglo prevladati te izazove? Postoje li sustavi podr\u0161ke ili mre\u017ee koje su u\u010dinile razliku?<\/span><\/i><\/p>

S prakti\u010dne strane, njema\u010dki ekosustav za zelene tehnologije i cirkularnu ekonomiju doista je sna\u017ean: nevladine organizacije, resursi, financiranje... postoji pravi institucionalni interes, i ta infrastruktura \u010dini ogromnu razliku.<\/span><\/p>

Na osobnoj razini, ve\u0107ina ljudi u mom u\u017eem krugu nije u potpunosti razumjela \u0161to gradim. Za njih je odr\u017eivost jo\u0161 uvijek zna\u010dila nekoga tko prosvjeduje na moru. No, poznavali su me i vjerovali su mi, a to je bilo dovoljno. Imati ljude koji vam vjeruju \u010dak i kada ne shva\u0107aju u potpunosti o \u010demu je rije\u010d, posebna je vrsta podr\u0161ke.<\/span><\/p>

I iskreno, najve\u0107i se pomak dogodio kada sam shvatio\/la da nisam sam\/a u iscrpljenosti. Jednom kada shvati\u0161 da je borba zajedni\u010dka i normalna u cijelom sektoru, mo\u017ee\u0161 se prestati boriti protiv toga i krenuti dalje. Svi smo zajedno u ovome i sada smo na novoj razini!<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPostignu\u0107a i utjecaj<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

\u0160to poku\u0161avate posti\u0107i s Rivedom i kakav stvarni utjecaj nastojite ostvariti?<\/span><\/i><\/p>

Rasprava o odr\u017eivosti u modnoj industriji zaglavila je u negativnoj petlji: \u201c<\/span>moda je lo\u0161a, mi smo lo\u0161i potro\u0161a\u010di<\/span><\/i>\u201di taj narativ nikad ni\u0161ta ne mijenja. U me\u0111uvremenu, ve\u0107ina ulaganja u zelenu tehnologiju za modu i dalje samo financira proizvodnju ve\u0107e koli\u010dine i ve\u0107u prodaju. Isti ciklus, samo druga\u010dije odjeven.<\/span><\/p>

Ono \u0161to vidimo u RIVED-u jest da je recikliranje u vi\u0161u vrijednost (upcycling) jedno od najzanemarenijih rje\u0161enja koja postoje. Odbacuje se kao ne\u0161to \u0161to se ne mo\u017ee pro\u0161iriti, ali budu\u0107i da donosimo i tehni\u010dku i poslovnu pozadinu, razumijemo kako to u\u010diniti skalabilnim. Upravo to gradimo: ekosustav koji na upcycling ne gleda kao na ni\u0161ni zanat, ve\u0107 kao na ozbiljan, skalabilan dio rje\u0161enja. I to se mora graditi u zajednici sa svima ostalima koji rade u ovom pokretu, nijedno rje\u0161enje to ne posti\u017ee samo.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSavjeti i zaklju\u010dci<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Kakav bi savjet dala mladoj \u017eeni koja \u017eeli zapo\u010deti karijeru u zelenoj tehnologiji?<\/span><\/i><\/p>

Ovo je doista najbolje vrijeme za po\u010detak. Kad sam po\u010dinjao, moj san je bio postati direktor odr\u017eivosti (CSO) i ta uloga jedva da je postojala. Sada mi je LinkedIn pun takvih oglasa. Podru\u010dje je izgra\u0111eno, normalizirano i \u0161irom otvoreno.<\/span><\/p>

Te\u0161ko je probiti se kroz buku. Nemojte dopustiti da vas vode dogmatizam ili povr\u0161na retorika koja okru\u017euje odr\u017eivost. Prona\u0111ite podru\u010dja koja su vam uistinu zanimljiva, u kojima mo\u017eete biti kreativni i dati cijelog sebe.<\/span><\/p>

\u0160to se ti\u010de vje\u0161tina: otpornost, da, jer je neizvjesno i zahtjevno. Ali iznad svega, suradnja. Nijedno rje\u0161enje samo za sebe ne \u010dini prevagu. Obratite se ljudima, podijelite svoje ideje, nemojte se bojati izlo\u017eiti se i progovoriti. Ta otvorenost je ono \u0161to pokre\u0107e stvari naprijed.<\/span><\/p>

I moja zavr\u0161na poruka bi bila: upoznaj sebe od po\u010detka. Odluke koje donosi\u0161 sada ne\u0107e te definirati zauvijek, moj \u017eivot se potpuno promijenio unutar nekoliko godina. Budi svoj. Slu\u0161aj ljude, ali uvijek zadr\u017ei svoj stav. Zvu\u010di jednostavno, ali upravo je to na\u010din da izgradi\u0161 svoju karijeru.<\/span><\/p>

