“The problems we were facing could be solved by Enbition”
As part of The Hague Tech’s community, we thought it would be interesting to sit down with Danny Toet, their Operations Manager. We were curious to see how the community has adjusted, especially during this ongoing pandemic. We were also intrigued by how it has grown through new members and partnerships, and what they are striving to achieve in the near future.
So Danny, there’s obviously a lot of different things going on around The Hague Tech, but could you simplify what THT does?
In a nutshell, we offer workplaces for anyone passionate about tech. Our community of innovators, entrepreneurs, and changemakers is the place in The Hague where talent, companies, governments, and knowledge institutions come together to solve social issues through technical innovation. We take an active role in the ecosystem through fostering co-working, co-creation, and collaboration in the community.
While you are one of the most recognisable faces in our community, we were wondering how did you end up here?
The Hague Tech was at a turning point, especially looking at its growth when I joined. They were looking for someone with demonstrated experience in operations that could professionalize and offer guidance to the team, while taking the whole community to the next level. This also included creating a flagship, to be able to transfer the community infrastructure to other locations, potentially even other countries to build more creative environments.
I always see you on the go, typing away on your laptop, or talking to people in the community, but what do you do as Operations Manager?
As Manager of Operations at The Hague Tech I am , together with Olga Wielders as Program and Relationship Manager, responsible for the growth of the business. On the one hand, focusing on attracting new members and partners, while on the other hand maintaining a high quality of services and community experience. A vital part of what I do is also the administrative tasks, especially financial administration and HR.
Being the first and largest tech community in The Hague, are you thinking about expanding to other cities? And what is THT striving to achieve in the future?
We like to be a meaningful organization, we think it's really nice if creative solutions come from social issues. We try to activate and encourage this to come from our community.
We recently set up something similar in Ypenburg. The Technology Park Ypenburg is focused on the high tech manufacturing sector. We have also attracted an investor who is very excited about THT and wants to make plans for hubs in London and South Africa. This is all still in our future but the ambitions are definitely there today.
It is fair to say that the pandemic has affected every aspect of work and personal life. For the community, what will be the first thing on the schedule when the pandemic is over?
Events. Basically any way to bring people back together again! We did feel the impact of the corona crisis and a significant portion of our business operations were unable to continue for an entire year. So when COVID-19 is over we are going to start organizing fun events right away. The goal of community management is to connect people. We tried to do this digitally through different platforms, but this posed a challenge because we all miss the social element in digital interactions. So finding that connection by organizing get-togethers and events as soon as we can is high on the agenda.
Let’s take a look at the start of our collaboration. When did you first come into contact with Enbition?
I know Tjitze [Enbition’s CEO], he was my Manager at the company where I worked before. When I started working at THT, he and the Enbition team joined the community. I myself have a lot of experience with financial administration and outsourcing, and initially did not think THT needed the services of Enbition. After a few sparring sessions with Tjitze I came to the conclusion that the problems we were facing could be solved by Enbition, which would save us a lot of time and energy while supporting one of our members.
Last question before we play a round of ping pong in the community space, what benefits do you see working with Enbition and how has it been working with us?
Enbition does the financial administration, reporting, and control and risk management. We have only been working with Enbition since January and we already notice that they go the extra mile for us. We already see that we have much more insight into the figures and therefore more control information. The cooperation runs very smoothly. Having them in our community is beneficial, If I have a question I can call them immediately or can go talk to them in person.
It was awesome talking to you Danny! Now you’re on for a game of ping pong.
"What I think would be really cool is to work on all the transformer houses in the Netherlands with our product."
Respyre is turning cities green using their bio-receptive concrete that moss can thrive on. We spoke with their founder and CEO, Mark de Kruijff, who we've been working with since last year. We hope in this interview we can learn more about the exciting world of moss.
Hi Mark! It's great to get to sit down together and catch up. Let's go back to the beginning of your ambitions. How did you get started with Respyre?
