John van Duursen, born 1971. Married and father of a son (born on 04-04-08).
(M)BA degrees in International Business and Environmental Management.
I started my first company in 1994 and held it for 4 years. I have worked as a painter in Australia, as an international consultant and as an account manager for multinationals prior to moving into the development space. I was engaged in several projects concerning nature conservation and eco-tourism in Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala. In 2003, Derk Norde and I initiated research on sustainability in the cocoa supply chain (mainstream) in Ghana and co-founded Fair Ventures.
As a co-founder of the Business in Development (BiD) Foundation, I unite my commercial, business- and entrepreneurial personality with a passion and ambition for sustainable business creation in developing countries. Within the BiD Network, I had responsibilities on managing our partners, the roll-out of the BiD Model to India and the Philippines and commercial developments. In 2008, I launched the first so-called 'sector challenge' with WWF to identify and support nature based businesses benefitting local communities. See the BiD Nature Challenge.
Although I have left BiD Network as of 2009, the work related to nature conservation and environmental improvement through business ventures continues. We are preparing a follow up of the Nature Challenge and i am looking into the possibilities of high quality forestation projects with the goal of fixing CO2.
Geluk,
John
