Meet the jury of the Hague Innovators Challenge 2021

Patricia van Someren is an Account Manager SME and start- and scale-up banker at Rabobank (region The Hague). Based on their mission “Growing a better world together”, they support innovative entrepreneurs who focus on solving social and global challenges. They do this, among other things, by sharing their knowledge, opening up their networks, and by offering financial solutions. Patricia: “Rabobank is a proud partner of ImpactCity and is looking forward to judging the entries”.

Inge Helder is a sustainable entrepreneurship advisor at the Municipality of The Hague. In her role, she helps companies to make their business operations more sustainable. This includes saving energy, responsible purchasing, emission-free city distribution, and the switch to a circular revenue model. Inge: “Every day, I notice that entrepreneurs want to become more sustainable, but don’t know where to start. That is why I want to help them to get into contact with local leaders who have already taken these steps. Learning from others is way easier than starting alone”.

Samwel speaks to many impact entrepreneurs and tries to help them as well as possible. Irene is doing this, among other things, by linking them to relevant parties from the ecosystem. “Entrepreneurship and impact, doing good and doing business make my heart beat faster! Also, I am involved in strengthening our ecosystem by connecting relevant and important partners to the ImpactCity ecosystem ”, says Irene.

Nina de Korte is working in the start-up and energy tech world. She is a marketer at Aurum Europe, a company that makes energy consumption managers. She is also a lecturer in Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. In that course, students have to create their impact start-up. Nina also co-hosts the Steward-Ownership Podcast, in which entrepreneurs talk about how they organize the ownership and shareholder structure of their company innovatively. Nina: “As a young surfer, I saw how disposable plastic was ruining the beach of Scheveningen. That was the moment I decided to devote my career to future-proof business”.

Arthur van de Graaf works as an operator at Starters Station. With Starters Station he guides starters with their journey as an entrepreneur. Arthur: “By ensuring that starters work on what is needed for the next step in the entrepreneurial journey, a contribution is made to the success of the company and the starters remain in control”. Starters Station works with starters from student to senior, 80% are women and all starters work on at least one SDG. With an office in The Hague, Arthur is happy to contribute to the Hague Innovators Challenge.

Olivier van der Lande works as an Associate for 4impact, the investment fund from The Hague that invests in tech startups that make a positive contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. As an Associate, Olivier’s work consists of finding the best impact companies to invest in, supporting startups, and working on deals. Just like his colleagues Pauline Wink and Ali Najafbagy, Olivier can be found in the impact start-up location of The Hague: Apollo 14.