(From Childhood to the Start of My Entrepreneurial Career)

I was born on October 10, 1974, in Rotterdam, the only child in our family born in the Netherlands.

My father first trained as a tropical medicine doctor. After completing his training, my parents moved to Africa together, where my brothers and sisters were born. Later, my father returned to the Netherlands to specialize further in pediatrics (children’s healthcare). I was born during this period while he was completing that specialization.

When I was three years old, my parents returned to Africa again, and we moved back to Tanzania. We lived in Manza until I was seven and a half years old. Those early years shaped my worldview: life was practical, resourceful, and grounded. Community mattered. Problem-solving was hands-on. You fixed what was broken.

When we returned to the Netherlands, my parents settled in Oostkapelle, a small village in Zeeland. Adjusting was not easy. I struggled with the local dialect and never fully mastered it the way my classmates did. Around that same time, it became clear that I was severely dyslexic — one of the earlier diagnosed cases in the Netherlands.

While I excelled in mathematics and science, language became a serious challenge. By the third grade, I required extensive additional support. The pressure built to a point where I often experienced stomach pain before school. Eventually, my parents and teachers made a difficult decision: I transferred to a specialized school in another town.

This meant leaving my friends behind and traveling by taxi for nearly an hour each way. It was isolating, but it allowed me to learn at my own pace. Through discipline and determination, I eventually rejoined my old classmates in secondary school — a personal milestone and one of the first major goals I set and achieved.

Growing up in a family that questioned everything shaped my mindset. Debate was encouraged. Curiosity was normal. Assumptions were challenged. I learned to think independently and critically from an early age. I often describe myself as skeptical — not because I reject ideas, but because I believe understanding begins with questioning.

As a child, I dreamed of inventing something revolutionary. I wanted to become as impactful and intelligent as Albert Einstein — partly inspired by the belief that he too had dyslexia. Whether myth or fact, the idea mattered to me. It reframed dyslexia not as a limitation, but as a different way of thinking.

Looking back, dyslexia forced me to simplify complexity. It trained me to see patterns instead of paragraphs, systems instead of sentences. It shaped the way I build products and companies today.

Early Work & Responsibility

My work ethic started early.

At fourteen, I worked as a paperboy together with my sister. We alternated weeks, delivering newspapers before school. Responsibility was immediate and non-negotiable — even on cold mornings. Sometimes I was so tired that I forgot I had already completed my route after going back to sleep.

At fifteen, I worked in a pancake restaurant. At sixteen, in a Greek restaurant. At seventeen and eighteen, I worked in a bicycle repair shop and managed bicycle storage near the train station. I loved working with my hands — fixing things, understanding how systems worked, solving practical problems.

Motorbikes became a passion. I spent countless hours building and repairing them. In fact, the only time I stopped working on my bike was when I fell in love — and then the bike simply had to work.

Engineering & Independence

That fascination with mechanics and systems led me to study Mechanical Engineering at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam (1993–1999). My focus was technical innovation and product development.

Shortly after I moved to Amsterdam, my parents moved back to Tanzania — this time to a small village called Ndala, without even a landline phone connection. Independence was no longer gradual; it became absolute. Decisions, structure, and direction were my own responsibility.

During my studies, I completed a six-month internship at the Research Center Karlsruhe in Germany. This experience strengthened both my technical foundation and my international perspective.

Discipline Through Sport

Sport has always been a parallel track in my life.

I joined the student rowing club NEREUS and became part of the elite rowing team. Three months into intense training, I broke my collarbone. Before that, I had already dealt with mononucleosis. Physical setbacks became lessons in resilience.

Later, I became a competitive cyclist and finished tenth in a race with over twelve thousand participants. After rowing and cycling, I transitioned into long-track speed skating and became a marathon rider.

Today, I serve as a referee at amateur football clubs and referee hockey matches for my daughter’s team. Sport taught me endurance, fairness, discipline, and the value of consistent long-term effort — qualities that would later define my leadership style.

The Turning Point

By my early twenties, one thing had become clear:

I did not only want to build machines — I wanted to build systems.

I was fascinated by how technology could connect people, create marketplaces, and generate scalable economic ecosystems. Together with my brothers Thomas and Andrei, I would turn that curiosity into my first company at the age of 24.

That decision marked the true beginning of my entrepreneurial journey.

Explore more of My Work.