About Finfactory

Back in 2004, I kicked off my career at Deloitte Eindhoven at the Audit division. I was very lucky being welcomed in a talented team serving a broad client portfolio from international and stock quoted to smaller sized companies in a diversified range of industries. I not only got the learn the basics of the audit profession, we also got very experienced in teaming up. Work hard, play hard … many good memories … . Being a Belgian girl, just leaving school and on top of that having an introvert personality, mixing up with Dutch colleagues: to be honest, it was quite a personal challenge at the beginning. But the fact that we still meet up yearly with the girls clan from back then, this the best evidence it all worked out perfect! After having spent 5 great years in Eindhoven, I moved back to Belgium!

So in 2009, I decided to return to Belgium and pursued my luck at Deloitte Brussels … clearly I didn’t want to leave Deloitte, so the choice of joining the same firm in Belgium was a not a difficult one. I’m a big fan of the Deloitte family … great talents gathered and on top of that many opportunities for personal self-development. Next to the technical details of the audit profession, I was offered the opportunity to engage in facilitating trainings to large audiences, being co-responsible with one of the Deloitte partners charged with internal quality inspections … grateful for such interpersonal self-development opportunities! The fact that my Deloitte mentor William Blomme, remains to be my buddy even when I have left Deloitte … it’s perfect evidence of the Deloitte spirit! Why did I leave this great family ?! Well, after 10 years, it started to feel like a very “safe” environment … whereas many challenges within the audit profession, I got scared of the level of formalities and the ticking the box mentality imposed by authorities governing the audit profession … .

So, I made up my mind to jump into the wild … being part of a family of business owner and self-made entrepreneurs, I was tempted to give it a try as well … my parents, having experienced both the up -and downside of doing business, gave me the advice (rather urged me) to first “try out” in the field and learn from my mistakes before investing in a business of my own … I’m a bit stubborn, but back then I did accept their advice … that’s how I took on a new challenge as CFO / COO at a family – owned business Soficotex, active in the confection of apparel / clothing. Next to the Belgian sales office, the group also had a production unit in Sousse, Tunesia. The family was looking for renewed insights and external reinforcement to face the competitive market of the fashion industry.  Here’s where I met another life coach, Katia Gobert. She taught me the importance of decisiveness in doing business, the necessity to stick to integrity and above all she shared me her expertise in negotiating skills. It was not an easy road, Katia and I are opposite characters … a bit confronting for me … yet I got to see the advantages of such complementarity. What first started as a restructuring of Belgian activities and the preparation of a handover of certain Tunesian activities, led to the sale of the entire Tunesian production plant and the closure of the Belgian company. Looking back at this period, what an adventure: achieving a BSCI certification for the Tunesian site, cooperate with Tunesian labor unions,  negotiate the sale of a production site, … many new endeavours! Above all I experienced that doing business is so much more then mastering the finance part.

My family asked to me to get more involved in the family owned business active in industry rental. It was time for me to step up and enlighten my mom’s daily work occupation. She had done such a great work (and still does) taken over from my father, who was abruptly taken from us in an  accident in 2014. At the same time. Next to the family business, I also got the opportunity for an interim CFO assignment @ “Sprimoglass” in Luik. I very much appreciate this ambitious Belgian company active in the Glasstranformation business. In a new shareholder setting, they transformed the company into a best practice environment: backed up by skilled management, highly involving the full workforce in a #oneteam spirit, setting out a clear path for ambitious growth … all topped up with an out of the box approach! The journey @ Sprimont was quite diverse: M&A projects, reporting towards a very involved Board of Directors with highly talented profiles, an extra interim CEO assignment for the IT division, … .

Next to the family business and Sprimoglass, my curriculum also got enriched with a new assignment as a Chairman for the Audit Committee at the House of HR and independent member of the Board of Director, which is the holding hosting Accent active in the temp agency business. The HoHR group does not only host Accent, but many more brands throughout Europe: Redmore, Covebo, Zacquensis, TimePartner, Abylsen, … . What a great new challenge sitting at the same table with top entrepreneurs like Conny Vandendriessche (founder of Accent) and Rika Coppens, CEO of the group. My role as Chairmen of the A/C is to advise the Board of Directors on the Financial Closing process, internal control environment as well as risk management. Again, it’s not a one men show: the added value is being able to coordinate with the various expert profiles involved in these processes extracting that relevant information useful or necessary to bring towards the Board of Directors to facilitate their decision making process.

My dream ? My career path has given me many great examples of entrepreneurship. On top of that, also the love of my life, Philippe Vlaemminck, sets the example with his scale-up MultiMinds, co-founded with Siegert Dierickx, offering Data Analytic services. Also myself, I scan for nice M&A opportunities. Furthermore, I continue to offer my services to complement talented team for interim projects: integrating a newly acquired business, tackling cashflow-issues, smoothening your financial closing process, prepping your company to be sold, … . Reach out to me and we’ll brainstorm how we can make things happen!