Ricardo Beij, entrepreneur

Entrepreneur and investor Ricardo Beij grew up in a business environment. With his latest company Dutch Flower Cake, he joined MASTERS COMPANY 300 at the beginning of this year. What shaped Beij's path as an entrepreneur?

For entrepreneurs and investors Ricardo Beij entrepreneurship has been instilled in her from an early age. While his peers used to study, Ricardo was already busy with his first business at a young age. With his latest company Dutch Flower Cake he joined at the beginning of this year MASTERS COMPANY. But who was actually Beij's wheelbarrow? Text: Mical Joseph
Image: Danielle Guillonard

What was your very first job?

“I grew up in Alphen aan den Rijn and was involved in sports outside of school. Mainly basketball, tennis and football. My father was like entrepreneur a true pioneer in the topography world. He sold maps at home and abroad. This was at a time when there was no TomTom or Google Maps. From the age of eight I was sometimes allowed to attend (international) fairs. That's probably where I unconsciously developed my passion for the entrepreneurial profession. From the age of fourteen I was also allowed to help out in the business during the holidays.

In high school I was already a busy person and was always busy with concepts. After the Athenaeum I immediately started working at an uncle's company in a commercial position and in the evening I followed my HBO education at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. At the age of nineteen, I started my own financial consultancy firm for civil servants and teachers, which within a year grew to fifteen employees with two branches. After three years of rapid growth, I sold my shares to two investors in 2002. As a 22-year-old, I learned a lot in a very short time.”

How did you end up in your current job?

“After the sale of my first company, there was a time of reflection after a very beautiful and at the same time intense period. Many of my former classmates were still studying and I was already further along in terms of entrepreneurship. During that period I started traveling a lot, lived in Seville, Spain for a while and consciously searched for the purpose of my life. What did I want to go for and what did I stand for? It really took me some time to figure out these conscious answers.

In 2005 I met my current partner Henri van Schenk Brill. We have set up several successful companies in recent years and are therefore active in various sectors. We also occasionally participate in companies. Our most recent initiative is Dutch Flower Cake. I consider it a privilege to work with flowers, my wife always calls flowers 'the jewelry of nature'. Dutch Flower Cake was also created from an idea of ​​my wife. She wanted to make beautiful flower arrangements purely for herself to give as gifts to friends. This was so popular that I suggested she give those creations a business face as well.

We started with companies and hotels. Dutch Flower Cake was received here with great enthusiasm, so we expanded the activities to major fairs. This allowed us to properly test whether the products also appealed to the general public. And it did.”

Who was your wheelbarrow in that?

“I was taught entrepreneurship at an early age, so my father has been a big wheelbarrow. I grew up with his entrepreneurship, but he did not expect me to automatically become an entrepreneur. In addition, my partner has been a good friend and advisor for the past fifteen years.”

What did your father teach you most?

“Good communication is definitely his strength; he is still very strong in that. My father mainly taught me good commercial communication: how do you convey the message in such a way that a potential customer or relationship really becomes interested in what you say? I still find that a challenge.”

What is your greatest passion in your profession?

“Developing and marketing new concepts is truly my greatest passion. I find the process from start to launch particularly fascinating, because as an entrepreneur (together with your team) you are very close to all the steps. After that it's all about value creation and that is also intriguing. Lately I have been helping a number of young entrepreneurs to further grow their companies. They already have the potential, but sometimes they just lack a certain input or advice.”

What has been the biggest learning moment in your career?

“From the age of 19 to 22, my entrepreneurship went very fast. I learned a lot from practice while many of my peers were still pursuing great studies. As I mentioned earlier, I traveled a lot at that time: those years of reflection were a great learning moment for me. The reflection allowed me to think about what I actually really wanted in my life. Since then I have spent a lot of time volunteering, on average two and a half days a week – helping people gives me great satisfaction.”

What advice would you give to your 18 year old self?

“Invest directly in real estate. I should have done that immediately when I built up my own capital in 2001. That is why I recommend this to every young entrepreneur.”Ricardo Beij together with his wife Yamina Beij

Have you been a wheelbarrow for someone?

“There are a number of entrepreneurs that I actively follow and help where possible. Bafl Sharhang is one of them. An award-winning Dutch film director of Iraqi descent. We recently acquired a stake in his company YadMedia and are now working together creatively and business-wise. We do this purely out of passion. The same goes for Kevin Ferreira da Silva. He is making good progress with Ferreira da Silva Rum. The company has existed for seventy years this year and we are proud to be a shareholder in it.

Carolien ter Linden is the face of our Dutch Flower Cake campaigns. She made her final breakthrough this year with her TV show 'On the way to Cannes'. The second season was shown on RTL4 after the summer and we helped her behind the scenes.

The last entrepreneur is Bob Ultee. In my humble opinion, he is one of the Netherlands' greatest business geniuses of our time. I have always been a great admirer of his talent. It is not possible for everyone to set up fifty branches in the Benelux on their own at the age of 33. After an unfortunate business 'fall' he had to reinvent himself. In my opinion, you are not always given a second chance in the Netherlands. He has now taken revenge with his new company Bob Eco (estimated market value 1,2 billion), in which we have also invested.

In addition to doing business, I would also like to be a wheelbarrow for my children. They are my most important investment. If I succeed in helping my children grow up to be sweet and emotionally strong people, a large part of my mission has been accomplished. I try to set a good example every day, but I am constantly learning.”