Host

Cas is a doer and likes to see results. Results in which economic and social goals are united. 100% relevant for all stakeholders and always looking for collaboration through collective entrepreneurship! He speaks enthusiastically about this, preferably in an interactive way, in order to achieve even more results together. Cas is happy to give guest lectures, including the annual Corporate Social Responsibility lecture at Nyenrode Business University.

Cas van Arendonk studied Business Economics at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. In 2000 he founded the entrepreneurial transformation agency Kirkman Company together with Ivar Davids and Han Hendriks. Since 2017, they are among the best 10% B-Corp in the world. He is also co-founder of YSE, We Beat The Mountain, Aim for the moon and Outside Inc. Finally, he is a co-initiator of Powered By Meaning; a collective of meaningful companies.

Cas is currently working with Ruud Koornstra as a director at the Smart Climate Opportunities Foundation (SCO) where, among others, Willem Vermeend plays a supervisory role. SCO is tackling climate change through the launch of initiatives such as Zero on the meter in social housing, The hydrogen grain and Photonics.

In addition to giving guest lectures, he is a keynote speaker / day chair at various events. In recent years Cas has strongly developed its expertise on circularity and circular purchasing and helped shape the ideas on this. He is co-initiator of the Green Deal Circular Purchasing: winner of the Best Green Deal 2016 prize. He has been closely involved in setting up C-Creators, the birthplace of the circular economy in Hoofddorp.

His last achievement is the co-founding of the Social Impact Factory (SIF), which was festively opened in 2017 by Queen Maxima. This hotspot in the center of Utrecht shows that social entrepreneurship is the way to structurally solve social problems. A good public-private partnership is essential here.

FLY-FARMER and Insect Technology pioneer at AgriProtein

Jason Drew is an international business leader and serial entrepreneur turned environmentalist and author. Before becoming CEO of AgriProtein, a company that he co-founded with his brother in 2009, he held leadership roles in several international businesses. Businesses from General Electric to BUPA and Egg, before leading the start-up of Africa’s leading outsourced services provider with over 3,000 staff.

Born in London, Jason has studied at the European Business School and has lived and worked all over the world before moving to South Africa in 2004. Jason is the published author of books, a successful public speaker and a ‘planet motivator’ for our future.

He has been described by Leadership Magazine as one of ‘Africa’s most inspiring green leaders’, and by Forbes as ‘The Lord of the Flies, who would be king’. He was awarded the 2013 United Nations sponsored Innovation Prize for Africa and his companies have won numerous awards around the world. He is also a passionate Polo player, he Chairs the Val de Vie Polo Club.

CEO Eosta, Nature & more

After graduating in economics and business administration Volkert worked for Cargill Inc USA before founding Eosta in 1990. The Dutch company is presently Europe’s largest and fastest growing importer, packer and distributor of organically grown fresh produce and serves major retailers and natural food stores in Europe, the USA, Canada and the Far East.

All Eosta products carry a unique Nature & More ‘trace & tell’ (QR) code that provides retailers and consumers with direct web access to the unique story of the producer as well as to the ecological and social impact.

During the 2015 United Nations Year of Soil Eosta launched the Save Our Soils campaign, together with FAO, 200 partners and many VIP’s amongst whom Desmond Tutu, Julia Roberts, the Dalai Lama.

Recently Eosta launched the True Cost of Food initiative. It promotes the principle that food prices should reflect the true cost of food, including hidden environmental and social costs. While international policymakers are still discovering the promise of full cost accounting, Eosta takes True Cost to the shop floor. The True Cost of Food transparency initiative shows consumers the true cost of organic vs conventional products.

Eosta and Nature & More have been awarded with various prizes such as the Nr 1 position at the 2017 Dutch Sustainability Top-100, the King William I Award 2018 and the European Business Award for the Environment 2018.

Vice President Marketing Development Ostara

Ms. Biedenfeld has 20 years of experience in the agriculture industry, about half of that in the fertilizer market. She joined Cargill Inc. in 2001 as commodity merchandiser and transitioned to The Mosaic Company in 2007 where she held various roles within the potash and phosphate divisions. In 2011, Ms. Biedenfeld was appointed Senior Manager of North American Phosphates, where she directed the positioning and risk management of Mosaic’s phosphate fertilizer portfolio. She has a Bachelor of Science from Colorado State University and an MBA from University of Minnesota.

 Founder This Side Up

Lennart founded the company to inspire roasters and growers to create value together so the coffee world can become a more equal, open place. An importer should simply facilitate communication and innovation between them and find the best way to get the coffee from A to B.

Therefore, his job is twofold: first, he helps progressive roasters to build relationships with the company’s partner growers and vice versa. Second, he provides roasters with full logistics service through a strong network of logistics partners.

Chance-thinking innovator and idea accelerator

Drs. Erik Schoppen (1968) is a widely asked speaker about brain, brand, behavior, trust and leadership. In his lectures on the human brain and our behavior, he shows how to build trust and deploy trust from a social and sustainable perspective.

He is a brand expert, neuroscientist and behavioral researcher, innovator and designer, and co-author of the bestseller Strategic Brand Management (BNL, 2015). As a researcher and PhD candidate, he is investigates the mental mechanisms of trust, privacy and sustainable behaviour change at the University of Groningen (Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Cognitive & Social Neuroscience, Experimental Psychology).

As a chance-thinking innovator and idea accelerator, he built up a reputation for his strong performances, inspiring people and organizations with his future-oriented vision of a pro-social society and sustainable economy. He is the inventor and co-founder of WorldBrainWave, an online research platform making scientific tools accessible for experiments and surveys on location, in any browser, on any mobile device.

His mission is to promote future-oriented sustainable thinking, trust and leadership, as it motivates people and businesses to change their behavior and develop a more positive look towards the future.