Since the early nineties Dutch business people in Milan have organized monthly lunches and Aperitifs at Bar Magenta. These meetings generated a fantastic result: the participants teamed up, collaborated together and together they built a real business community.
The Dutch Business Club Italy (DBCI) shares this experience and inspired by this we have built the next level Dutch Italian network located in and around Milan. With the DBCI we take the Dutch meetings to a whole new level of businesslike, inspiring and accessible business networking.
The DBCI is a non-profit network club for Dutch entrepreneurs and professionals in Italy. We are working on a businesslike, inspiring and at the same time accessible community of Dutch people in Milan and beyond.
As business club we would like to add value to this lively community. We are actively stimulating education and professional development of Dutch entrepreneurs and professionals in Italy through seminars and internships.
During the monthly meetings, annual company visits and presentations, participants can network, gain inspiration from speakers, exchange experiences and enjoy a nice drink and snack from the Italian aperitivo.
The three initiators are Dutch entrepreneurs or professionals in Italy with long track records. As may perhaps be known to some of you, the three initiators of the club are all Dutch, working and living in Italy for a long time. Lately, the fourth board member has been added to this winning team, also Dutch and with a long past in Italy.
Jaap Hoekstra, arrived in Italy back in 1997. He started working in Milan as Director for Start Uitzendbureau (nowadays People). Currently he is the CEO and co-owner of Kilpatrick Group; People Solutions. They offer Management Assessments, Board Advisory, Executive Search and Background checks - employing roughly 80 people in 18 different countries.
Stijn Vriends instead arrived in Italy in 2004, started as employee with Indesit Italy as Director of Operations. Currently he is Co-owner, President & CEO of Vittoria, international market leader in bicycle tires production and sales, employing over 1300 persons worldwide.
Johan de Flines arrived in Italy in 1990, started in Banca di Roma (currently Unicredit) in Milan. Between 1993 and 1996 he followed a Dutch lawyer traineeship in Rotterdam and enrolled subsequently at the Bar of Milan, first under his home title and thereupon as “avvocato”. Currently he is founding partner of ADF & Partners, an Italian-Dutch law firm with a team of 7 fee earners dealing with cross border and domestic transactions as well as litigation in the field of commercial, employment and civil law.
Jurjen Hallegraeff arrived in Italy in 2008, finishing his MScBA and actively practicing sport (canoe polo) at the highest level. He started his career in the Italian and European e-commerce business as ecommerce specialist at B2B Horloges. He continued his career as at The Bike Messenger and at the start-up of Velo 04 as CEO. Now he is CEO and digital consultant of Business Expansion. He and his team are supporting online companies cross border to Italy by conducting market research and digital marketing.
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