What’s next… 2020. Corona. Lockdowns. Video meetings in stead of travelling. Mouthcaps in stead of hugs. 2021 is the year of change. I have changed directions. 55 and still passionate about the business. But i needed to change settings. i want to share my experience and network with the people that i have worked
Pioneer becomes evangelist I admit. I felt lonely on many occasions. In the early days i felt like i was the only one to believe in the ‘makeability’ of the idea that hybrid grass would become the standard in international football & rugby. Allthough i was supported by great colleagues and business friends, it
Associations… a vitale part of my business As the attention for what i was doing grew in the market, people started to ask me to engage more on a non-commercial level. Our industry has some great associations of which i am still a member. They are vital in offering a platform between the industry
2010. a mile stone year. In those days, the reïnforced grass business of Desso Sports represented only 10% of the total turn over. I could not expect our sr management to hughely invest in something that was not been seen as very successful at that time. But… they let me do my thing. I
The tandem bicycle Helga Webers. We were colleagues as of Spring 2004. I started as Benelux Sales Director for Desso Sports, she was already working in that part of the Desso group as Marketing & Communication Director for Desso Sports. ‘Yves i want to help you with the communication process for hybrid grass but you
Chapter two In the mean time Ralf had persued other challenges and i was working on my own, executing the plan that was established back in 2007. As i was working in a rapidly evolving market, new technologies were successfully changing the game: Grow Lights made a massive difference in keeping pitches at an
Feeling, planning, action! I predicted this reaction already during my discussions with Stef… our first and most important customer to convince about our hybrid grass system were… our own internal clients, our colleagues. We anticipated on this and built our strategy around it… For more than a year Ralf and i spent our time in
One of Stef’s great insights During the first decade of the 21st century, all eyes were on synthetic turf. Reinforced grass was doomed to disappear… Desso at that time was one of the leading synthetic turf suppliers. In 2007, Desso’s new CEO, Stef Kranendijk, wanted to talk to me. He noticed, he said, that i
An accidental conversation 2003, Fall. I was on my way to my office at Desso HQ in Dendermonde, Belgium; when i ran into one of my former colleagues at Desso – DLW. Desso’s main reception was connected with the new part of the building by an indoor passage. Lieve stopped to ask how i
