Jannes van der Velde

‘I have the privilege to be able to say that the world is my playing field. That is, of course not even half true and mostly in gest. Nevertheless I do find it very enriching to work in other countries with people from other cultures. It reminds me how big the world is compared to the Frisian village of my youth.’

‘Never during my trips to Zambia, Malawi, South-Africa, Tanzania, Rwanda and  Kenya have I seen the Africa of my childhood, the picture that the media painted during the War in Biafra. Yes, there is poverty, there are social and political issues in most African countries, but there is also the never failing optimism and the visible progress. In the 20 years that I have been a regular visitor to Africa I have become pretty optimistic about the continent. Africa and Africans will move forward, no doubt.’

‘Business members' organisations are modest players in the big event of African economic progress. And I myself am but a very small particle in this process. Nevertheless I have some things on offer. Experience and knowledge on work processes, that I transfer using a method that I borrowed from the great Greek philosopher Socrates. He knew that asking questions and thus challenging people eventually leads to the best results, the best new insights.’