On Tuesday 10 December we had the pleasure of welcoming Mireille Kaptein, Businesswoman of the Year 2019. She spoke, on the one hand, about how she became successful in business and, on the other, about how she keeps work and private life in balance as a wife and mother of two children. She also spoke about the process of taking over her father's company.
The evening was chaired by HOGIAF executive board member Janine Lie-A-Kwie.
Mireille Kaptein talked about her background and how she came to join what is now her third-generation family business. She went on to explain how she gradually applied her own way of working and how the process went by which her father handed the company over to her. She also underlined the importance of clearly voicing expectations towards one another during the process of handing over from parents to children, and the difficulties parents can have in letting go of the company.
Mireille Kaptein calls her company an example of diversity. She said that diversity is good for achieving good results. She also said that she has paid particular attention to bringing more women into her company, which has largely succeeded, even though the dairy sector traditionally employs mainly men.
Asked why women are more often confronted with the question of how they managed to combine entrepreneurship and motherhood, while in the West men are also taking on a greater role in the household, she said that if you decide to have a child, you have to go for it together and make the necessary agreements in consultation with each other, and that she and her husband have managed this well, taking everything on together. As a result, their children have become more flexible, and both she and her husband have been able to develop a very good bond with their two children. She gives her children complete freedom to decide whether they want to continue with the company later or go their own way. For now, she encourages her children to go out into the wide world to discover themselves.
As Businesswoman of the Year, Mireille Kaptein offered the following tips to other entrepreneurs: as an entrepreneur you have to seize your opportunities and, above all, be able to see them. Always stay true to yourself, try things out and remain yourself. Know your strengths and weaknesses and gather people around you to complement you in areas where you are less strong. If you want to grow, you have to learn to let go of things and try above all to be less of a perfectionist. For example, you have to give your colleagues trust. If you trust others, others will develop too. The new generation in particular needs freedom in their own way of working. They do not only want to carry out what their employer expects of them, but often want to find their own way. You have to give them that freedom. That allows people to develop further. She also said that figures are very important for steering a business well. Spreading the sales and purchasing markets is also important in order to spread risks. She also said that travelling is very important for broadening her horizons. Finally, she said that a dot on the horizon is essential for striving towards it together with colleagues.
Finally, a participant asked what her dream is and what she still wants to achieve with her company. Mireille Kaptein said: “I would like our company to keep growing worldwide, and I hope to reach the 100-year anniversary so that we can be recognised as a royal company. Beyond that, I don't have that many dreams. I am grateful for what I have now. My company is doing well and so is our family. I hope it stays that way.”
At the end of the meeting, the participants had the chance to get to know Mireille Kaptein personally and exchanged contact details for possible collaborations.
We would like to thank Mireille Kaptein once again for coming, and Bilal Caki of Bilal Groep for his hospitality.
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The largest cross-cultural and multisectoral business association in the Netherlands.