After my master's in physics, I started at Delft Enterprises, the valorization center of TU Delft. At the center, we looked at how the knowledge coming out of the university can be used in society. Together with 2 professors (Marc Ottelé and Henk Jonker), I started to see if we could find a solution to make cities more sustainable in a cost effective way. What struck us is that there is still a lot of greenery missing on vertical surfaces and that systems that are currently available to create vertical vegetation are too complex, too expensive, and too difficult. With this state of things, you are not going to bring about systematic changes. The professors I worked with had been researching bio receptive materials for years and knew that you could facilitate and stimulate the growth of moss on this material. And if you applied this concrete to existing buildings and stimulated the growth of moss on it, then those buildings would naturally turn green
Wow, you're really trying to make a green covered world! What are all the benefits of a moss-covered facade?
It is of course desirable to have more greenery in the city, and when something is green and growing it absorbs carbon dioxide. Certainly, the little plant "moss" has a number of advantages over other greenery. This little plant has been around for 300 million years and is incredibly resilient. Because it has no roots but "Rhizoids" with which it attaches itself to a material, it does not cause damage to the soil. Because they have no roots (and therefore cannot extract nutrients from the soil), they obtain all their nutrients from their environment (from rain and from the air).
Moss takes in a lot of nitrogen from the air, contributing to fixing the nitrogen problem, and it also traps particulate matter in the foliage. Moss has a thick foliage, which means it can "suck up" water. During heavy rains, this foliage absorbs a lot of water and relieves the capacity of the sewer systems. If this water then evaporates back out of the moss, you get evaporation which cools the city. In addition to water, overgrown facades also absorb a lot of sound. You can also apply this solution to sound walls next to the highway to make them extra sound absorbing. Another major issue today is the loss of biodiversity, the loss of plants, insects and other animals. The moss layer we apply consists of many different types of moss, each of which provides a habitat for several types of insects, which in turn serve as food for different types of birds.
Did you start the company to provide bird food or did something else persuade you to go into business?
From a university, you can share the research that has been done and hope that someone will take it up, but if you take it up yourself you can make a lot more change and do it faster. There are huge problems in urban areas, namely; heat stress, noise pollution, water pollution, poor air quality, and a lack of greenery. We wanted to solve these problems and that's what drove us to turn an invention into a business so we could make a real change.
We have fixed the lack of greenery outside of our own office at Enbition, it is great that someone is doing it out in the world! So, what things did you run into when you started your business?
During the process we have been through so far, there were huge peaks and valleys we encountered. Sometimes you think the whole thing is going to collapse, but then one day you suddenly see the solution, and everything looks a lot rosier. It's been a fantastic adventure so far.
Obviously, the Empire State Building or the Kuip would be a great project to put moss all over, but which building would you most like to tackle in the future?
The usual answer to this is that we would like to have a showpiece. A beautiful building on the Zuidas, for example. But what we would most like to show is that you can go in many directions with our product and that you don't have to spend a lot of money to make it work.
Something with a large surface area and something that is currently perceived as "ugly" can be made to look incredibly nice and therefore, has even more functionalities. What I think would be really cool is to work on all the transformer houses in the Netherlands with our product.
We of course are wishing you the best of luck in transforming all of the transformers! Of course we know, but I’m sure our readers would like to know, how did you come into contact with Enbition?
Through a colleague at TU Delft. He knew Tjitze from Enbition and told us we needed an accountant. He told me that Enbition wants to go one step further than your traditional bookkeepers and that they can support us more with our administration and set it up so it works for us. I found this very interesting!
Our year of working together has been great! In what ways does Enbition support you that you would like to highlight?
Mainly with accounting and human resources but the most important is actually the introduction to finance. We all have a technical background and don't have a lot of knowledge about what is involved in the administration of a company. Enbition is very important for us to see which steps are necessary to set up all the processes in the best way.
Control over your finances
Do you feel that you have a good grip on your companies finances or have you found out due to corona that your insight is limited? Now is the time to make sure you are in control!
To help you get better control over your business, we have created a standardized dashboard in #Powerbi, connected to ExactOnline. This dashboard gives realtime insight into your companies data. By focussing on the data that is most important for you, this releases you and gives you more control over your finances. This way you can spend that time on things your are actually good at!
Om ervoor te zorgen dat jij meer regie krijgt over jouw bedrijf, hebben wij een standaard dashboard ontwikkeld in #PowerBI gekoppeld aan Exact Online. Dit geeft jou realtime inzicht in je cijfers! Door inzicht te geven in de data die voor jou belangrijk is, ontlasten we jou en geven we je meer grip op je financiën. Heb jij ook weer tijd over om te doen waar je goed in bent!
