I grew up at the Belgian North Sea and have always had a special bond with the sea. In or on the water, it doesn't matter. The sea experience has something very physical for me, but also spiritual. Even by just looking at the sea, I relax.
When I was sixteen I took a catamaran camp (Hobie 16) at the RBSC for the first time. Since then I have continued to sail, some periods more intensively than others. Throughout my career I have always been engaged with sustainability topics and the idea of being able to move only with the power of the wind fascinates me! I also worked on offshore wind projects for a few years, which was very exciting.
In 2015 my life took a new turn. I founded the start-up PowerCorner within ENGIE, which aims to electrify rural villages in Africa with solar energy. Therefor I moved to Tanzania from 2017 to 2020 with my wife Isabelle and our 3 children Emile, Pauline and Emma. That was an enormous enrichment on both a personal and professional level. In Dar es Salaam we bought our first boat together with another family: Armen (29 feet) originally built as a training ship for the famous sailing school Les Glenans. With Armen we did a lot of fun trips, including to Zanzibar and we participated in the Tanga Race (Dar es Salaam – Tanga – Dar es Salaam). In Tanzania I also obtained my Day Skipper certificate.
Professionally, I had the opportunity to start and grow a social business in Tanzania. Not only did I deal with strategic and operational matters, but I also spent a lot of time supporting the team. I believe that the role of the leader is mainly to support his or her team so that the team can support the customers. Inspired by the book by Frédéric Laloux Reinventing Organizations, the team has put a lot of effort into value-driven action, autonomy, non-violent dialogue, collective intelligence, balanced leadership... This way of doing business is not only much richer on a human level, I am convinced that it is also an essential success factor in business.
I am a strong believer that personal development is a key component to put the world on a sustainable path. That is why I also focus myself on the “Inner Development Goals” and more specifically in constructive dialogue that essentially encourages empathic listening of the views of others while also expressing one's own viewpoint in an assertive and respectful manner. This requires an important amount of self-knowledge. I am therefore a certified Nonviolent Dialogue trainer.
In August I finally took the step to set up my own company: Unoya. Based on my values (honesty, passion, vulnerability, balance and abundance) I wish to assist companies and individuals in their search for sustainable impact supported by balanced leadership.