Postoji li moto po kojem \u017eivi\u0161?<\/span><\/i><\/p>

Kad do\u0111e ponedjeljak i \u010dini se kao da se svijet raspada \u2014 \u0161to se \u010desto doga\u0111a kad gradi\u0161 ne\u0161to od temelja \u2014 ka\u017eem sebi: pri\u010dekaj do petka. Svijet \u0107e do tada izgledati druga\u010dije. Samo pre\u017eivi tjedan, i onda se osvrni. Uvijek se promijeni. Uvijek si korak dalje nego \u0161to si bio.<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ana Maria Quijano-Wittemann Professional Background Hi Ana, could you introduce yourself and briefly describe your professional journey? Hi, my name is Ana Maria Quijano-Wittemann. I am co-founder of RIVED, a company building an ecosystem to scale fashion upcycling. We operate in the circular fashion field. I always knew I wanted to work in impact, but not just from one angle. I wanted the full picture: social, environmental, everything. Not just the CO\u2082 tunnel. My early career was in marketing and the automotive industry, which was a long way from where I wanted to be. So I decided to go back and study. I did a Master’s in Sustainable Businesses at a business school in Italy, and that gave me the 360-degree toolkit I needed to actually build sustainable ventures properly. When I finished, around 2016\u201317, there simply weren’t jobs in the field I wanted. So I moved into venture capital. It wasn’t an impact fund, but it was innovation and that experience gave me the business-building and investment skills I now apply directly to Rived. Challenges Faced What were the most difficult professional challenges you faced? The biggest barrier was that there were no jobs when I wanted one. When I finished my Master’s in sustainability, everyone from corporate finance found positions easily. Those of us who wanted roles with real impact were told: “There are no jobs for you.” That was the hardest thing, having to wait and take an indirect route. I think things are really different now as Green Tech has really boomed! There is also a subtler, ongoing challenge that I think a lot of people in this field share. You are constantly in a position of convincing, proving, and justifying. You are always fighting for change. Earlier this year I joined an online call, prompted by a LinkedIn message asking if people were exhausted from fighting to shift systems and mindsets. Around 100 people showed up, all working in green tech and sustainability, all sharing the same exhaustion. That was a real moment of recognition. Strategies & Solutions What helped you overcome those challenges? Were there any support systems or networks that made a difference? On the practical side, Germany’s ecosystem for green tech and circularity is genuinely strong: NGOs, resources, funding\u2026 there\u00b4s real institutional interest, and that infrastructure makes such a difference. On the personal side, most people in my immediate network didn’t fully understand what I was building. For them, sustainability still meant someone protesting at sea. But they knew me, and they believed in me, and that was enough. Having people who trust you even when they don’t entirely get it is its own kind of support. And honestly, the biggest shift came from realising I wasn’t alone in the exhaustion. Once you understand that the struggle is shared and normal across the whole sector, you can stop fighting it and move forward. We are all in this together, and we are at the next level now! Achievements & Impact What are you trying to achieve with Rived, and what is the real-world impact you are working towards? The fashion industry’s sustainability conversation is stuck in a negative loop: \u201cfashion is bad, we are bad consumers\u201d and that narrative never changes anything. Meanwhile, most investment in green tech for fashion still just funds producing more and selling more. The same cycle, dressed up differently. What we see at RIVED is that upcycling is one of the most overlooked solutions out there. It gets dismissed as unscalable, but because we bring both a tech background and a business background, we understand how to make it scalable. That is what we are building: an ecosystem that treats upcycling not as a niche craft but as a serious, scalable part of the solution. And it has to be built in community with everyone else working in this movement, no single solution does it alone. Advice & Takeaways What advice would you give to a young woman wanting to start a career in green tech? This is genuinely the best time to start. When I began, my dream was to become a Chief Sustainability Officer and that role barely existed. Now my LinkedIn is full of those listings. The field has been built, normalised, and is wide open. The hard part is cutting through the noise. Don’t be driven by dogmatism or the superficial rhetoric that surrounds sustainability. Find the areas that are genuinely interesting to you, where you can be creative and bring your full self. In terms of skills: resilience, yes, because it is uncertain and demanding. But above all, collaboration. No one solution makes the difference on its own. Reach out to people, share your ideas, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and speak. That openness is what moves things forward. And my closing message would be: know yourself from the beginning. The decisions you make now won’t define you forever, my life changed completely within a few years. Be yourself. Listen to people, but always keep your own mind. It sounds simple, but right now that really is the way to build your career. Is there a motto you live by? When Monday comes and the world feels like it’s breaking \u2014 which happens a lot when you’re building something from scratch \u2014 I tell myself: wait until Friday. The world will look different by then. Just get through the week, and then look back. It always changes. You’re always one step further than you were.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_canvas","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1332","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t