“Running a business doesn’t feel like work” If entrepreneurship had not yet existed, Bas van der Werf would have invented it. This passionate business economics student at Tilburg University already has three companies to his name at the age of 24, as well as many other initiatives.
Text: Peter de Jong
A
t the age of ten, he earned his first money doing odd jobs: mowing grass for five euros, washing cars for ten. Later, as a junior at the local hockey club, he took over refereeing duties from veterans who didn’t feel like it, fifteen euros per game. “I officiated about five games a weekend, so it was easy money.” America is the land of his dreams. At the age of fifteen, he had to do a three-week internship at an English-speaking company. Bas arranged an internship in New York right away. The seed was sown. In 2018, he was back in the US, this time in Texas for six months to take electives for his studies in business economics. “I definitely want to go back there. In America, ambition is valued. Here’s the more: just act normal, that’s crazy enough. But first, let’s set up a solid business here.”
Greece After high school, he started studying technical business administration in Eindhoven, but that was too theoretical for him.
“After six months, I had had enough. I went to work as a ski instructor in Austria. In the summer, I supervised flotillas in Greece. I still do the latter; I go there for about six weeks every year. Wonderful. I learned a lot from working with groups. You learn to be good with people. To make people happy, even those with whom there is no click.”
The companies At the age of twenty, he started Wemeb, a management consultancy firm. Roughly speaking, Wemeb mediates between established companies and promising startups. One is looking for innovation, the other has good ideas and is looking for an investor.”
Gold Not everything Bas touches turns to gold. In 2018, he set up an investment fund in cryptocurrency, Werfs Investment Management. In the end it didn’t work out, there were too many legal snags. No reason to be put off, though. In October of last year, he launched Hallolex, an online platform that delivers custom-made legal documents to entrepreneurs. General terms and conditions, employment con-
34 | New Scientist | Tilburg School of Economics and Management
The preferences of Bas van der Werf Example Sander Schimmelpenninck and Jort Kelder Newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad Book What we can learn from America by Rick Nieman Watches Shark Tank Film The Big Short, The Wolf of Wall Street Actor Leonardo diCaprio Restaurant JAXX Marina CEO Nancy McKinstry (Wolters Kluwer) Club Ajax and Willem II Car Volvo XC90 Sport golf and hockey Tilburg University beautiful campus Tilburg breeding ground Country America Bucket list: skydiving
“I learned a lot from working with groups”
