The Growth Series — Set the Right Goals to Build Your Business!

As part of the upcoming Amsterdam Capital House on Sep 23–25, Your Home for Growth, we’ve created these short interview series to learn more about the tips & tricks on getting funding, how to build the best teams of employees and how to successfully grow your company.

Maartje van Wijk is managing director at Wenneker Group, operating from 4 different locations worldwide, dedicated to deliver high quality film content for Global Brands and international ad agencies. The Wenneker Group currently has 45+ employees and additional 200 freelancers working for them, all part of an ambitious growth plan for the coming years.

How would you describe yourself in one single word?
Resourceful (or Inventive)

As a mentor at nlgroeit, what is your biggest drive in mentoring other entrepreneurs? What is it you like to help them with?
It has become very obvious that every entrepreneur is facing the same issues when growing a business. Entrepreneurs don’t need to reinvent the wheel and it gave me a lot of reassurance that I wasn’t the only one struggling.

It gives me a lot of energy as a mentor, to see entrepreneurs really take value from the experiences i share with them.

What has been your biggest achievements and learning curve?
Trusting your own strength is a very important factor to me.
For a lot of people difficult to admit, but that sometimes even means to start collaborating with competitors.

It’s quite a cliche, but a Dutch saying says: “You need to know how to share, before you learn to multiply.”

Any fuck-ups you’d like to share with us?
We started an office in Dubai a couple of years ago, won all of our pitches but weren’t able to close lucrative deals. We therefore realized that the culture gap was too big for us, which resulted in closing down the office.
And the biggest learning here, apart from any ego, is that you need to have the courage to take your losses and not to continue trying because you invested that much.

At Amsterdam Capital House we define capital as financial (money), human (team) and social (network) capital. Which one is the most important one?
For the Wenneker Group, Human is the most important pillar:

Having the right people in the right place, with the right sense of taste, responsibility and creation.

Of course it’s necessary to have sufficient financial means to pay everyone and to have a roster of clients that value the quality we offer. All our employees need to add value to our company, otherwise we wouldn’t be where we are today. We are in a lucky position to have people with us for the long-run and very proud of the teams we have working for us.

What has been the most important factor in building a business such as Wenneker? And what does success mean to you?
For me, success is about reaching the goals we’ve set ourselves.
Through building a business by the goals you set, you get a lot of focus and see growth happening in the areas you envisioned in an earlier stage.

The focus in a year can be turnover, the next could be about recruiting new talent or acquiring product innovations. I always like to stress that nothing goes perfectly in one go, but with the right focus points you’ll be able to finish projects in a certain time frame. Otherwise you’ll never finish what you started!

Are you looking for any form of capital?
Our autonomous growth has reached the end of its curve, so we have developed a buy & build strategy. We have the believe to not grow as one single large entity, but to exist as a group of multiple entities.

Lean and more profitable! That’s why last year our focus has been on financial capital.

And can we welcome you to Amsterdam Capital House on Sep 23–25?Absolutely! Always inspiring to be part of an event like this!

Thank you Maartje for sharing these valuable insights and taking us a bit behind the scenes of the Wenneker Group. Meet Maartje and join us during the nlgroeit sessions on Sep 24, as part of our partnership with the KVK. Let’s redefine the world of capital together!

Interested in attending the Amsterdam Capital House on Sep 23–25? Join us today: https://www.capitalweek.amsterdam/