Episode II. The Power of Coalition
The G4AW programme began in 2013 as an initiatieve by the Netherlands Space Office to boost climate resilience of smallholder food producers in Africa and Asia using satellite data. Since then, the programme has reached over one million food producers through nearly 130 partners across 15 countries. In this second episode we focus on the power of coalition. How to find the right partnerships? And how do you maximise collaboration power and achieve common outcomes? We asked two entrepreneurs involved in various G4AW coalitions, what it takes.
Evert-Jan Verschuren
Manager Spices Asia for Verstegen Spices & Sauces BV
Evert-Jan is founder and team leader of SpiceUp with more than 13 years of experience in sustainable spices and the food industry in Asia and Europe. He is also responsible for sourcing, vendor assurance and sustainability projects of Verstegen Spices & Sauces BV in Asia. As Team Leader, he supervises the overall SpiceUp project activities, develops business strategy, and involves in seeking investors for SpiceUp. Prior to his sustainable agricultural career he worked 6 years as lead assessor and tutor in quality management for Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance.
Eric van Valkengoed
Director, Terrasphere
Eric started TerraSphere in 2008 with a mission to leverage satellite data analytics for sustainable agricultural practices. TerraSphere provides actionable data and business intelligence on crops throughout the world. They have since been active in over 42 countries delivering services that support sustainable and climate resilient agricultural practices based on satellite data analytics.
Ruud Grim
Senior Advisor (Netherlands Space Office)
Ruud Grim, is coordinating the Geodata for Agriculture and Water (G4AW) programme commissioned by Ministry of Foreign Affairs. G4AW supports 25 partnerships to develop and operate financially sustainable services for 4,5 million smallholder farmers and pastoralists in 15 developing countries based on innovative business models. He is advisor to Dutch ministries involving international collaboration using satellite and other geodata. He is also advisor to the Geodata for Inclusive Finance & Food Initiative (G4IFF) by Dutch Platform for Inclusive Finance. He has worked 15 years in industry on project management and business development.
