Employee Stories
Andre Bucher
Sharing skills for greater impact
What happens when everyday experience is used to help solve a real-world challenge? For Andre, it became a reminder of how rewarding it can be to share your skills in support of something bigger
Andre Bucher, Head of Investor Sales, Continental Europe, Corporate & Investment Banking, Germany
By bringing together different perspectives and practical experience, colleagues can help purpose-led businesses think through challenges, unlock new ideas and build their confidence.
Andre took part in ‘Change Days,’ our skills-based virtual volunteering experience where you collaborate with colleagues to support impact startups solving real social and environmental challenges.
He says: It was a chance to use professional skills in a practical way to support a business working on an environmental challenge; while also gaining a fresh perspective on the value those skills can have beyond day-to-day work.
Andre Bucher, based in Germany, Head of Investor Sales, Continental Europe, took part for the first time last year. What stayed with him was not just the conversation itself, but the sense that sharing your experience in the right moment can have real value for a business trying to make a difference.
It was Andre’s first-time volunteering in this way. He joined with curiosity rather than fixed expectations, taking time beforehand to understand the business he would be supporting and to think about how his own experience might be useful in a short, focused discussion.
The business he supported was Realixo, a company in Brazil working on a major environmental challenge: food and organic waste. Much of this waste ends up in landfill, where it releases methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes significantly to climate change. Realixo is working to change that by collecting organic waste and turning it into safe, usable fertiliser, helping reduce landfill waste and create something valuable in its place.
During the session, Andre and colleagues from different countries worked with the founders on some of their most pressing challenges, including how to build awareness, encourage people to change their habits and scale a solution with potential far beyond one local market. The discussion quickly became practical and energising, with open questions, honest debate and ideas building naturally from one another.
“It showed the value of bringing different people together around a real challenge,” Andre says. “There were no hierarchies or formalities, just people using their everyday skills to help a business trying to create positive change. What made it especially rewarding was seeing how quickly the conversation turned into ideas the founders could use straight away.”
For Andre, the experience was a reminder that you do not need to be a specialist in a new field to make a meaningful contribution. Sometimes, offering your perspective, skills, asking the right questions and sharing what you already know can make a real difference, both for others and for your own sense of purpose.