Sometimes one ends up in a place by default (or luck) and not necessarily design. That was the case for me.

As my career progressed, I spent many years in the Labels industry. I worked in the pressure sensitive roll materials space, in film “face stock” production and managed one of the largest global label-printing companies, with factories around the world.

The beverage sector was one of the key segments we serviced. Subsequently, I became the CEO of Mai Dubai, one of the (now) largest bottled water producers of the UAE. During my tenure, I developed a real appreciation for this FMCG product. It’s called FMCG, but to me, it should be called a Hyper Fast Moving Consumer Good. The water category gets replenished several times per day in supermarkets. It moves at lightning speed. 

I learned that water is tough to market. I came to realize the importance of this colorless, tasteless, and odorless product. I also became aware of the importance of supply, the numerous sources of water, the aspects of industrial filtration and point-of-use filtration. 

In my home country (the Netherlands) there was never a shortage clean drinkable water; a sea climate, rain, and many rivers meant there was always abundant availability. Now, living in one of the most arid places in the world it is easy to get sensitized to the economic importance of water. It’s an intriguing domain, one that will continue to capture my interest.

Having affordable, accessible, safe water is one of the elements all societies need. As soon as there is a shortage, structural issues arise. Environmental factors, population growth and urbanization will continue to put more and more demands on the water segment. In addition, contamination and cost of transport will continue to create challenging environments.

The good news is that ideas travel the world quickly these days. Entrepreneurial minds will work the problems and come up with new and better ways to get water to the points of need.

The challenge is to scale good ideas, to have human, management, and financial resources available in the right spot. New technologies (including AI) and experience need to complement another. Bringing experience, financing and great ideas onto one platform together, aligning the expectations of all partners and creating flawless execution is the main challenge going forward.

Being a Dutch national, I spent my early life in The Netherlands. From age 13 my international life started and since then I have lived in 8 countries and worked globally in many more.

My two children are pursuing totally opposite careers (military/psychology) and music (film music score writer). I couldn’t be more proud of their choices. 

I have worked in large multinationals, medium-sized VC owned companies, and led a start-up to become a more structured, stable organization. 

Having had early experience in Strategy Consulting has been fundamental to my thinking. The slogan of the company at the time was “when results matter and people count”. I still believe that; it’s how you motivate and work with a team, how you give purpose to people that makes the difference.

Today, I spend my time between Geneva and Dubai, enjoying the best of both those worlds, while in parallel working as a coach.