The internet family
When I was a kid my dad had a veterinary practice with over 25 computers. One of his clients taught me how to maintain them and I was responsible for converting any old computers into useable devices for my younger five brothers and sister. Thanks to this, we were known as the internet family in our Belgian high school in the early 1990s.
Close the Gap & Worldloop
Later on during my studies I started Close the Gap – to give people in developing countries access to used computers – as a project for one of my courses in 2003. This hobby quickly became my passion and 15 years of my life have flown by pursuing it. I started my second startup, Worldloop, in 2009 to offset the negative environmental impacts of e-waste and create green jobs in these developing countries.
From Deloitte to Kenya
I’ve also had a long career at Deloitte as a director working on corporate responsibility and business development for social and non-profit clients. With a heavy heart I resigned from Deloitte in 2018 to focus fully on my own companies and have since started two new enterprises in both Europe and Kenya.
Highlights
Highlights on this journey include meeting His Majesty King Philippe of Belgium as a participant of the Social Entrepreneurship Round Table. I also had one of my idols, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, become an ambassador of Close the Gap and a personal friend who conducted my wedding and baptised my son.