On Tuesday afternoon, 4 October, a number of interested business owners gathered together at the Odeon theatre in Zwolle to attend the interactive session ‘From profit to value’. This session was organised by Stratfield, also based in Zwolle. The guest speakers were Henk-Jan Lip from Leadax and Jeroen Heine from VP Capital.
Richard Zwart from Stratfield: ‘At the moment, all kinds of things are going on in the world which business owners have no influence on. At the same time, all these events are affecting the current and future value of their businesses. By holding our interactive session ‘From profit to value’, we wanted to encourage business owners to explore new opportunities and possibilities, because they really exist, particularly in the Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) field. Financiers and investors are also looking more and more often at how a business responds to sustainability and circularity and take this into consideration when making their choice of investment. That’s why it’s time for business owners to take action, to quote guest speaker Jeroen Heine.’
Boys’ book
In addition to Jeroen Heine, Henk-Jan Lip was also invited to come and talk about the sustainable and circular experiences of Leadax. Leadax is currently undergoing a transition from linear to circular business operations. ‘In Europe alone, there is already 1,500,000,000 kilos of PVB waste in storage. This is a foil used in safety glass, among other things. With this PVB as the basic raw material, we developed new, innovative and recyclable waterproofing materials, which are already being sold in 16 countries, spread across three continents. An enormous success, but it didn’t happen overnight. On the contrary, it was a bumpy road, yet all the overtime, disappointments and worries appear to have been worth it. We’re writing an exciting boys’ book and the last chapter is still a long way off.
Road maps
Jeroen Heine from VP Capital also attended as a guest speaker. VP Capital is an investment company that invests in sustainable start-ups and corporates. ‘When deciding whether or not to invest, our most important criterion is how our investment will contribute to a sustainable future. This is not something that happens overnight. That’s why we draw up accurate road maps in which we identify ESG advances and make them measurable. This has already led to a considerable competitive advantage for the companies in which we participate and this means that the value of those companies has also increased.’
Small steps
But how and where do you begin with sustainable and circular business operations? On this point, Henk-Jan Lip and Jeroen Heine were in agreement. Their motto? Start off by taking small steps. And remember – you can cover a lot of ground in any area. Not only in your production processes, but also in your financial policy, your staff policy, you name it. And, very important, don’t try to re-invent the wheel yourself, but look for partners you can learn from.
During the coming weeks, Stratfield will be sharing more experiences, tips and recommendations from Henk-Jan Lips and Jeroen Heine on our LinkedIn-account. If you don’t want to miss anything, please follow us on LinkedIn.
If you can’t wait for that, you can always make an appointment with us at our offices on the Zwartewaterallee in Zwolle.
