“Today I feel very honored. An appreciation for my personal motivation to contribute just that little bit to a better world, together with others. This may sound a bit woolly, but if it’s your business, it’s anything but vague.

I am very happy with an initiative as “Businesswoman of the Year”. As long as women are still not sufficiently aware of their responsibility to be and to remain independent and thus have the freedom to make their own choices, such initiatives are very welcome.

Although I’m not really fond of all that ‘woman stuff’ (and I’m sure many women in this room share that opinion), I support this initiative wholeheartedly! As I was preparing this story, I suddenly realized that I’m standing here as Businesswoman of the Year 2009 for almost all the topics that are current at the moment: entrepreneurship, sustainability, innovation, technology, and family business.

About Entrepreneurship … this is something you never do on your own! You are an entrepreneur if you can organize entrepreneurship. Too few companies see the true value of encouraging entrepreneurship and the efficiency that it brings. Because it is the people who make the company. Being an entrepreneur means giving space to others who are focusing on their passion and not their position!

Water as the basis for food
Sustainability … Is not just a label, but our existence. Ultimately, sustainability has everything to do with the climate! Although a lot of attention is being given to new solutions around energy, the importance of sustainable water use is still greatly underestimated. Of all the usable water in the world 10% is for consumption, 15% for industry and 75% for agriculture, where more than half is wasted! Water is the basis for food! In terms of sustainable food production, the Netherlands in the leading knowledge county in the world! The Netherlands is able to contribute internationally to the transition to a sustainable world.

Innovation … The Netherlands is not innovative? Only: innovation should go back to where it belongs. Innovation is much more than creating platforms to stimulate innovation. This primarily creates additional work for the consultants and various development programs at our universities, but not for the entrepreneur. Why is this entrepreneur in particular so innovative? He is driven by his ambition to keep improving his business, just in order to survive.
I’m here for both the most innovative sector in the Netherlands, agriculture, and for a sector where a lot of innovation will be needed in the future: construction. And that’s where innovation belongs: within companies and between companies.

The business world has responsibilities too
Technology … The world of technology is getting better, more transparent, but also more complex by the new opportunities that seem to arise daily. It is almost impossible to keep up. That means that if we are honest, schools and universities only develop generic knowledge for their students and pupils; the development of applied knowledge needs to be done by companies or trade associations themselves. That’s OK, if we keep the dividing line clear, clarify the responsibilities between education and business. In other words, industry also has a responsibility when it comes to developing its own technical knowledge. And if the government dares to invest in this form of education, technology will get excited again!

Family business … Here I stand, as a representative of family business! I speak on behalf of many family businesses when I say that it’s not easy at the moment, but we are healthy, not plundered by shareholders and hedge funds, we can take a knock. In a family business there is still a focus on the most valuable and durable capital of the company, their people. The blows fall where in recent years the only goal was on increasing profits. Where profit was a goal itself and not a means for continuity, where no money was left for innovation and knowledge. And precisely this latter will be the key to the true and the new sustainable economy!

World leader in agriculture and building automation
All these themes: entrepreneurship, sustainability, innovation, technology, and family business, come together in a very fine company: Priva.
– A family business that employs more than 400 colleagues;
– Is represented in more than 70 countries around the world;
– Where sustainability is at the heart of its business ethos, because it offers climate solutions with minimal use of energy and water;
– Invests over 15% of its turnover in new developments;
– Works hard to achieve all the preconditions for making growth in personal development and knowledge possible for its own  employees, but also for its customers and partners;
– Cooperates with other companies in large and small innovations;
– A company that today is a global player in the top segment of agriculture and a major player in building management
– A company that, by connecting these two worlds, is able to work on the latest developments in the field of energy and water clusters.

Where houses, greenhouses and businesses produce energy together and distribute energy to each other. Where renewable energy is combined with comfort, health and productivity, leading to solutions that can make an enormous contribution to the achievement of the European objectives for CO2 reduction by 2020!
That’s Priva.

Ambition to contribute to a better world
I am glad that I can contribute to that today and that I am encouraged in this by my husband Paul. If Paul had not been behind me, I would not have been here today. I am glad that I was given the space by my father, as a pioneer and founder of this beautiful company. I am glad that I received the trust of all people at Priva to cooperate with the new organization and the new direction. The ambition to contribute with others to create a better world. I would like to share that passion with you in the upcoming year by drawing attention to the issues that I, along with Priva, stand for. I will thus gratefully use the platform that Veuve Clicquot offers me.

Thank you for your attention”