Seagriculture 2018

7th International Seaweed Conference

Joost Wouters is an entrepreneur, speaker, and author. He started his professional career at Procter & Gamble in 1995. Later he joined the Management Team of Pepsi Cola Benelux. When his first son was born, Joost decided to quit his job and start a Management Consulting firm, so he could blend work and family life. Over the last 16 years, Joost worked with the leadership teams of large and small companies such as Danone, Unilever, Heineken and Reckitt Benckiser, in places all over the world.

In 2006 Joost and his family moved to Spain, where he built a house and Leadership Center at the Mediterranean. Ten years later, he returned to The Netherlands to continue his adventure and contribute to a liveable future for his kids and the generations to come. As SeaEO of The Seaweed Company he and his team aim to implement CO2-reducing seaweed-based business models at large scale.

Presentation

The one single success factor for scaling up seaweed-based activities in order to fully benefit from the unlimited potential of seaweed is entrepreneurship:

• Mobilizing a team that covers all the aspects needed to successfully start up and scale up a seaweed company: biological, technological, commercial, financial and organizational expertise.
• Creating a business model that can be understood by financiers.
• And generating the energy to keep on going, no matter what obstacle comes on the way.

With The Seaweed Company we are in the middle of the entrepreneurial roller coaster. We have prepared all the different scenarios. Validated the assumptions that affect the business case as good as possible. Translated the potential value of the enterprise in the financial language of banks and investors. Applied for subsidies. And secured a concession to make it all happen. And now we will face reality. And if there is one thing we know for sure, then it’s the following quote: “In theory there is no difference between practice and theory. In practice there is”.