This dashboard you can also share with other, like your investor or other stakeholders. This way all connected parties have direct insight in what they need to know. What else do you need?!
Interested to see what this dashboard would look like for you? We are happy to visit you and determine the most important variables for you company and showcase the dashboard.
Don’t hesitate to call Tjitze for a meeting → +31 70 221 00 17
Too much work, too little time? Create time and stop working on your own administration!
After years of involvement with multiple start-ups and scale-ups there has always been 1 issue there was in common, a lack of time! As soon as your company starts to grow and the first signs of succes are visible, the admin and other supporting processes are the first victim of the succes. Yet they are essential for the next stage of growth!
From that experience we have developed an administrative approach to support entrepreneurs in a fundamental area of your company: the backbone of your organisation!
The scan
Before we start working for a new customer we first conduct a scan. We visit your company and within 1 day we make sure we have a good view of the current state of affairs. We speak to the relevant people, see how your processes are organises, what level of automation you already have and what the key things are that are important to your company!
The advice
After the scan we present to you a report with our advice on how the processes and procedures can be improved. And, if you agree, we also implement this. Why? Because telling someone how it should be done is step 1, but actually implementing it is a whole different ball game, and you don’t want to spend your time on that! Convenient for you, because in the end you have a smoother and more efficiently organised company. But it is also convenient for us, because this way we can support you in a future role with even more efficiency, which saves you money!
The follow up
Your administrative organisation is now rock-solid, but then the real work starts. All the things that happen on a daily, monthly and yearly basis. Off course, you can do this yourself as you used to, but I guess you have other things to focus on, right?? This is where we step in again. We become your “employee” that makes sure that all the work is done and done well. We come and work at your office when needed and partly we work remote. We make sure all the important KPI’s are visible in an online dashboard, we scale with the company as it grows, we monitor the process and we chip in some advice for free! Sounds good right?
Are you done with the stress and work of the administration, have you lost sight on all the different costs or are you tired of paying big bucks to your accountant every year with a minimum of support? Lets chat and have a cup of coffee! We are here to help.
Hi! Let's introduce ourselves
As you may have read on our website, we are Enbition! But let's get human! It's bad manners not to personally introduce ourselves.
We would love to tell you all about our services and what that all entails, but the truth is... people do business with people. Thats why in this blog we give a sneakpeak into the team, so that we get to know each other a bit better already. Or to be more precise,you get to know us... if you want us to know you too you would need to click here or at the end of this blog!
Levi
When you are talking about the stereotype 'controller', than Levi is not your guy. This young professional who loves making music is not inclined to the ‘the old fashioned ways’ within controlling. He has a strong entrepreneurial spirit and combines a personal approach with a skilled professional approach regarding the key metrics of your company.
Age: 29
Fun fact: Before his master in accounting and control, he did a year of music academy in the UK.
Strength: With his strong entrepreneurial spirit he is able to apply a data-driven approach from the perspective of the entrepreneur.
Robert
Robert is a serial entrepreneur. With years of experience in bookkeeping, consultancy and software development he is able to apply a broad view on your company. He flourishes when he is able to work together with people who live out there passion.
Age: 54
Fun fact: Robert is litterally one of the largest entrepreneurs you will meet, ever! And his 2,16 metres in length is half of that. The other half is his years of experience as an entrepreneur.
Strength: Robert wakes up early, so don't be surprised if the first e-mails are in your inbox when you still need to get your breakfast.
Tjitze
Supply chain management, Policy advisor, projectmanager, implementation consultant, management consultant, business developer…is there an area Tjitze didn't gain experience in? He has started and finished many procesimprovement projects and it is an area he always excels in.
Age: 37
Fun fact: Doing nothing is not something Tjitze is good at. In his spare time he is always doing something, if it isn't DIY, then he plays the guitar or plays sport.
Strength: Tjitze doesn't hold back. He is quick to discern the area's of improvement and will come up with a plan before you even asked for it.
Well, that's enough for now, we can always talk about ourself later. We are curious about you! We would love to get introduced over a cup of koffie, we will bring the goodies!