Ricardo Beij, entrepreneur

For entrepreneur and investor Ricardo Beij, entrepreneurship has been instilled at an early age. Where his peers used to study, Ricardo was busy with his first venture at a young age. With his newest company, Dutch Flower Cake, he joined MASTERS COMPANY earlier this year. But who exactly was Beij's wheelbarrow?Text: Mical Joseph
Image: Danielle Guillonard

What was your very first job?

"I grew up in Alphen aan den Rijn and besides school I was involved in sports a lot. Mainly basketball, tennis and soccer. As an entrepreneur, my father was a real pioneer in the world of topography. 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 accompany him to (international) fairs. There I probably subconsciously developed the passion for the entrepreneurial profession. From the age of fourteen I was also allowed to help out in the business during the vacations.

In high school I was already a busy person and always working on concepts. After Atheneum I went straight to work for an uncle's company in a commercial position and in the evening I followed my HBO education at the Haagse Hogeschool. At nineteen, I started my own financial consulting firm for civil servants and teachers that grew to fifteen staff with two branches within a year. 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 selling my first company, a time of reflection came 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. I started to travel a lot during that period, lived in Seville, Spain, for a while and very consciously sought 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 find out these conscious answers.

In 2005, I met my current associate Henri van Schenk Brill. We have set up several successful companies in recent years and are thus active in various sectors. In addition, we occasionally participate in companies. Our most recent own initiative is Dutch Flower Cake. I consider it a privilege to work with flowers; my wife always calls flowers "nature's jewelry. Dutch Flower Cake also originated from an idea of my wife's. She wanted to make beautiful floral arrangements purely for herself, to give as gifts to her friends. This caught on so well that I suggested to her that she give these creations a face in business terms as well.

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

In that, who was your wheelbarrow?

"Entrepreneurship was instilled in me from an early age, so my father has been a great wheelbarrow. I grew up with his entrepreneurship, but it wasn't like he expected me to automatically become an entrepreneur as well. In addition, my business partner has been a great friend and advisor over the past 15 years."

What did your father teach you the most?

"Good communication is definitely his strength; he is still very strong in that. I learned from my father especially good, commercial communication: how do you get the message across in such a way that a potential customer or relation 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 really my greatest passion. I find the process from start-up 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's also intriguing. Lately, I have been helping a number of young entrepreneurs grow their businesses. They have the potential anyway, but sometimes just lack a certain entrance or advice."

What has been the biggest learning moment in your career?

"From the age of 19 to the age of 22, my entrepreneurship went very fast. I learned a huge amount from practice while many peers were still pursuing fancy studies. As I mentioned earlier, I traveled a lot during that time: those years of reflection were a great learning moment for me. The reflection allowed me to think about what I really wanted in my life. I spend a lot of time volunteering since then, an average of two and a half days a week - helping people gives me great satisfaction."

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

"Investing directly in real estate. I really should have done that right away when I built up my own wealth in 2001. That's why I recommend this to every young entrepreneur. "Ricardo Beij with his wife Yamina Beij

Have you been a wheelbarrow for anyone?

"There are a number of entrepreneurs I actively follow and help whenever possible. Bafl Sharhang is one of them. An award-winning Dutch film director of Iraqi origin. We recently took 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 great strides with Ferreira da Silva Rum. The company is seventy years old this year and we are proud to be shareholders in it.

Carolien ter Linden is the face of our Dutch Flower Cake campaigns. She definitely broke through this year with her TV show "On the Road to Cannes. The second season could be seen on RTL4 after the summer and we helped her behind the scenes.

The latest entrepreneur is Bob Ultee. He is, in my humble opinion, one of Holland's greatest business geniuses of our time. I have always been a great admirer of his talent. After all, it is not given to everyone to set up 50 branches in the Benelux countries under his own steam at the age of 33. After an unfortunate business "crash," he had to reinvent himself. In my opinion, a second chance is not always granted in the Netherlands. With his new company Bob Eco (estimated market capitalization of 1.2 billion), in which we also invested, he has now recovered.

Besides business, I especially want to be a wheelbarrow for my children. They are my most important investment. If I manage to have my children grow up to be sweet and emotionally strong people, a big part of my mission will be accomplished. I try to set a good example every day, but it's still constant learning."