Personal Stories of Screeners and Coaches

2005 stories

Soap and poverty reduction in India

The story of Mr. Norman Tambach (KPMG) and Mr. Bala Krishnan

Coaching Bala
After his experiences as a BiD Challenge screener, Mr. Norman Tambach enlisted as a business coach — sharing his professional expertise and to really contribute to the development of a solid and bankable business plan.

The first telephone conversation with Bala was not a success. The time difference, a bad connection, ‘strange’ pronounciation, and a lot of Indian rumour in the background made it difficult. Written communication proved to be more successful.

Norman continued providing tips and suggestions to improve the plan. Bala: "My cooperation with Norman is very supportive. It helped me built my confidence further. I have also learned a few things about working with excel and calculating profit".
Norman was enthusiastic too: "I have learned a lot of new things about India. It continues to amaze me how things work there".

Meeting in the Netherlands
Bala was nominated for one of the BiD Challenge prizes. During the canal tour, Norman and Bala meet in person for the first time. Bala, who had never been in the Netherlands, was impressed "The whole country looks like a well organized garden. People are very friendly."

2006 stories

Fine sheep cheeses in North East Brazil

The story of Mrs. Ana Ferreira and Mr. Jan Helmer (DHV)
Through the BiD Challenge, Particpant Ana Ferreira was matched to her Dutch DHV coach Jan Helmer. As a coach, Jan’s job was to support Ana with his expertise in setting up a bankable business plan. For Jan coaching Ana was a fulfilling experience. Jan: “To see Ana developing a plan, a business and a little bit of herself was very nice”.

Contact
Because Ana was mostly in Brazil and Jan in Tanzania they kept in contact by email and through skype. Jan: "Being in different time zones allows you to work on a text while the other sleeps and vice versa. At a certain stage we mailed files up and down within 24 hours.”

Tactic
Having Jan as her personal coach really helped Ana to reach the final. Ana: “At first, I was very intimidated by his impressive CV and I was a bit afraid to make mistakes. But Jan always kept an educational approach to the process, departing from my ideas and always trying to find a way to use his experience to strengthen them, instead of steering me into a certain direction".

Humor
Even though the nature of their cooperation was very serious, there was still room for some humor. Ana: “I always remember an email of Jan titled: “Say cheese!” to encourage me to start working.”

More Experiences

"As an investment officer I work with millions, but coaching a 20.000 euro budget project gave me great joy. It is so basic".
Alice Haakman – ING - Round 1 jury/screener/coach

"My background is the ICT sector. It was therefore with great interest that I began screening a plan with the name ICT. However in this plan ICT stood for Implementing Coconut Technology, a company that manages to make use of every last component of the coconut".
Bob Vos - Randstad/VSO – screener

"Not all entrepreneurs are capable of putting their idea into words. As a screener you need to look beyond the presentation and find out if the plan is good or not".
Andre Voording – ICCO – screener

"The role of a coach is serious, he or she has to assist, motivate, indicate… but the plan has to be written by the participant".
Freek Smeulders – coach

“I’ve been a coach last year. It was a fantastic experience. It took us over a month to know what we were both talking about, but from then on it went fast. We were lucky to be in the same timezone, so we could use skype to communicate and, with bad weather, we used email.”
Aard Boerma - PUM - coach

“I find it extremely inspiring to see people pursuing their ideas and dreams. They are not all that well thought out yet, but that’s where we come in to help them structure their plan.”
Gerben de Jong - PUM- coach

"Participating in these types of initiatives keeps work for ING enjoyable. I am not only working with high level business but also get the opportunity to help people directly’".
Hans Lubbers – ING– screener and coach

"It surprised me how combining the two different worlds of fair trade and hard core accountancy showed to be so effective and fun. Its a matter of intention".
Ruud Beckers – KPMG – coach

“I see the African mentality reflected in many african plans. In Africa people have to survive. That’s why they focus on opportunities (income) in stead of risks (costs).”
John Nijhuis - PUM - screener and coach

“The beauty about the BiD Challenge is that it brings people, capital and knowledge all together. This is extremely important to increase the chance of success of entrepreneurs.”
Jenneke Seegers - Rabobank - screener and coach