Celebrating one year at OG with our People and Culture Manager, Zuzka Majcova

Since joining Opportunity Green a year ago as our People and Culture Manager, Zuzka has been instrumental in supporting OG’s growth and making it a great place to work. Here she reflects on her first year in the role.

What drew you to work at OG?

Two things. Firstly, I was excited by the idea of a new position in a young organisation which was doing things differently, while also growing its team and reach rapidly. I previously worked for an environmental charity that experienced a significant growth too, and it felt like I could bring that experience to OG at an important time for the organisation.

Secondly, I found OG’s tone of hope and pragmatism in the face of the climate crisis refreshing and inspiring. It’s easy to get bogged down in the scale of the problem at hand and feel powerless. OG made me feel like I could do something real and tangible to play my part, working alongside a group of talented and committed peers.

What has changed since you started?

At risk of repeating what everyone else said, we’ve grown a lot! I was the 17th hire and now we’re a team of 26, and we’ve gone international with colleagues in Belgium and Ireland. It’s been a busy year of recruitments all around. On the operations side of things, we’ve also doubled our operations team since I joined, which has been great as we are able to keep up with the organisation’s growth.

What are you most proud of being involved in since you joined?

Helping to set up OG Europe as a new entity in Brussels is definitely up there. A mammoth task that Gill, my manager, started on before I joined and we’ve both worked on over the past year with the help of many others along the way. I’ve learned a lot about employment law and regulations in Belgium and what it takes to set up an organisation. Having a local presence in Brussels will help OG increase its impact in the EU, allowing us to act more independently.

I also supported the hire of our first employee outside of the UK, Aurelia as our Director in Brussels. So it feels like I’ve been there at the start of something new and now I get to see the team grow there too.   

Zuzka during our foraging day last year

What inspires you about what you’re working on?

This falls into two broad categories. One is the work of OG as an organisation and the wonderful team we have built over the last few years, challenging the way we as a society tackle the climate crisis. The other is my actual day-to-day work, where I help to create a great workplace for my colleagues by providing the right support to everyone when they need it.

I enjoy working behind the scenes and enabling others to deliver the first of our strategy’s objectives – reducing climate change and its impacts – while I focus on the second aim of making OG a great place to work.

I love OG’s progressive approach as an employer and its focus on support and inclusion. It should not be so rare and radical in 2025, but it is, and I am proud to be part of it.

What are you looking forward to in the coming year?

Lots of things! I am looking forward to seeing my colleagues’ research into various new sectors, such as steel and finance, turning into action. I’m also excited about our expanding work in the EU, with our new entity in Belgium. In my day-to-day job, I am looking forward to completing the implementation of our new HR system and working on new policies and tools to support the team in delivering their amazing work.