First of all, I would like to congratulate Mariëlle Smit on her appointment to the Bold Future of 2022! You are a deserved winner. It is inspiring to see how you have brought Mama Deli throughout the Netherlands in 2 years. Second, I am very happy to meet our fellow finalists. Liesbeth and Violet from POM Amsterdam, what a power women you are! The color and cheerfulness you bring with your clothes is fantastic!
We coudn't be happier with our place in the final. We see it as recognition for the realization power and passion of the entire team of PHI Factory and The 2B Collective. I explicityly want to thank Aukje Kuypers for the nomination. It is super valuable for us to gain exposure outside the sustainability bubble where we often move. I would also like to thank the other jury members, Elske Doets, Mireille Kaptein and last year's winner Paulien Wesselink for their trust. I see this final spot as an enormous encouragement to realize the big ambitions that we all have.
And of course I would like to thank Veuve Clicquot for this wonderful award show. It is impressive that you have handed out this award in the Netherlands over the past 40 years and in 25 countries. You bring together a great group of entrepreneurs. To inspire each other and get the best out of ourselves.
Sustainable mission
Climate change and sustainable development are the greatest challenges of this century. We messed up the environment by accident, so imagine what we can achieve with intent! With PHI Factory, we help organizations to translate their high-over sustainable ambitions into practical projects and solutions. Beautifully impactful projects. But it was still too slow for us. So, almost three years ago, we invested everything we had earned into an even bigger idea! A gamified learning platform, as a method for behavioral change, to activate large groups of people.
Because in line with Rutger Bregman's book, Most people are good, I believe that most people would like to become more sustainable. And if so, then we have hopelessly sensed the wrong strategy. We have started with regulations and taxes, but if people are benevolent, then all we have to do is enable them! And the power of change of a collective is truely magical. If 25% of people change their mindset, it moves the entire collective. People don't take solar panels because it's so sustainable. Not because they are cheaper. But because the neighbor has them! We are naturally happy to use these incentives to achieve large-scale sustainable behavioral change.
With this company, we have set a very serious ambition. Inspire and activate 2 billion people before 2030 to think and act more sustainably as an expert in their own work and their personal lives. A social tipping point to a new norm: a sustainable society and economy.
Transformational leadership
We talk a lot about why and what we do. But much less about how we do it. What is incredibly special about Geerke and me is that we differ day and night. Or rather, that we are 100% complementary. On the one hand, (chaos) vision and creativity combined with Geerke's superpowers, structure and implementation, creates an enormous manifestation power!
And we are not only looking for sustainable change in the economy and in society; we are looking for a change in leadership. How to get the best out of people (focus on strengths instead of weaknesses), diversity (this is necessary to solve today's complex problems), and how can we get all employees to contribute to their company's strategy. System limits on: why only a limited number of vacation days when you ask your people to take good care of themselves. Why don't we adjust the working hours to the needs. A sustainable bank and pension fund that does not invest in oil. My goodness, that was almost impossible, but it worked!
We play with both the feminine and masculine qualities. The masculine side provides structure, decisiveness and a clear dot on the horizon, while the feminine qualities ensure entrepreneurship with intuition, expression, and froms connections, which you see in the mutual cooperation with colleagues, partners and big dreams.Our entire business operations are also congruent with our mission. We walk the talk. No cars, we don't fly (we went to Web Summit Lisbon last week with the electric car), eat vegetarian or vegan and inspire each other in our consumer behaviour: repair economy, marketplaces and sustainable brands.
Finally
I want to conclude with my deepest source of inspiration. My English Grandma; In the 1930's she was at the forefront of the English Women's movement to fight for women's rights. I enjoyed her stories and learned about how she made her dream come true.